Plate Armor

[FieserMoep]

I remember seeing some BB Art including stuff like Plate Armor and Helmets like a Sallet, have they made it into the game yet?

[Admiral Obvious]

Yup. You'll find them at castle armories usually.

[CHOO CHOO]

There's actual plate armor in the game?

All I ever saw was coats of plate.

[FieserMoep]

It seems I messed up and confused some fanwork with actual artwork. Did some digging to find the image again and this is it:

http://battlebrothersgame.com/forums/topic/armor-replacement/

Would be so cool to have actual plate in the game and these just look awsome. I get that we have some early-high middle ages aesthetics but I would love late middle ages aestehtics too.
I am especially a sucker for Sallets and if we had some german gothic plate... oh boy...

[Ace490]

The game's artist Paul said several times on the official forum that they won't add plate armour because the game is supposed to be set in the earlier stages of the Middle Ages, not late Medieval times, and plate armour would break the immersion of the other armour pieces which are based on older designs. Therefore, chances of seeing them getting implemented are, unfortunately, slim to non-existent.

[CHOO CHOO]

Which makes sense, IMHO.

I do wish for Battle Brothers 2, and for it to be in a renaissance setting.

[FieserMoep]

I wonder if that changed given they will be all over the place with the Northmen armament shown so far and the mention that some of them will fight nearly naked which was a thing during roman times but not so much in the middle ages anymore anyway.

Furthermore most armor in game would still make sense with plate being around given its friggin expensive and you still need to equip your troops. I am not arguing we should go very late medieval where your had towns with armouries stacked to the top with half plate.

Heck, you could easily write a five sentence piece regarding how the technology is there but incredibly expensive for there simply never was a stable timeframe for local workshops to establish and somewhat streamline production, making them custom order only stuff with mail being the more prominent solution to easily and fast equip replacement troops to counter the constant threat of monsters.

[Ace490]

I'm sorry, but I don't believe that any argument is going to change their stand on this. If you follow the forum thread (http://battlebrothersgame.com/forums/topic/pauls-art-corner/page/101/) you'll see that it's the same case as with all these requests for Battle Sisters, cavalry and your own settlements/strongholds. They've made this decision long ago and always answered to it in the same way.

By the way, the new DLC is actually quite consistent with the general time setting of the game. Christianization of the Vikings was only completed during the second half of the 12th century and until then they still raided the coasts of their Christian neighbours. The armour decision is also quite consistent since the Vikings seldom used heavy armour with most of the lesser warriors wearing no armour at all. First, high class armour was even less affordable for them since they didn't practice such an elaborate system of feudalism and serfdom that allowed the establishment of a larger class of economically independent warriors. Second, heavy armour isn't exactly helpful if your warfare techniques heavily depend on the use of light ships that requires each warrior to fulfil a specific role on the ship in addition to chopping off heads :-)

[FieserMoep]

Correct me if I am wrong, but to my Knowledge - while not wearing armor - Vikings rarely fought naked with color on their body. That is more a behaviour I only know attributed to People like the Picts though that is by Roman "Historians" only.

As for the trope of norse berserkers being naked under their pelts, that is also only attributed by the medium of Sagas to my knowledge. In fact the rage induced berserker may just be that - legend - whereelse actual berskerers were more akin to norse champions, aka people that professionally fought in place of their leader or being their enforcers. The cultural phenomenon of willingly going into battle without armor if you could have access to it did not realy survive into the european middle ages, especially not for elite warriors.

While it is true that norse raiders rarely had armor aside of their leaders or what they looted, they still wore clothes that kept them warm and offered as much protection as they did.
Also keep in mind we are talking about a region that is pretty much so cold that it is constantly covered in snow. No human being that has a habit of running around naked for long would survive there anyway. People that would fight naked in such a climate would suffer extreme hypothermia after combat for the sweat on their skin would pretty much rip any warmth out of their body.

[Tephros83]

In what way is coat of plates not plate armor?

And pikes aren't early medieval weapons as far as I recall.

[Ace490]

Yeah, the naked thing takes it a bit too far and obviously plays more to modern cultural depictions rather than to historical sources. I didn't intend to lecture, I just felt that their decision giving the Vikings mostly light or no armour was pretty coherent with the general historical setting of the game.

However, I would like to see a Battle Brothers 2 in a nice Raubritter setting during the late Middle Ages with plate armours, peasant rebellions, early firearms and such stuff :-)

[Ace490]

Originally posted by Tephros83:

In what way is coat of plates not plate armor?

And pikes aren't early medieval weapons as far as I recall.

Yeah, some of the pole arms used in the game are late Medieval weapons (especially the Roßschinder, the third type of named billhooks), but not all of them. Especially the simpler versions already existed during the 11th and 12th century.

There are probably some Medieval aficinados who could lecture us for hours on the differences between plate armours and coats of plates :-) As far as I see it, the major difference lies in that coats of plates are made by joining several smaller metal plates while a breast plate is made from a single piece of metal and therefore requires a more advanced technique of blacksmithing.

[CHOO CHOO]

Yeah, you already got it. That's the defining difference: Plate armor has large pieces covering each body part with articulation in between, whereas coats of plate are just uniform small plates linked together.

[DuhMadDawg]

Originally posted by CHOO CHOO:

Which makes sense, IMHO.

I do wish for Battle Brothers 2, and for it to be in a renaissance setting.

BB2 - one day I hope. Getting back into BB to try out the beasts dlc. Been ab 1-2 yrs I believe since I last played. Love this game.

[Black Hammer]

Originally posted by Ace490:

I'm sorry, but I don't believe that any argument is going to change their stand on this. If you follow the forum thread (http://battlebrothersgame.com/forums/topic/pauls-art-corner/page/101/) you'll see that it's the same case as with all these requests for Battle Sisters, cavalry and your own settlements/strongholds. They've made this decision long ago and always answered to it in the same way.

The devs' fondness for never adding player features of any kind to their increasingly high fantasy game is part of why I lost interest in this game in EA.

[FieserMoep]

Originally posted by Black Hammer:

to their increasingly high fantasy game

Yea, pretty much any argument about historical immersion pretty much falls flat given this is a fully blown fantasy game.