An armor type found almost exclusively in Europe, it consisted of solid pieces of metal.
Early types of this armor were made out of Bronze; Spartans used bronze curaiss which proved to be highly effective against any type of attack. The major advantage of solid plate armor is that it can stop any type of weapon prior to the development of blackpowder fire arms. Slashing, stabbing and most bludgeoning attacks can be stopped by a good piece of plate armor. While mail and lamellar can stop two of the three types of offense mentioned, plate can stop all three.
While plate can stop most attacks, something like a warhammer with a spike may be able to punch through it, however if it goes through plate it will also go through chainmail or lamellar. Rapiers were designed to avoid the armor entirely and instead aim for the joints and exposed parts of the armor.
Although plate armor does increase weight and restrict movement slightly, it actually does not weigh any more than mail or earlier forms of plate and actually restricts movement less. [1]
When muskets and blunderbusses were introduced, the age of Plate Armor quickly declined. Such high caliber black-powder weapons could pierce basic plate armor with ease. Heavy bulletproof plate did exist, but was too expensive to mass produce and would be too heavy for combat.
It was the armor of the Knight, Hernán Cortés.and Joan of Arc.
Stats (Joan of Arc)
- Weight: 65 lbs
- Articulated Steel Plates
- Steel Armet Helmet