So you've been wondering what good armor looks like

Sialia said:

hong, you amuse me greatly. But it's gonna be tough for me to do character portraits of those PCs.


The following page was extremely helpful in visualizing what FEMALE adventurers might actually wear in combat.

http://www.seattleknights.com/Cast/players.asp

These women are powerful and beautiful and well protected, and if more fantasy artists thought about things like this, there would be less need for pictures of women with their nipples and bellybuttons waiting to get sliced off.

You wanna paint nekked wimmen, fine.
You wanna paint adventurers, then give this some thought.

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Hm. For some reason I never realized that if a woman wore platemail (or half-plate, perhaps even breastplate?) and a helmet you wouldn't be able to tell she would be a woman. I'm so used to seeing artist illustations of women wearing platemail with 'breast-space,' like so:

Azure Trance said:

Hm. For some reason I never realized that if a woman wore platemail (or half-plate, perhaps even breastplate?) and a helmet you wouldn't be able to tell she would be a woman. I'm so used to seeing artist illustations of women wearing platemail with 'breast-space,' like so:

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Now this is a badass female knight. Love the armor (I've always preferred simplicity, personally).

http://www.seattleknights.com/Cast/gallerypicture.asp?Picture=1815

hong said:

And for a non-USAian look (1.4Mb jpg):

http://www.urbanoperations.com/kosovo.jpg

The image caption on the website says US Army, but that doesn't look like American pattern gear to me. Anyone want to take a guess who these guys are?

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My guess would be Polish.

Interesting

Modern body armor is progressing at a rapid pace. What you see today will not be what you see for America's elite in ten years. Reflective armor driven by microchips with millions of miniature displays is being developed for camo. The color and shading change with each step. There is also a process by which the processecors in the rear (or front) can be switched to display what is behind an individual on the displays in front - offering, the researchers hope, near invisiblity. The armor also has heat absorbers to guard against infra- red and some type of light dampeners to guard against low-light.

That grizzly dude has actually been contracted by DoD research to help develop armor. Lots and lots of work. For some of the latest being implemented go the globalsecurity.org. I iwll poke around for some more links.

Davis

hong said:

And for a non-USAian look (1.4Mb jpg):

http://www.urbanoperations.com/kosovo.jpg

The image caption on the website says US Army, but that doesn't look like American pattern gear to me. Anyone want to take a guess who these guys are?

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The bulk of them (those standing around) appear to be Polish, as Thorvald pointed out. But the one in the tan Humvee is probably an American. His camo pattern looks different to me and he has an arm band than presumably says "MP". Has the Humvee been exported to any other nations?

Re: Re: So you've been wondering what good armor looks like

hong said:

I can't be the only one who parses that URL as "westicles".

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When facing North, I call him "Lefty"...

That first link is great! There are more links on that page than I think I've seen anywhere for armor and such. Thanks, Sialia!

hong said:

Jeez Al, an explosive disposal suit is a bit outre, don't you think?

See http://www.pointblankarmor.com/products/military_main.asp for all your shrapnel-proofing (and some bullet-proofing) needs.

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well, after looking up "outre" i think not

Sialia said:

Hong, you got me to wondering.

I might need some photo references of modern body armor for some illos of my Delta Green campaign.

Who knows of a site with pictures of current military body armor?

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siala, i just recieved "galls law enforcement buyers guide" in the mail (who knows why they think a potter would need these things?) they are at 2680 palumbo drive, lexington, ky 40509-100. it is chock full of modern tactical goodness. everything from body armor to collapsible ladders to batons. they can be reached at 1-800-477-7766 if you want their free catalog.

AIEeeeeeeeEEEEEEEeeeee!!!

SAN loss.

must . . not . . receive .any . . more. . .catalogs . . .

drowning in dead forests . . . .

well, would you like my copy? it's not like i need restraints or body armor for my normal day