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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cannyjiggit" data-source="post: 6414917" data-attributes="member: 6780231">A couple of points from someone who does wear armour of different types from time to time:First of all, terminology. The term "platemail" comes from a contraction of the more descriptive "plate and maille". When used as a full suit, plate armour was usually combined with chain to gain the protection desired. Chain is primarily aimed at and excellent at protectiong from cutting blows (and to some extent piercing attacks, although some weapons were designed to be narrow enough to only need to split one link to get through), basically its the ideal armour if all you are facing is standard swords. The weakness of chain however is that although cushioned and spread slightly, heavy blows from weighed weapons would still break bones. Plate however was excellent at distributing the energy from such blows but could not easily cover all areas and was only partially resistant to strong piercing attacks. I have seen that video many times and the maneuverability is good but look at the backs of the legs and under the arms, they are very hard to protect with plates even with suits as good as those in the video. Most plate armour didn't even cover the entire torso, it consisted of a front plate and a back plate held toegether by a few leather straps. There would be a gap between the plates of varying size dependant on the girth of the warrior. For this reason, swords were aimed at these gaps so the gaps were protected with chain. It was far easier to wear a chain shirt and strap the plates to it than to try to attach pieces of chain to the plates individually. Hence Plate and maille becomes platemail.As for weight, you would be surprised just how well chain spreads the weight if worn correctly. My steel suit weighs around 35-40lb and when I was fitter I would wear it all day at an event without any problems. You only really notice the difference when you finally take it off and suddenly feel very light <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />The plate on its own is lighter than the chain but its rigidity can cause issues when wearing and the weight is actually more concentrated. Without enough padding, the straps carrying all the weight can become quite uncomfortable. Of course, a chain shirt underneath can help spread the load and if you are also wearing a good horsehair gambeson under that then its irrelevant but all gets rather hot and heavy when added together, although not much will hurt you unless it can be well aimed</blockquote>

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