Let’s talk armor

[SirBlake]

A comment in another thread got me thinking, thanks to things like CMF and the new sets from the last couple of years, we have more options for how a knight or soldier can be outfitted than ever. 

For instance, if you had asked me a few years ago how a knight should be equipped to look it’s best, my answer would be something like: pointed visor helmet, printed breastplate armor, classic shield. 

But I’m really coming around on the great helm, good torso print, shoulder pauldrons and newer tall CMF bear style shield look. I think because the pauldrons bulk them up and let a nice torso print do the work.

What do you think? If you were designing a faction from scratch, what parts would you use?

 

 

NOTE: this gets really complicated when you add in licensed themes, dwarves/trolls/vikings, CMF one-offs and unique named characters. If you have a write-in candidate, please add it. 

Edited July 28, 2022 by SirBlake
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[Poco Lypso]

I like the big lion shields that were available in lego stores and for 1 day on lego.com

[SirBlake]

1 minute ago, Poco Lypso said:

I like the big lion shields that were available in lego stores and for 1 day on lego.com

Which were those?

[Rjbricks]

Great topic. I think it depends now though.

My all time favourite is the knights form Black Monarchs Ghost https://brickset.com/sets/6034-1/Black-Monarch-s-Ghost but with the classic round shield instead. 
 

However some of the new torsos are amazing. The Fright Knight torso is just epic (and covered with armour breastplate!).

The pauldrons I’m not a great fan of but that’s mainly because of the silver metallic colour.

Archers - always the bullet, though Kettle Helm if need be (Crownies for example). 

[SirBlake]

22 minutes ago, Rjbricks said:

The pauldrons I’m not a great fan of but that’s mainly because of the silver metallic colour.

I was with you until I saw that the newer "ridged" pauldrons (Bricklink's term) is now being produced in pearl dark grey. I'm going to outfit my Black Falcons with those and pearl dark grey great helms. That's gonna look good. Already set the guards up with pearl dark grey conicals, and archers with PDG kettle helms. 

[Lyichir]

I don't have a super-strong preference for some of these aspects, like helmet type or shield style (since often I like to have variety between characters or factions). But for armor, the Ninjago theme has helped me fall in love with shoulder armor that leaves some or all of the torso print visible. Fully printed torsos tend to have more visual variety than a fully molded breastplate, allowing characters or factions to be differentiated more easily than a fully molded breastplate necessarily allows for. Bulkier shoulder armor can also help to "even out" the look of a minifigure's proportions better than torso armor alone, which can sometimes make a figure look abnormally tall. By padding out the shoulders, the difference in height from having a neck accessory is masked slightly by a corresponding increase in width and, with some shoulder armor, by masking how low the arm connection is compared to the neck. The ridged pauldrons used in the medieval blacksmith set are a great example of this.

[Triceron]

Ha, I just realized I voted for the wrong visor.  The pointed one is the best.

[SirBlake]

1 hour ago, Lyichir said:

The ridged pauldrons used in the medieval blacksmith set are a great example of this.

Yes, that part was a real eye-opener for me.

49 minutes ago, Triceron said:

Ha, I just realized I voted for the wrong visor.  The pointed one is the best.

That's what I picked too. Even though the great helm is... well, great. lol

[Sir Dano]

I like them all, variety is great when making factions distinguishable from each other.

Though I can't deny I'll always love fully armoured knights the best:

Spoiler

 

Edited July 28, 2022 by Sir Dano

[mrcp6d]

I voted for my favorites as they are today, but like Sir Dano above, I really, really like the variety of helmet, armor, and shield options we have.  I not only use specific headwear for typical roles, but use these minifig accessories to help make each of my factions more unique/recognizable from the others.

[Poco Lypso]

3 hours ago, SirBlake said:

Which were those?

https://bricks.kalais.net/post91

[SirBlake]

1 hour ago, Poco Lypso said:

https://bricks.kalais.net/post91

Ah, yes. The lion/key shield. I was only able to get one of those, but it’s better than none. 

[Something_Awesome]

Had trouble voting because ideally, if you have a bunch of medieval figures, it's coolest for them to have a wide mix of different helmets, armors and shields. I don't think of these accessories singularly. 

[SirBlake]

24 minutes ago, Something_Awesome said:

Had trouble voting because ideally, if you have a bunch of medieval figures, it's coolest for them to have a wide mix of different helmets, armors and shields. I don't think of these accessories singularly. 

I get that. But if I was making a hero knight or a lineup of joust contestants, it’s fun to think about what to kit them out with. 

I have a small group of my best looking knights, one from each faction that I really like and had to make these decisions and it was a good time. 

[josebricks]

I’m on the ridged shoulder train. Fiddling around with configurations for a Rohan hero and finding that armor was just *chef’s kiss*

[Phyre]

I like the great helm the best, with the pointed visor being a close second.  For armor I've always been a fan of detailed breastplates ever since Fantasy Era.  I do like detailed torso prints like we've gotten recently, especially in the CMF series.  But the actual breastplate piece is just fantastic - as long as it's printed!  Not a fan of plain ones like will be unfortunately included in the Lion Knight's Castle (one of my very few complaints about that set).

 

For the guards and archers, my favorite is probably the conical one.  Never had any bullet ones as those were before my time, although I would love to see them make a comeback at some point.  I tend to prefer the conical helmets for guards/soldiers, the kettle helm for archers, and the open faced/angled cheek for evil soldiers, as that is typically what was used for the different minifigures in sets.

 

As for shields, I think the tall pointed is my favorite, with the ovoid being a close second.  I generally prefer the bigger shields, although the smaller pointed (original) and round ones are really cool too.  I do not like the bigger round shields for Castle minifigures, and I wouldn't mind if I never saw the one with the stud in the middle ever again.

[Rjbricks]

7 hours ago, Sir Dano said:

I like them all, variety is great when making factions distinguishable from each other.

Though I can't deny I'll always love fully armoured knights the best:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Yep, they do look cool. Saw the gold visor on a black helmet the other day that looked really good. Wondering whether the new pearl gold will look quite as good. 

[Feuer Zug]

18 hours ago, Rjbricks said:

My all time favourite is the knights form Black Monarchs Ghost https://brickset.com/sets/6034-1/Black-Monarch-s-Ghost

Same. Cheap set, but I got one as a kid. Wonderful addition to my castle collection. The helmet was cool, the armoured breastplate accessory perfect, and it had a glow-in-the-dark ghost! I do like the shield the knight came with though instead of the oval style.

15 hours ago, mrcp6d said:

I voted for my favorites as they are today, but like Sir Dano above, I really, really like the variety of helmet, armor, and shield options we have.  I not only use specific headwear for typical roles, but use these minifig accessories to help make each of my factions more unique/recognizable from the others.

 

12 hours ago, Something_Awesome said:

Had trouble voting because ideally, if you have a bunch of medieval figures, it's coolest for them to have a wide mix of different helmets, armors and shields. I don't think of these accessories singularly. 

I agree with both of you. Military forces back then, and even today aren't often standardized. For me, the vote represented what accessories went best with a knight. As for the main forces,the lack of uniformity is better. Having different "standards" for each army gives them each a character and feel all their own too.

[natesroom]

19 hours ago, Sir Dano said:

I like them all, variety is great when making factions distinguishable from each other.

Though I can't deny I'll always love fully armoured knights the best:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Yep these are the gold standard. All other stuff while nice pails in comparison to the feeling of that knight striding out onto the battlefield.

Edited July 29, 2022 by natesroom

[woodford86]

Agreed that variety is important between factions but my favorite mini's are generally:

* Mounted knights: Great helm, ridged pauldrons, round shield with stud, and an extended lance

* Knights on foot: Great helm, cape, larger triangle shield, great sword

* Archers: Kettle helm, quiver, bow

* Guards/footmen: Standard conical helmet, spear/sword/axe, small triangular shield

[Wardancer]

My favourite shields are of course the Forest Maiden and the CMF Elf (of which I bought 70 when they came out). And the golden eye shield from the goblin king for my dark elves. My favourite official armor is the Atlantis Emperor armor. 

[SirBlake]

Interesting results on the poll so far. 

Surprised to see the great helm isn’t getting much support. I picked the pointed visor too. 

Also surprised to see the bullet and kettle helms get so much love. I personally much prefer the conical, but I do use the other two, though I’ve never loved either. 

[Triceron]

The new Pauldrons from Blacksmith and Ninjago Skull Sorcerer sets are really cool additions to the line, and I really hope to see more like that in the future.   Even though the classic Breastplate is my favourite piece, I like that the new armor types show all the detailed body prints of the mini.  I tend to use very generic or non-Castle torsos for my Armored Knights since the armor covers the entire body.  That way I save all the best Castle torso prints for display.

Edited July 29, 2022 by Triceron

[SirBlake]

4 minutes ago, Triceron said:

I tend to use very generic or non-Castle torsos for my Armored Knights since the armor covers the entire body.  That way I save all the best Castle torso prints for display.

That’s a good point. I’ve got more than a few airline pilots and police officers that are in knight cosplay, lol. 

[DaleDVM]

I am surprised the evil helm didn't get more love.  I really enjoy that helm a lot for my evil factions!  But I voted conical, because I was in a good guy mood when I voted.  

Thanks for the poll and discussion SirBlake.  

I really need to take my printed castle torsos out from underneath my breastplate pieces.  I could have hundreds, of more castle figs if I did that.