[Iskra]

hey there guys...I am having trouble visualizing the armor of the books and was wondering how you guys visualized it.

For the first and second books I imagined Malazan forces to be clad much like late Roman Empire legions like those seen in the movie "Gladiator" for example. Helmets with the face exposed, short swords, spears, steel bands around the chest, etc.

But after MOI and HofC I find myself having to change that as characters are described having greaves, helmets that completely cover their faces, i.e. a more medieval type plate armor as seen in the movie "The Messenger".

So which is it? How do you guys do it? Has the Author said anything about it?

[Skywalker]

Initially I imagined Malazan armor as having a Roman look - without the fancy plumes and crests on the helmets. That seems reasonable because the Malazan empire/ military etc. seem obviously influenced by Roman equivalents

But of late I have begun to imagine it along the lines of what was used in Wolfgang Peterson's "Troy"...

[Crop]

I always pictured it as a missmatched armour, consisting of various pieces that they would have aquiered by looting their fallen enemies...With various degrees of protection depending on the independant soldiers taste With most made of leather, and maybe chainmail, covered over with the standard malazan raincloak.

At least that's how i pictured the marine armour...the heavies armour would look more like the standard medieval plate mail, while the "normal" infantry would probably have a breastplate and some leather parts

[Cougar]

I'm going to have to say English civil war armour, mixed with a hint of roman. Pure roman doesn't make sense technologically.

[Zanth13]

I agree with the mixmatched theory... Individuality was encouraged among soldiers, plus with all the campaigns going out and soldiers being deep in enemy lands, repairs and replacement equipment would be hard to maintain, so you have to make do with what you can get...though im sure some uniformity regulation is in place to a degree....ie rank placement ect...

not to mention all the defferent ethnicities in the armies...

but im sure the different elements had similar gear, such as im sure you could tell the heavies from the light infantry, and infantry from the sappers ect.

I would imagine they start out with more or less the same equipment depending on thier type of squad, but I imagine that after allot of battles and over time it changes quit a bit.


since I pretty much havent added anything to the thread cuz i have no idea what style armour they use i will move on

[Alexi]

I picture it being a mix of russian/Byzantine/30 years war/hussaria







a lot of the helm descriptions make me think of zischagge

[D'rek]

Alexi's stuff meshes with what I was thinking for the light infantry. For medium infantry, add a breastplate. Then for heavy infantry a breastplate, full armor shoulders, thighs (those armor-skirt-like things), and very long boots and gauntlets. For the marines, scouts, outriders, etc., who need to be fast and agile, I would imagine a full suit of boiled leather armor, with chain mail overtop, but not those full chainmail coats (bad for stealth and mobility). Rather individual pieces of chainmail, such as a vest, half-pantaloons and maybe some arm-cover.

[Sinisdar Toste]

iirc a lot of the armor is scaled hauberks. otherwise what everyone else is sayin is quite correct