Originally Posted by phayman53 (Post 2096711)

Indeed, mail was more common than lorica segmentata. There is some debate, however, about scale armor. As I understand it, there is some evidence for true scale armor worn by standard bearers. However, what most people think of as scale armor is actually lorica hamate (mail) with small metal scales threaded through the mail. This was reserved mostly for high ranking officers and must have been extremely expensive to make. Loadouts: Low-Tech pg. 23 calls this Hamata Squamataque, and it is DR5/3*, but is lighter than heavy mail and more expensive.

Originally Posted by fredtheobviouspseudonym (Post 2096867)

There were exceptions. IIRC the condottieri of the fourteenth/fifteenth centuries were almost always Italians themselves, but still known as mercenaries. For Germany, Fritz Redlich in his "The German Military Enterpriser and his Work Force" talks about the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries, but does look at the antecedents of mercenary use in the fourteenth/fifteenth centuries. All the employees of the above were German.

Troops of the late Middle Ages and the early modern era serving for pay, rather than to fulfill a feudal obligation, tended to be known as mercenaries despite their national origins.

Originally Posted by clu2415 (Post 2096705)

I feel like it should be mentioned that mail and scale were also in common use by the Romans.

Originally Posted by DanHoward (Post 2096868)

Roman scale armour (plumata/squamata) was more common than hamata squamataque but probably not as common as mail.

Originally Posted by phayman53 (Post 2096711)

Indeed, mail was more common than lorica segmentata. {snip}.

Originally Posted by A Ladder (Post 2096876)

I read that too, but man, Roman Legionnaires without the lorica segmentata just seems so...lame on paper. I decided I prefered the named Roman armor from Basic than using mail/scale. YMMV.

Originally Posted by fredtheobviouspseudonym (Post 2096867)

There were exceptions. IIRC the condottieri of the fourteenth/fifteenth centuries were almost always Italians themselves, but still known as mercenaries. For Germany, Fritz Redlich in his "The German Military Enterpriser and his Work Force" talks about the sixteenth & seventeenth centuries, but does look at the antecedents of mercenary use in the fourteenth/fifteenth centuries. All the employees of the above were German.

Originally Posted by fredtheobviouspseudonym (Post 2096867)

There were exceptions. IIRC the condottieri of the fourteenth/fifteenth centuries were almost always Italians themselves, but still known as mercenaries.

Originally Posted by DanHoward (Post 2095847)

A mercenary is a soldier who serves in a foreign army.