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Old 12-10-2019, 01:46 PM   #4
DanHoward
 
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
Default Re: [LT Armor Loadouts] Expensive Greaves

It took an entire family to equip a hoplite, not one person. Unless one was from one of the elite families, it required the combined wealth of father, grandfather, uncles, and brothers to field a hoplite in bronze armour. The adoption of organic armours lowered the cost of entry significantly but nothing could be done about the greaves and helmet. A lot of these greaves were carefully tailored to fit the wearer - the plate could be sprung open and slipped onto the leg with no need for straps and buckles to hold them in place. They were not something that could be passed down from father to son.

Greaves, in general, were very difficult to make because it is hard to come up with a way to keep them in place while running or fighting. The best method is to articulate them to the rest of the leg armour but that requires plate armour that covers the entire leg, which has its own challenges. In many cultures, greaves were only worn by cavalry because they don't have to march in the things. A lot of Roman infantry had discarded them by the time of Marius but the Loadout keeps them. You can leave them out of the Imperial Legionary Loadout and still remain historically accurate. You can also change Roman armour from bronze to brass, which is a little cheaper but has similar mechanical properties. Perhaps +2CF rather than +3CF.
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Last edited by DanHoward; 12-10-2019 at 03:12 PM.
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