a friend of mine is going to germany in about a week, roughly in the dresden area i think but possibly also munich, and i figured it'd be good to help give him some places to go for arms and armour museums, armouries arsenals etc.

any ideas?

The place to go in Dresden is the Residenzschloss (Royal Palace) which has European arms & armour on display in the Armoury (Rüstkammer) and Giants' Hall (Riesensaal) while the "Turkish chamber" (Türckische Cammer) has a superb collection of Ottoman items. There is also the Bundeswehr Museum of Military history which lies on the outskirts of Dresden but is easy to reach as the train (S-bahn) which connects Dresden with the airport runs next to it. The museum covers the period of 1300 to the present day but the focus is 1914-1945 and it does not have the same mass of items on display as the Residenzschloss.

München has the Bavarian National Museum but what is arguably the best arms & armour collection in Bavaria is in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum up in Nürnberg. The museum of the Bavarian Army in Ingolstadt also has a a fine collection including medieval items but is mainly focused on the post-1600 period.