Okay, so I've thought about it for a bit, and I think I've decided on where I want to go with my armor and such. As the title says, German or eastern European knight in the 2nd quarter or the 14th century. My wife said that I could get a custom blade(s?) when I get out of school, and I can start piecing together the kit at that point as well. I'm lucky that she's so supportive of my expensive hobbies. Between this and my Camaro build, I'll have $70k tied up in toys by the time I'm done. :eek:

Anyhow..............to me, this means I need:

maille haubrek (probably a decent GDFB riveted one)
possibly a coat of plates/brigandine type thing over that
greaves and vambraces, splinted or one sided plate
maille coif
gambeson and arming cap of course
maille cuisses?
Wisby type 1 gauntlets?
surcoat (will be supplied by my loving wife)
some kind of helm, not sure yet.

What, if anything, am I missing from that list? Also, what kind of helm would fit? I know a great helm or sugarloaf helm would work, but I don't know if I want one of those. Would a kettle hat or nasal / spangenhelm work? What other choices are there?

Also, I need some help with the blade choice. I definitely want a long sword, around 50" overall length (I'm 6'4, 300lbs), type XIIa, XIIIa, or maybe XX. All three styles should fit my target era, although the guard, grip, and pommel might not by the time I am done. Anyhow, given a choice, which style blade would you choose? Any particular reason for that choice?

I should also specify that I'm perfectly okay with historically plausible, instead of painstakingly correct. This is for fun after all. :)

Thanks for all your help! Oh, and hi, my first time posting here.

Hey Adam,

Welcome to myArmoury.com!

Check out this recent thread. There are many links to sources of information you can use while planning your kit.
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=23936 (This thread gets more general as it goes on)

It is a little long, but is well worth a good read once or twice if your are planning a 14th century kit.

That's the thread where I got most of my information from so far. :p I looked at the effigy thing, and read something or other from Blair (found the link on this forum as well). I just don't have time to do much research on my own due to school and work, plus the ever growing family (second son is due around new year's :D). I'm going to be depending on kind souls to do a lot of the researching for me.

Going back to the topic at hand, I have seen many references to a bascinet type helm, but don't really see anything as such on the market, same with the cheverar...............skull cap thing...........whatever it's called.

I would steer clear of the Type XX. From our Spotlight article on the type:

Quote:

Typical examples of this Type are said to date from the late 15th century, though there is at least one example that clearly dates from the early 14th century. This large bearing sword has marks on the blade that place it clearly in the period of 1320-1340.

So while there is one example of a Type XX from the era that Oakeshott, it's a bearing sword, not a combat sword. I'd stick with something in the XIIa and XIIIa families.

I'd spend a lot of time studying period art and brasses/effigies of the period. Wisby is a little later than your era. I'd check carefully to see if Wisby style gauntlets are appropriate. Maybe they are.

For me, half the fun is doing my own research for projects I undertake. You also likely end up more happy with the end result as you'll have more personal investment in the project.

For a helm, if you want a bascinet, I would go with something like this (the first one) http://www.armorymarek.com/basinets--armet.
For the maille, I stronglu recommend this http://shop.strato.de/epages/245791.sf/en_GB/.../KE/10mmRR the later you want the order, the cheaper it is (and the maille is tailored!!)

Maybe 10mm is a little weak for what regards thrusting. But I don't thik you'll fight against a sharpened spear, or will you :D ?

Have you seen this site?

http://effigiesandbrasses.com/

It'd be great for getting a fell for harnesses of that timeframe.
(Period kits tended to have specific looks that are rarely replicated.)