Hi, I am new to this forum, and I would like to ask for help on researching Mongolian arms and armour. I am a computer 3D modeling artist who would like to create armour for a game called Mount&Blade: Warband. There is a faction in that game that represented Mongolian/Arabic culture, but some dummy decided to put in 18th century Samurai armour and weapons that I need to put a stop to. I am looking for heavier armour worn by the nobility/professional soldiers of the Mongolians such as llamelar and plate. I am also looking for variations of helmets worn by the Mongolians. I know that the Mongolians wore a lot of Chinese influenced armour, but I am wondering if Mongolians wore armour similar to what the Kievan Rus, the Turks, or maybe the Byzantines wore? Do the Mongolians have any two-handed blades of any shape or fashion (to create two-handed weapons to replace the katana), or were those nonexistent?

Any help would be appreciated: links to pictures, threads to forums, articles, and books would be great!

Kyle,
Here are some notes and photos I've compiled for 13thc Mongol heavy cavalry; hope they're of some help: http://www.forensicfashion.com/1234MongolHeavyCavalry.html

That is really awesome! Thank you!

How long were one-handed cavalry sabres used?

For some nice clear pictures of relevant armours and helmets, try Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet, by Donald J. Larocca, Paperback, Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, Published: 2006-04, ISBN: 1588391817. This has some of the best examples of lamellar armours available in print.

Most of the famous descriptions of Mongol armour are of lamellar, and lamellar is the most common in art. Later Mongols (if you want to call them Mongols, rather than Tatars, or the Golden Horde, or Timurids, or Il-khanids) did adopt more and more Persian/Turkish style armour - one sees helmets with mail neck protectors, rather than lamellar neck protectors (or a mix of both), and some mail-armoured soldiers (usually a minority, with most armoured soldiers still in lamellar).

For a bunch of Persian illustrations, try http://warfare.atspace.eu/Persia/Persia.htm

Central Asian lamellar is not the same as Japanese lamellar, so yes, samurai armour is not appropriate. From the art above, and surviving examples (e.g., Tibetan), you can see the differences.

I can't think of any Mongol two-handed weapons to replace katana with. (If they're being used one-handed on horseback, then a cavalry sabre is fine.) The best source I've seen on Mongol swords is De l'épée scythe au sabre mongol by Lebedynsky. But the main weapons are bow and spear, with mace being a common sidearm for Genghizid Mongols (but sword for later Mongols is more common, judging from art).