[Ivar S]

Hi,

I am doing a little modeling in 3D as an hobby, and I also have an fascination for old historical armour and weaponry. So I am planning on recreating a set of milanese armour. http://www.glasgowmuseums.com/assets/slideShows/A_1939_65_e.jpg This armour is dated to circa 1445 AD and I wondered what kind of weapon a warrior wearing a milanse armour would prefer to use. And I wondered if the choice of weapon would be different if he was on horseback rather than on foot.

If anyone have some pictures of such a sword, it would help a lot when i'm going to recreate it in 3D.

[Nathan Robinson]

Here is a litlte bit of info on that armour: http://www.myArmoury.com/feature_gothic_armour.html

[Daniel Staberg]

The choice of eapon would be determined by wether he foguht on foot or on horse back as you have already suggested and secondly from where in Europe he came. For example the English still favoured dismounted combat and so would use a polearm (often som sort of poleaxe by the 1440's) together with a sword. The italians on the other hand perfered to fight mounted so their main weapon would be the lance and for secodnary weaposn they would carry swords as well as warhammers or maces. There is famous painting called "The route of San Romano" which shows this type of armour in use together with various types of weaposn, all depicted in great detail. The Italians seldom dismounted, when they did so they used a shortend lance as spear/pike such as at Arbedo in 1422.

The French mixed mounted and dismounted men-at-arms, for mounted use the lance was the obvious choice, for dismounted use they favoured the axe (poleaxe?) and guisarme as well as glaives, partisans and so called Ox-tounges (Langue de beouff (sp?))

I'll see if I can find some pictures, but no promises ;-)

[Chad Sonderberg]

Longswords and Bastardswords were the most popular sword styles during the late 14th through early 16th centuries. The small sword also began to appear during the mid 15th century.

Warhammers began to appear on horse mounted knights in the early 15th century, but never gained large scale popularity.

Various sized spears and lances were also popular for horse mounted fighting, but the "tips" had slightly varied styles during different time periods so you will have to research what was the common style for your region duing the time period you seek.

During the 15th century shields had pretty much disappeared from the battlefield. The only commonly depicted shields were bucklers. I'd avoid carrying a shield if you plan to stay period.