Studded Quilt Armor

Parzivel

Parzivel

Artisan
Hello,

On reading the rules for armor, the very first idea for cheap, easy 2pt armor to make was quilted armor with studs. Looking through photos of Alliance events though, I just don't see ANY. Is there something fundamentally flawed with the idea? Or do people just invest in better armor?

Thank you!
 
Most of the time i've seen people with that kind of studded armor its been under other costuming. Making it less noticeable in pictures.
 
1 point: Light Non Metallic Armor. This level is awarded for the following types of materials: leather, leather scale, padded cloth, naugahide, suede, doeskin, vinyl, heavy canvas, bone, rope and wood. Failure to cover at least half of the armor location results in no points being rewarded for that area. This level of armor on the head provides protection from Waylay 1.

Assuming you have maximum cloth armor, and it fulfills all the material requirements, and you have maximum bonus points, you're going to achieve 18 pts of armor.

From a mechanics standpoint, it's better to go with heavier materials, at least for the torso area.
 
Evan, while you're right about having a full suit of 1-point armor being not the best option, he's talking about the following (my emphasis underlined):
Alliance Rulebook pg. 79 said:
2 points: Light Metallic Armor or Heavy
Non Metallic Armor. This level is awarded for
the following types of armor coverage: leather
10 oz. or heaver, a material with a minimum of
¼" wide metal studs 1" apart or less, a material
with at least 14 gauge metal rings spaced 1"
apart or less, chain mail, non metallic plate mail,
light metal scale mail, and light metal plate mail.
Click to expand...

As far as my thoughts as to why people don't do it more, armor like this is fairly labor intensive and tedious to make, with good studs for such a project also often being a little difficult to find. It's also quite anachronistic (no society ever utilized anything like that because it's just not armor), but that's a different matter.
 
Just to follow that tangent real quick... I've read that the idea of studded armor came about because people mistook the rivets that attach the underlying plates in coats of plates and brigandine for studs that would (somehow) add some protection on their own.

That said, the idea of studded armor has made its way pretty firmly into fantasy aesthetics, so it's legit enough armor for our purposes. Like Alexander said, it's just kinda hard to find pre-made studded armor and for the amount of time it'd take to make some, you could probably make something that looks a little better. We have at least one player at SoMN that wears studded cloth armor, but I don't recall if the studs are tightly placed enough to count as 2-point armor.
 
I've seen studded cloth used as armor once. I've seen and made studded suede and studded light tooling leather. Both HQ and NH have passed my rapid rivets based armor as studs, and they are not super expensive if you live near a Tandy Leather and catch them on sale. Even if you have to pay shipping, it costs less than buying chainmail. It's just tedious, and you can't use too thin a material for rapid rivets. I had to mix x-small backs with small caps to meet the minimum stud diameter and not have the post bend over in thin suede, while small rivets work fine in thicker suede and medium is doable in tooling leather as well as better looking. Domed spots look even better but they're more work. Since studded armor is already completely unrealistic and just a product of fantasy, I don't see any value in doing the work of making quilted armor if you're going to stud it.
Studded vest - small rapid rivet caps (exactly 1/4" diameter) in suede (thin suede from a kit, x-small backings required): vest.jpg
Studded skirt - small rapid rivets in suede, studded greaves - medium rapid rivets in tooling leather: studs.jpg
 
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Just measured an extra small rapid rivet from Tandy Leather, exactly 1/4 of an inch across.
 
Take advantage of the fifty percent coverage rule and make an artistic design ensuring you meet the armor rules for at least fifty percent of the area you are covering. Mix it up, include some rings or fancy metal bits. Remember this is a fantasy game. Keyword is fantasy.
 
Thank you all!! Great answers.

I will post pics once mine is complete.
 
Follow up: The "1 inch apart"... is that one inch from center to center? Or edge to edge? I'm using 1/2 inch studs, so does there need to be 1 inch of cloth between, or only 1/2 inch?
 
That looks really nice!
 
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