Armour and cold weather

[Gamesmeister]

I've seen the rules regarding exposure to cold weather, and I'm wondering whether it's realistic for the players to wear armour at the same time as wearing cold weather clothing, or is it more appropriately a choice between the two. If a PC were to wear both, is it reasonable to say that metal armour would reduce the effectiveness of cold weather clothing?

Thanks

[Thaz]

Having worn a lot of armour in all sorts of weather :- Cold weather is quite nice. Sure the metal cools down but you wear heavy padding under it and frankly with a good cloak over the top..not a real issue until it gets really really cold. I've been out in a snowstorm in full plate and it was fine. Hobnailed boots and we're good. Stick to exposed metal and frostbite turf and even then I'd be okay with that as your skin shouldn't be touching metal. 

Heat now. Well thats another story. I would not want to be in full plate in a hot dessert. Full Summer in England almost killed me. 

[Ian Absentia]

1 hour ago, Gamesmeister said:

I've seen the rules regarding exposure to cold weather, and I'm wondering whether it's realistic for the players to wear armour at the same time as wearing cold weather clothing, or is it more appropriately a choice between the two. If a PC were to wear both, is it reasonable to say that metal armour would reduce the effectiveness of cold weather clothing?

I don't think so, though metal does, of course, conduct cold.   I've often worn cold weather gear for work, sometimes under plastic impact protection; the coldness of the hardware on the outside of our insulated clothing was imperceptible.  So that brings us to the discussion of the effectiveness of the insulating clothing worn under the impact layer.  As Thaz points out above, historically, metal armor was worn with padding (e.g., a gambeson), so there you are.

What I can tell you is that wetness is what really matters.  We have a bit of a joke in the field: Fifteen and dry over Forty-five and rain.  It's a reference to the temperature in Fahrenheit and how we'd gladly be working in below-freezing weather in dry conditions over warmer weather in the wet.  Curiously, the opinion is reversed for long distance running.  Point being, though, that if your insulating layer gets wet, you're in a world of hurt, even if the temperatures are above freezing.

!i!

Edited June 8, 2020 by Ian Absentia

[Stephen L]

2 hours ago, Gamesmeister said:

realistic for the players to wear armour at the same time as wearing cold weather clothing

The climactic "Battle of the Ice" for Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky wouldn't have been the same if the Teutonic knights were in their thermals rather than full armour!

However, despite the flippancy, the battle was a historical event, and I'm not sure the Northern Crusades would have been quite so successful if the locals could just wait for inclement weather to neutralise one of the main advantages of the Teutonic Knights (and other orders). 

[soltakss]

9 hours ago, Gamesmeister said:

I've seen the rules regarding exposure to cold weather, and I'm wondering whether it's realistic for the players to wear armour at the same time as wearing cold weather clothing, or is it more appropriately a choice between the two.

It depends on the cold weather clothing. 

You could wear a thick cloak and armour without a problem. A bit hat that covers your helm, apart from the face, should be OK. Gloves might be a problem, but large mittens over gauntlets should be fine. Even fur trews might be OK.

I have never worn armour, so it is hard to tell. 

Although, the image of hardened warriors putting long scarves on because their mummy or wife tells them not to go out in the cold without one is too good to miss.

Edited June 9, 2020 by soltakss

[Thaz]

32 minutes ago, soltakss said:

Gloves might be a problem, but large mittens over gauntlets should be fine. 

I have never worn armour, so it is hard to tell. 

Gauntlets already have gloves inside them. You need padding to stop the concusive shocks transmitting straight to skin and hurting. 

[Akhôrahil]

Anyone using glasses knows how cold that can get, but I imagine that’s about the skin contact. Wearing metal greaves on bare skin in the cold is surely awful, but that means that you don’t do that.

[soltakss]

41 minutes ago, Thaz said:

Gauntlets already have gloves inside them. You need padding to stop the concusive shocks transmitting straight to skin and hurting. 

Yeah, but that might come under the same thing as wearing padding under normal armour.

How much does padding protect you from the cold? Or rather, do gloves worn under gauntlets keep your hands warm?

As I said, I haven't worn armour, but have worn clothes.

A pair of jeans will protect you from cool or cold conditions, but where it gets really cold, for example -20C or below, one pair of jeans isn't enough and you need something else underneath. So, padding by itself might protect in cool conditions, but you need another layer of clothing for very cold conditions.

[Thaz]

1 hour ago, soltakss said:

How much does padding protect you from the cold? Or rather, do gloves worn under gauntlets keep your hands warm?

The padding keeps you overly warm. 

Normally we're talking several layers of blanket sewn into a jacket or equivalent. Wearing armour without padding is a terrible idea and basically never happened. Or the armour had built in padding. 

My arming jacket sat behind me is over an inch thick wool 

[French Desperate WindChild]

never tried but in addition I would suspect that wearing an armor is a big effort so you are also warming yourself ? until you remove it and then transform your sweat into ice.

[Akhôrahil]

2 hours ago, soltakss said:

Yeah, but that might come under the same thing as wearing padding under normal armour.

Also, articulated gauntlets would seem to be remarkably high-tech for Glorantha.

[Thaz]

55 minutes ago, Akhôrahil said:

Also, articulated gauntlets would seem to be remarkably high-tech for Glorantha.

Yeah I'd expect gauntlets to be basic if at all. 

Although glorantha tech does not have to equal earth tech for bronze age. 

[Gamesmeister]

Thanks for the replies all, very helpful. I've not really run much content set during Dark Season in Sartar, but that's all about to change 👍