Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Elite Brigade 1:6 scale Medieval Knight by Cotswold

A Knight to call my own. This 1:6 scale 12-inch miniaturized version of a Medieval Knight in his full armor is hand-made entirely of steel (where it should be) with leather fittings. Produced by Cotswold Collectibles, Inc. for their Elite Brigade line of figures more than ten years ago, this knight was part of their vision to realize the medieval knights of old in 1:6 scale, including their full armor and they actually approached the descendants of the original knight armor makers to cast these to scale.

The Medieval Knight was one of three types of fighting men during the middle ages: Knights, Foot Soldiers, and Archers. The medieval knight was the equivalent of the modern tank. He was covered in multiple layers of armor, and could plow through foot soldiers standing in his way.


Knights were also generally the wealthiest of the three types of soldiers. This was for a good reason. It was terribly expensive to be a knight. I'm sure you can understand why. Armor, shields, and weapons were also very expensive. The war horse alone could cost the equivalent of a small airplane.

Full plate armor came into use in the 15th century. While heavy and time consuming to put on, a well-made suit distributed the weight evenly around the body, allowing reasonable mobility.

A knight was armed and armored to the teeth. He had so much armor and weapons that he depended on his squire to keep his armor and weapons clean and in good working condition.

The back of his legs were not protected as he would be seated on horseback and rode into battle.


The helmet was curved to deflect blows and had a moveable visor for better airflow. In the movie "The Last Castle (2001)", Lieutenant General Eugene Irwin (Robert Redford) attributed the origin of the salute to the raising of the visors between knights. "You know where saluting comes from? It comes from medieval times. Two knights would approach each other on horseback. They would raise their visors and show their faces. It's like they're saying, "This is who I am. I'm not the enemy and I'm not afraid." A salute's about respect, son. Respect for yourself, the service and the flag."

A knight's weapon was his sword, which was about 43 inches long and weighed around thirty-two pounds. It was worn on his left side in a case fastened around his waist.

The pieces of a knights suit of armor covering the body were as follows:
The Chest Armor was referred to as the Breast Plate. The Back Armor protecting the back was called the Backplate. Faulds were rings of armour which were attached to the breast plate and protected the hips, abdomen and lower back.



The pieces of a knight's suit of armor covering the legs and the feet were as follows:
The Sabatons were the first parts of a knights suit of armor to be put on. Sabatons were armor for the feet and consisted of riveted iron plates on the boots. Greaves were Plate armor which protected the calf and ankles. Poleyns were Plate armor which protected the knee cap. Cuisses were Plate armor which protected the thigh. Spurs - The Spurs were attached to the heel of the foot by straps and used to 'spur' the Knights horse on in battle.

The pieces of a knight's suit of armor covering the arms and hands were as follows:
The Besagues which were small round 'shields' laced to the mail at the shoulder to defend the armpit. The Rerebrace for the defence of the upper arm. The Vambrace for the defence of the lower arm. Hand Armor - The Knights gloves were called Gauntlets and had ringed metal plates over the fingers.



10 comments:

James Lau said...

Hey man , when did you brought this ? how much it cost ?

desmond said...

Bro, did you get him a 1/6 scale horse by DML?

alex teo said...

hey james, i bought this many many years ago when TFH was still in Far East Plaza and one of the members who bought this figure from Cotswold (quite a hefty price i imagine,with the original price plus shipping costs since this thing is HEAVY) put it up for sale at a bargain price which i could not refuse - right place right time :)

hi desmond DML and DiD horses are not armor protected like the ones ridden by knights so i didn't get it as it won't be compatible ;p

Juliana said...

Wow, thank you for the detailed coverage of the various parts of the knight's armor, & history! It was very educational too :)

It's too bad that not long after the full knight's armor was invented, that gunpowder and cannons came into prominence in battles and eventually phased out the knights :(

Juliana said...

Btw just to add, a full armoured knight could barely mount his horse on his own. He needed the help of a mounting block, or in extreme cases, a pulley-like system crane to hoist him up onto his horse. Hence that was his major weakness in battle. Once dislodged from the saddle, the full armoured knight was little match for the multitudes of lightweight and swift foot soldiers, who would then set upon him.

alex teo said...

Thanks Juliana, forgot to mention about the falling off from the horse. That would have been quite a sight ;p

Gunpowder and cannons have been in existence for so long, even up till now wars are still being fought on the same principles of using gunpowder and such. No light sabers yet though.

Juliana said...

Maybe there are light sabers already, but the technology's still kept a secret from the public! :P

Anonymous said...

This is ann extremely well done piece. The armored 1/6 figures are taking things a notch higher. The evolution of 1/6 is slow but thanks to creative minds out there it keeps the hobby going with patience!

Davyd said...

Thrity-two pounds???!! Mate, I find your toy reviews really useful, but you've clearly never picked up a sword.

The heaviest swords used in battle, the 6-foot monsters used by the elite Austrian Landsknecht Doppnelsoldners, weighed about 8 pounds. The average 40-50 inch war sword weighed about THREE.

Even if you made the thing out of lead I doubt a 43-inch sword would weigh 32 pounds, either.

alex teo said...

thanks Davyd for bringing that up :) the material was taken from source and that source was wikipedia. i always thought they knew their stuff CHEERS