desert battles

[Martok]

I'm sure we're all used to movies showing armor being more of a hindrance than a help, slowing one down but never ever stopping an arrow or turning a blade, but soldiers tend to be amongst the most practicable of people, because their life is on the line.

I think the biggest things that held the europeans back was poor knowledge of the area, atrociously bad logistics, being massively outnumbered, and the ridiculous infighting and bickering that their multinational groups engaged in at any opportunity.

Agreed; that's my thinking as well. Not that armor *didn't* factor into the equation somewhat, but I still believe it's importance/relavence is often overstated when compared to the other factors you just mentioned.

Their heavily armored knights were an asset, and would routinely smash vastly larger arab formations if the latter would stand still like obliging fellows and let themselves get charged.

Heh. I'm suddenly having flashbacks to when I first started fighting Muslim armies in MTW: "Gah! Just hold still, d*** you!"