Best type of armor?

[Bert Preast]

I wonder how much of the armour we know of was actually used on campaign. If you look at the conquistadores in the Americas though they were all armoured up to the nines for portrait calls, they ditched it all for simple cloth padding when they were engaged in serious bullying, raping and pillaging.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

For me armour is not good if it isn't efficiant. If you can only use it in one battle its no good, if you can't move more than ten paces its no good.

Incidently Lorrica Plumbatta is essentially what was used by Kats, and also by a fair number of Centurians. Obviously the version used by Centurians was less extensive.

[geala]

I wonder how much of the armour we know of was actually used on campaign. If you look at the conquistadores in the Americas though they were all armoured up to the nines for portrait calls, they ditched it all for simple cloth padding when they were engaged in serious bullying, raping and pillaging.

This is a very good question. In longer wars or campaigns or during routine duties the ease of movement, heat exchange and simple convenience win against the wish of better defence during the normally very few times of actual fighting. I imagine that less armour is worn in the frequently unexpected everyday fightings during patrol or skirmishes (not in pitched battles).

You can (try to) work against this human behavior with a strict discipline. So I don't think a Roman soldier of maybe 100 AD dared to march without his segmentata armour or even to "lose it accidentally".