Pig-faced bascinets - helmet visors & open faces

[@BenniBodinJagell]

Finally a video which says both "the bascinet have bad vision" and "the bascinet is a good helmet".

[@Ninjamanhammer]

The mentioned Knyght Errant does that too.

[@BenniBodinJagell]

+Ninjamanhammer Yea, but not as clearly (don't get me wrong, Knyght Errant is a great youtuber)

[@Quicksilver_Cookie]

Let's see...a tough choice here. Having limited vision, or face cut in half. Yeah, you know. I'll take two of these please, with some extra padding :)

[@KnyghtErrant]

Good to finally see you in a *real* helmet Matt! Great video, I loved the 'open visor' discussion. People get far too wrapped up in the idea that being as fully encased in steel as possible is the best and most safe option in all situations. They often forget to consider that sometimes having less physical defense and more sensory perception in certain contexts can result in *more* safety than having physically more armor. Your discussion is also why I believe we see *no* evidence for locking down a bascinet visor. The last thing you want to be fiddling with on the battlefield in a time critical context is a strap or release for your visor with a gauntleted hand...

[@scholagladiatoria]

I agree completely. I think the modern viewpoint is because people use visors like a fencing mask - as a safety device to make friendly combat safe. The context is more like historical tournament fighting, but completely unlike battlefield context, where being able to open the visor easily and without assistance is vital. As you say, being able to see, breath and hear better is often of more benefit than having your face covered.

[@RainbowDevourer]

What about those face-mask looking helmet I often see when searching for Byzantine Cataphracts and Samurai Helmets? Is this an example at a tradeoff which prioritize visibility over supreme protection, or was it mostly a psychological thing?

[@the_snobot]

I'm not an expert, but I would suspect that a mempo (the Japanese face-covering armor) would be less effective at deflecting blows and protecting the face than the bascinet visor. The bascinet has a very rounded, smooth, conical visor, which would naturally tend to deflect missiles and other weapons. Mempos on the other hand are flatter and -- in the case of detailed ones with proper faces sculpted into them -- are less smooth. That combination of being both flat and ridged wouldn't be nearly as protective. And because the mempo is so close to the face any direct blow would likely transfer a good amount of the force directly to the face. That said, a mempo would provide far better visibility, seeing as the eye holes tend to be larger and closer to the face. The trade-off would be that it offers significantly less protection (but probably better than nothing). And just to take Matt's favourite word for a moment, the battlefield context of the bascinet vs the mempo is rather different. The weapons and tactics a samurai wearing a mempo was likely to encounter were different than a man-at-arms wearing a bascinet, meaning the two warriors would likely value different levels and styles of protection.

[@KorKhan89]

+scholagladiatoria I can't be the only one who'd absolutely love to see a collaboration between you two! I realise that distance is an issue, but surely some kind of remote solution would be feasible.

[@OfNaught]

Somewht relatedly, in modern armored warfare tank commanders more often than not ride unbuttoned despite it exposing them to enemy fire. Nothing like using one's own unobstructed eyes to maintain situational awareness.

[@RealLuckless]

One thing that many people forget when it comes to armour: Being dead due to heatstroke is still just as dead as a sword through the head.

[@akatsukami9578]

Indeed; the highest-ranking English casualty at Agincourt, Edward 2nd Duke of York, is said by some chroniclers to have been "smouldered to death" by "much heat and pressing".

[@BeKindToBirds]

There is also a lot of cold in Europe

[@medea27]

@@BeKindToBirds Hyperthermia is a danger even in cold ambient temperatures... if your body temp becomes elevated & you can't cool down through sweating (because you're wearing kilos of fabric & armour) you're in big trouble. Having passed out from heat stress in mosh pits at outdoor winter concerts, I can attest to how fast it happens & how hard it is to lower your core body temp once enveloped in oppressive heat. It's like you're wearing a sauna 🥵 They also tended to wage war during warmer month back then... no point losing half your army & cavalry on the march to the battleground.

[@BeKindToBirds]

@@medea27 You know, I have often heard of that effect but you explained it very well I think. I always thought it was somewhat a trick how often my winter sports instructors would hammer on the fact you still sweat and need to drink water and often more so because the insulation of the coats fools you so well. You connected the theory with the feeling quite well, I'll certainly take that advice I've heard my whole life a little more seriously. (I'm afraid I heard it young and never witnessed it so after all these years I am realizing I am taking it lightly when it can and has killed outdoorsman every year.

[@basilb4524]

you didn't smack your helmet with a rolling pin. Disappointed.

[@krautandsalo]

I agree

[@mattaffenit9898]

basil B He'd break the rolling pin.

[@jackcatlow3716]

In my experience with amateur boxing , I hated sparring and fighting with the head guard on , it ruins your peripheral vision . The shots you don't see are the worst, because your brain doesn't have time to adjust and prepare for the impact . So even if you don't have time to defend the shot , your still expecting it with no head guard blocking your vision.You will notice now (if you had seen the latest olympics) that senior (over 18s) amateur boxers don't fight with head guards . I imagine this would of been a similar view a knight may have had . The compromise between protection and vision, albeit at a lot more costly level.

[@burntbybrighteyes]

In german there's the saying: "Mit offenem Visier kämpfen." It translates to: "to fight with an open visor." It's still used quite commonly and means to be open and blunt in a discussion or to "fight" fairly.

[@PaulA-fp3vs]

The heat in the crusades must have been truly hell.

[@doomjoon_zmajich]

They didn't have this type of bascinets back then, but they had something probably worse - the great helm.

[@bjfowler3106]

From what we know, it seems the Great Helm could be removed and slung over the shoulder after the most dangerous situations have passed. Under a great helm, a smaller skullcap was worn, sometimes with a mail aventail to provide effective head protection when not wearing the Great helm. I believe Knyght Errant mentions this on his channel; I'm surprised he hasn't popped up here in this comment section yet. Haha!

[@doomjoon_zmajich]

BJ Fowler Oh, thank you, I didn't know that.

[@bjfowler3106]

***** Mmhm, it was. At the time it was called a cervelliere. An early form of bascinet, lacking a visor of course. I didn't refer to it as such to avoid confusion, though.

[@UnbeltedSundew]

It was. Apparently it directly led to a major loss for the Crusaders in the Battle of Hattin. That whole area is immensely hot during the summer, Tiberias is below sea level and it is in a desert. It's bad enough just walking around in normal clothes I can't imagine how bad it would be in full armour.

[@Luciffrit]

Didn't Roman helmets have cutouts for the ears? Communication is a powerful tool.

[@339Jackscarify]

It did indeed

[@nobbynoris]

I've seen this helmet interpreted before, (I think) by the military historian Richard Holmes, as a direct evolution against arrows. This explains why the helmet is so sharply pointed, and why the eye-slits are so far away from the eyes and indeed why they are raised from the body of the visor and tapered, and so sharply reducing the vision of the wearer. The visor was intended only to be worn during the charge, when his horse would be his eyes. This would explain why so many surviving contemporary illustrations depict bascinet-wearers in the thick of the melee with their visor up. They had survived the English arrow storm, so, job done.

[@BeKindToBirds]

Arrows perhaps, but I think it is far more likely it was designed for the Lance and pollaxe. Less protected helmets can already proof against arrows, but a great big point to deflect the force of a major blow away and up is clearly designed for the lance

[@StuSaville]

Quokka-faced bascinet... Worlds happiest helmet!

[@shade9592]

Nice!...

[@UnclePutte]

:D

[@bloodypine22]

Stu Saville Now you can get your face bashed in by a man with a happy helmet

[@99IronDuke]

Knight Errant does indeed have a brilliant channel for those interested in Armour.

[@Maaaarz]

It feels like I'm not wearing a helemet at all! ...a helmet at all... ...a helmet at all... ...a helmet at all... Stupid, sexy Easton...!

[@HarryFlashmanVC]

Completely agree with over heating in plate and maille. Each year I wear full plate, maille, gambeson for a fete, it's a battle reproduction, I wear it in October, in Northumberland for 6 hours and I drink about 6 lts water and probably sweat out about 2 stone, it simply dosent cool down. Your point about air, movement, functioning etc is spot on, Matt

[@nathanielmaxner8884]

Great video! I really enjoyed the points on fighting with the visor up (or not there) and as a fan of Knyght Errant enjoyed the shout out to him, and the presentation of information that differs from his videos.

[@Dravreth]

I have a feeling that Matt really enjoyed opening and closing the visor.

[@christopherknorr2895]

Matt, is it true that the salute originates from the act of a leader lifting his visor in order to address his men?

[@johncarper2816]

Admittedly 14th century medical care was a different kettle of fish, but modern wound ballistics texts note that even against modern weapons the face is pretty well-protected. I recollect some before and after surgery photos of a South Vietnamese officer who had taken mortar fragments to the face. You'd initially have figured that he was a goner, but once cleaned up and sewn up it was surprising how superficial the damage was. Of course, you have to have the luck to not catch it in the eye.

[@ariochiv]

The lower chainmail portion seems like it's really well made; it doesn't hang from the chin the way some replicas do, but it sill appears to have plenty of room for movement of the head. It feels very authentic.

[@X_Jompis_X]

I bought a pig face helmet and it arrived today. Awesome video by the way it's interesting to learn why the helmet is shaped in a special way and i have always been interested in medieval history.

[@LumiKuuro]

"Indeed I AM gonna show you more an more armour..." Wow, this kind of like a striptease, but only in reverse XD

[@oisnowy5368]

+1 for using context again and again.

[@Modighen]

I find that I'm also relying on the word "context" in more situations, mostly because people like jumping to the wrong conclusions.

[@hazebayne5491]

I need this for protection against the Saracen hordes.

[@100dfrost]

Matt, Henry V found out one of the disadvantages of having a visor up. Great video, thanks, Dante.

[@godoftenors]

One other fun point- the visor up still offers a good bit of protection against descending blows, and might still be workable against volleyed fire by ducking a bit.

[@DaaaahWhoosh]

I've been noticing in a lot of artwork that even sallets (with an eye-slit closer to the eyes) are usually worn pushed back (even ones with visors have the visor down, but the helmet back so people can look under them). I guess that follows up to modern times, where bulletproof facemasks exist, but most soldiers don't use them. Protecting the face is great, but if it gets you knocked on your ass or worse by a threat you couldn't see or didn't have the oxygen to evade, then it's not worth it.

[@jasondoe2596]

Very interesting and informative! I was surprised to hear there were alternate visors - one usually associates "modular design" with more modern settings... I'd love to see examples. Looking forward to more videos!

[@Armored_Muskrat]

Just want to note that if you're fighting in that helmet with your visor up, just about any blow from above (and a downward blow is the easiest) will knock the visor closed and "automatically" protect your face. So at least 50% of blows directed at the head will be intercepted by the visor even when it's open.

[@the51project]

Matt has never looked better!

[@OlaJustin]

It's good if you link the channel you recommend in the description. Awesome video!

[@scholagladiatoria]

Done!

[@OlaJustin]

+scholagladiatoria well that was fast! 👏👏👏

[@justsomeguy3931]

I used to wonder why some of my WarHammer Space Marines helmets looked like that. I never cared for them as looks as a kid, once I made the connection. But I do appreciate their function now, and wouldn't be surprised if I ended up with one in a "past life" lol

[@LeviAEthan512]

I'm glad someone respected said this. I like open face helmets very much. Especially the barbute kind. Some of my friends who are interested in this kind of thing ridicule me for liking full face shields. The way i see it, if I get hit in the face, I'm dead anyway. if it's shielded, I'll be disorientated enough that the next blow kills me or secures the kill at least. If there are archers, I have a shield to protect my face. If there are archers and melee fighters, I'm probably more concerned with the melee fighters anyway.

[@paulpeterson4216]

Try setting the camera inside the helmet and showing us what you could see. Perhaps even walk around with the camera/helmet mount. That would be an interesting experiment.

[@yoda112358]

If you're doing more helmet videos, you should put the helmet on the camera for a bit to show the field of view.

[@TheVanguardFighter]

I'd like to see a video about individual combat in amor as described in medieval fencing treatises. Especially about grappling in armor.

[@schizoidboy]

Reminds me of what I once read in a martial arts magazine a long time ago about a basic taekwondo sparing match being equal to a long distance run. In that context there is no armor, save perhaps for a foam chest protector and foam helmet and other pieces which weigh nothing, whereas in historical fighting there is armor and weapons all of which effect the fighters while they are also fighting hand to hand.

[@TonboIV]

Watching this, I thought about Otto Carius, commanding his Tiger half exposed through the hatch, or Admiral Togo commanding his fleet from the bridge of Mikasa at Tsushima. The vision slits in Mikasa's conning tower are even reminiscent of a bascinet.

[@blaz3ofglory]

I enjoy your channel very much. Always informative and interesting. Have you reviewed medieval Ottoman/Turkish weaponry before? For instance like what were the janissaries equipped with and how did they fare against the European forces? My apologies if you've covered the subject before.

[@JC-Denton]

Haha, at the very moment I saw the beginning of the video (with rather dull sound due to the technical reasons), I thought, "Hey, I have seen this before!". And then comes your reference to Ian's channel. Cool, looks like we have a nice little HEMA community here... Cheers, Jess PS Nice ending, too.

[@lucanic4328]

Finally someone who look at the problem; most of the european armor and helmet have this problem. People just see the helmet and the full harness and think that the story ends there, but armor is not only about protection. Is also about overheating, sweating, awarness, field of view, breathing and ventilation. For example, the japanese helmet and the turkish helmet shows some good solutions to the problem. The mask was able to protect the face whithout compromising breathing and field of view, and the neck lames were not to close to the head to allow air ventilation and heat ventilation. We can see similar choice design in europe with the lobster tail helmet

[@MrSeverus17]

I enjoy seeing these helmets examined and explained, keep up the good work?

[@divanavitch]

I wear one for buhurt. Not gonna lie. I’ve tripped over body’s because I couldn’t see them on many occasions. Lol. Spot on

[@ilikewasabe]

got to love the immersive context!

[@ImEvan]

Hey Matt, have you thought of doing a collaboration with Ian LaSpina? I feel like that's something a lot of people would like to see. Especially the people who are asking for more armor videos (like me)

[@absolutelyheretical7132]

Awesome video! Looking forward to seeing the rest of your armour :)

[@edheldude]

He showed it in a previous video.

[@Yoshimitsu882]

I can't unsee the smiley mouth now

[@TheAquarius1978]

" I target legs quite a lot ", Matt i have to say that you have the making of a superb football player mate.

[@BigDave15]

A superb footballer targets the ball.

[@TheAquarius1978]

BigDave15 You should tell that to Pepe then mate. lol

[@stupidburp]

I think the Japanese face masks were a good compromise solution. While the level of protection is light, it is better than nothing and you have nearly unimpaired vision and speech. They sometimes had a separate piece for the cheeks and lower jaw. Since the mask is right against the users face, they have excellent field of vision. With an opening right at the mouth, air and sound can pass easily out. The protection is sufficient for light or glancing hits but an arrow or strong hit will probably still penetrate, depending on the materials used for the mask. Were there European examples of using protective masks with open face helmets?

[@TheWampam]

There are european masks found in anglo-saxon graves and roman cavallry and officers probably used masks. The problem I see with masks is that they have to be quite thin and be made out of soft material like bronze or leather which doesn't protect you well. As far as I know it was mainly used to intimidate the enemy.

[@stupidburp]

A hockey mask provides adequate protection from a puck moving at high velocity and they are just made out of common plastic. I suspect a mask made out of any reasonably tough material would provide significant but not complete protection.

[@H311fi5h]

How well does the visor stay up? Could you accidentally "shake" it down when moving quickly in combat?

[@mpsmith47304]

Because of the angle of the pivot points, the friction hold is pretty good on a well-made replica.

[@roflwaffles222]

The look on that guys face at 7:23, the one in blue on the right. He's like "Can you believe this?"

[@carrieseymour5197]

It's supposed to be pig-faced or houndskull, but especially when the visor is up and we only see the pointed snout, I can only think shark.

[@EclipsisTenebris]

*they tend not to shoot into melee* Tell that to Tabletop players!

[@mattaffenit9898]

Dracul JOSHI *Swords can't cut through armor* Tell that to tabletop players.

[@Aginulfus]

Hehe. "Accidentally" dropping artillery on conscripts in close combat...

[@salimzwein]

I think the visor was used only on the last seconds of a cavalry (knight) charge ..or if it was raining arrows during a charge (the horse speed would be enogh to cool the knight inside and he would be protected before the clash from any pointy spears, or projectiles.

[@EvelynnEleonore]

WAIT THIS NOW FINALLY MAKES SENSE OF THE "END YOUR OPPONENT RIGHTLY" THING I will assume that the pommel wasn't as hard to remove as we usually think. Once your opponent opens their visor, you throw your pommel into their face. They are encumbered by heavy armor and fail to dodge, get their nose squashed a bit and a big surprise (in the treatise where the technique is shown the fighter is unscrewing the pommel as their still have their visors on, meaning the impaired vision might well cause the enemy not to notice) which gives you a definitive advantage! (im 90% kidding but also: maybe~)

[@skaboodlydoodle]

Even modern protection understands all of this. Mobility, visibility, and comfort is more important than protection. Most Armour can't stop a rifle round anyway so there's no point overburdening a soldier with inefficient protection when they could have that extra bit of mobility or ventilation or reduction of weight. If you look at modern plate carriers and helmets you'll see that over the last 10 years they've been steadily shaving away material bit by bit until now all we have is literally 2 plates that are connected by straps and a helmet that only covers the front, top, and portion of the back of the head. When you're fighting for extended periods every ounce starts to feel like a pound.

[@kamilszadkowski8864]

Hopefully after watching this video some people will show a bit more respect to reenactors and HMB fighters.

[@intergalacticimperialist9670]

Damn new comment section, can't reply to replies. Anyway you were talking about sallets and someone brought up longer visors, What's your opinion on bellows style sallets? They have a visor which covers up to the chin. Surely with a gorget and a liner it'd be a good compromise?

[@MichaelJenkins910]

There are versions of this going on now. I've heard stories from US veterans of the war in Vietnam in which they ditched their helmets in favor of lighter headgear to save on heat fatigue and weight. Some of the photos and video I've sen from Iraq and Afghanistan suggest this is still a consideration.

[@DwarfElvishDiplomacy]

Its called a "Hundsgugel" in German, a gugel is a traditional hood, hund means dog

[@absolutelyheretical7132]

Also hundskull, klappvisier etc.

[@Kaucukovnik666]

I thought klappvisor is a term for visors with one hinge at the top. Just hearing or seeing the word makes me visualize the visor flapping on its hinge. I used to like the appearance of later helmets like sallets and armets considerably more, but these 14th century pieces are growing on me over time. Well, greathelms still look the most badass. :)

[@absolutelyheretical7132]

Kaucukovnik666 Klappvisier has a totally flat face but it basically the same as the pig faced one :) Also yeah me too, I prefer the common footsoldiers equipment the most though. There's some really cool looking helmets from these periods :D

[@HBOrrgg]

If you're just using the visor to protect against missiles and then lifting it up once you get into melee then couldn't pretty much the same thing accomplished by an open faced burgonet or morion? According to Humfrey Barwick, all a 16th century infantryman advancing into a hail of arrows had to do was tilt his head forward to protect his face and he was good to go.

[@marcuschauvin7039]

I like the look of the klappface style.

[@sergarlantyrell7847]

Some sort of cage (like they use in kendo) under the visor would be good, so you still had some protection after you removed the visor in a melee.

[@FirstNameLastName-kr2uq]

8:12 it cracked me up that he could just continue to be so serious about this all after calling it a a "smiley mouth"

[@xenophon5354]

What's the fiercely curved saber on the wall behind you?

[@wanadeena]

ah the beakie helmet so cool

[@deektedrgg]

Beakies fo lyfe!

[@christophereppig7156]

It would be cool to see people sparring with their vision obstructed to an extent equivalent to one of these visors.

[@deektedrgg]

Makes you think why all those fantasy games don't feature magical armours of heat circulation, easy breathing, and magical sight and sound.

[@gostino1000]

In Germany it`s also called a Hundsgurgel, That means a dogs throad.

[@muskyelondragon]

Really really great video

[@ramisabreur7961]

Awesome video ! well done Matt You mentionned that hands get hit a lot in combat so why mail mittens were not developed earlier in hisotry despite their significant advantage ?

[@showmae8459]

i love plate armour

[@showmae8459]

Meriadoc Gunson ahhaha

[@johnyricco1220]

The loss of situation awarness with the visor down may not be as big of a problem on horseback as you can rely on the horse to see for you to some extent. I can see the value of the visor in a cav charge, but seems more trouble than its worth on foot.

[@tobiashagstrom4168]

I assume there were never any helmets that experimented with using glass or something other transparent to protect the eyes with? I would assume not, because I've never heard of it, glass is kinda fragile, and a hard impact across the face could perhaps shatter the glass into your eyes.

[@tobiashagstrom4168]

***** Pretty much what I thought. Transparent visors should perhaps be explored more in fantasy, where you can have fictitious transparent materials more suitable for armor.

[@intergalacticimperialist9670]

I always wondered how a screen of steel wire would work combined with a slightly larger eyeslit

[@0hn0haha]

"My vision is crap!" -Matt Easton 2016 #mattshealth

[@arcadia713]

"I cant see my hands!"

[@andrewstrongman305]

I'm thinking that the great bascinet with visor would mostly have been worn by knights, and would have been an improvement from the greathelm.

[@davidschlageter5962]

Living in Florida you have to wonder how the Spanish explorers dealt with armor and woolen garments.

[@intergalacticimperialist9670]

Wow never thought I'd feel sorry for conquistadors

[@bloodypine22]

David Schlageter They ditched the armor

[@brendandor]

Why didn't they have a few bars underneath the visor similar to the 1640 English civil war parliament cavalry Helmet?

[@blackfin2389]

I love the basinet but I couldn't get out of my mind that with the visor up you look like an astronaut from an early film

[@JimGiant]

Matt, any chance of a video talking about how overheating was considered and accounted for in armour design?

[@TheRomanRuler]

I don`t know how far back history this goes, but my grand mother told that she was taught at school to write with right hand even though she was left handed. At the time it was believed that there is no such thing as left handed, some people just need to learn more. Which is understandable because most people are right handed and left handed people can learn to do things with their right handed practically just as well. So if that was the case in middle ages, it would not be "most people are right handed", it would be "everyone was right handed or you learned to be right handed".

[@iapetusmccool]

I've heard that forced righthandedness only really became a thing during the industrial revolution, because factory owners wanted standardized workers to operate their standardized tools and machinary.

[@sharkfinbite]

I think what he could say that would be straight to the point. "Have you ever played call of duty or any video game where you had the ability to hit an opponent at a specific spot? You remember how often you hit an opponent in the neck or in the head? It wasn't very often was it? Now try imagining and recalling how often you hit them in the neck. It's not very often. That's why it's not as big of a problem."

[@TheOhgodineedaname]

Maybe this is why only heavy European cavalry and dismounted men-at-arms ever wore fully enclosing face protection. The rest of the world and European infantry didn't bother. (Mail veils and samurai mempo being an exception)

[@qiangluo1974]

when i spar in boxing i noticed that its harder to check a hook with the helment too.

[@michaelcrawford3663]

Go ahead and tell Henry Hotspur it’s better to fight with an open visor or Henry V. I know these are just two examples but I think I would keep the visit down until I was absolutely certain I wasn’t going to get hit by an arrow or maybe just stay in formation so I don’t have to worry about getting hit from the left or right as much.

[@michaelcrawford3663]

But that being said I totally agree with the points made in this video. Well made and articulated.

[@Roberthomas]

Why did the "spangenhelm" (which is similar to the burgonet in style) go out of fashion? I suppose the simplest explanation is "arrow fire," but if this was the case, and bascinet-wearers removed their visors anyway, why not simply continue using the "spangenhelm" but with more face protection (in the minor of the classic "viking" helmet).

[@ThePalacios123]

really interesting perspective man!

[@EwanMarshall]

Same while not in heavy combat they run modern tanks with the hatches open and the commander sat looking out the top of the turret... All the same rules apply.

[@GeorgeKarayannis]

Knyght Errant is a brilliant channel +1

[@grinningchicken]

Were the fully heavy armored soldiers only for specific tasks like shattering a line or advancing into armor with the lighter armored troops more for all purpose?

[@MB-bg1ek]

Can you put a cam in the helmet with visor down, so that we can get a idea of how it looks to be inside of this?

[@PP-th4ft]

Very nice, Mett

[@omariscovoador7486]

Thats also one of the reasons why all military forces around the globe nowadays prefer open-face helmets.

[@christopherdavis7069]

I'm from arizona it feels like I'm constantly cooking either way

[@kanck7909]

The helmat face looks funny.

[@HipposHateWater]

I always thought the lack of breaths on the left half of the visor was so the point of a lance is less likely to catch and wrench your neck when you're on horseback. Is penetration of breaths (spears, arrows, etc) really that likely? (I have an old Terry Tindill fencing mask that's almost entirely 16ga perforated plate, and I've always wondered how effective it would be with all those "breaths" compared to a more conventional historical helmet like a bascinet (sans aventail) or sallet.)

[@duchessskye4072]

What a missed opportunity to give this helmet to The Hound instead of that extremely weird one he has. Oh well...

[@sky4eyes]

bascinets looks funny you know it's a smile pig face

[@spikeguy33]

Why didn't they have like a metal grille one the face (not the eyes) with ~1cm "holes" , like on a fencing mask, just with a lot thicker (and rare'er) metal "rods"? Something similar to sabre hilts. That would probably stop spear and sword thrusts. And it shouldn't impare vision or breathing too much. Or did the majority of kills not come from opportunistic face stabs? Come to think of it, how did the majority of deaths happen in plate armored fights? Is it even known? (video, please)

[@e.zponder7526]

They did, sometimes, but not always. There's lots of different designs of medieval helms.

[@elijahtalmud8281]

s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/0e/d6/2f/0ed62fb8f6e8b294d5490820484d5e23.jpg Not the same thing, but a similar concept. Maximilian period helmets also had a similar theme of lots of small openings over the entire face.

[@pellaken]

Idea: Do a whole series on armour. Helmets, chestplates, greaves. Etc. Then on April Fools, do a video on your armour series... ...from a Tank! any tank will do, maybe something at a nearby museum. Maybe a Crusader, or a Sherman, or an old Mark V. And play it straight. Pretend you've always been a tank guy. Replace the sound in your opening logo with some squeaky tank treads. If you like this idea, wait a month or two, and delete this comment :P

[@TheLodgePainting]

Maybe the visor was removeable because they would get beat all to hell, so could be replaced or removed easily if damaged.

[@DeathWishMonkey]

GIF idea: I cannot see very well out of these at all!