Ok… So I’m sitting here thinking Lamellar might be great in itself… but all the methods I have seen of putting it together involve lacing that holds large strips together. This seems foolish to me… why increase an area of failure, specially with something that is so prone to failure? How much evidence is there that proves that Lamellar was laced together in strips? I have seen very little myself, only people guessing at how it might be laced together.

So why is it so problematic in my mind? Lamellar lacing comes through to the outside… it become vunerable to being cut… If this lacing gets cut, then that whole strip of lacing becomes loose as the lacing slowly pulls through. This might not be a problem with a lace that holds the pieces together in strips, however if thise were to happen on a piece that holds the horizontal strips together, it could result in a large horizontal hole appearing slowly as the lacing pulls through and the weight of the lower lamellae start to pull the whole strip down.

Is it possibly that there was a way of lacing that would prevent this? Is it possibly that they weren’t laced at all, but individually tied? If each peice was just tied to the the pieces around it individually, then one of those ties getting cut wouldn’t affect the whole of the armour. Catostophic failures would be minimised. And repairs, whilst fiddly, would be just as strong as the original. This seems to me to be a far more reliable means of keeping the Lamellar together.

Another option, that there would be evidence for, but isn’t, so I’m guessing it isn’t period, is metal staples. I was concidering making these out of wire, and just bending them over on the inside. If a spacer were used, this would be just like using mail links to hold the pieces together, and a gap could be made to allow the pieces to move. Anyway… I shall be looking at at the individual tieing method for my Lamellar, as I cannot find any convincing evidence that lacing them together is infact better.