The Silk Road Designs Armoury

Soft Helmet of Maile and Plates, photographs and discussion of this appear at the page on Helmets (subpage Soft Helmets).

The body Armour is a transition between Armour of Bands and Maile and Plates.
The armour is in the form of a Coat which closes in front with straps and buckles.
The torso section of the coat has comparatively large overlapping rectangular plates connected by internal leather straps from the waist to the Solar Plexus. The patern of plates is similar to the Yushman though the developed Yushman does not use internal strapping. The upper chest is protected by narrow overlapping rectangular plates. The plates are held to the body by a large section of Maile, which extends into sleeves. The combination of internal strapping and Maile is similar to a 15th century Turkish armour at the Metropolitan Museum (which, however, uses narrow bands rather than rectangular plates).
There is a high colar of Maile reinforced with leather thongs.
The Maile sleeves of the coat are reinforced by a section of overlapping plates at the outside of the arm. Large oval Pauldrons are permannently attached to the sleeves with Maile.
The skirting of the armour is completely of "Bands" technology (overlapping bands fastened by internal strapping). It consists of four main sections protecting the legs, with the spine bands extended in a fifth section to protect the center of the back. A separate, removable section of bands to protect the front is attached with rings to the coat after the coat is fastened.

The forearms and elbows are protected by Bazubands, a photograph and discussion of these appears at the page on Arm Defenses. The right hand is protected by a gauntlet of overlapping plates.

The upper legs are protected by Turkish style cuises of large plates, connected by Maile, with integral Knee Coups. The cuises are only somewhat visible underneath the padded coat. They are a modified form of a type where two large front plates are hinged at the center, as illustrated at the page on Leg Defenses. The main difference is the rounded base of the cuise on the photographed set. The lower leg is protected by simple "Gutter Plate" Greaves with a curtain of Maile to protect the foot. These are made of a single plate, bent (like a gutter plate) to cover the front and sides of the lower leg.