Questions regarding meidieval armor; Scale and chain

U653748

     Greetings everyone, i am currently working on a not so historically correct suit of armor and as i was working i became torn while attempting to decide on which to go for the under suit. While researching the different types i discovered that scale offers better protection and is easier to make, but sacrifices flexibility and mobility, while chain is the reverse offering better flexibility and mobility while sacrificing protection. I perhaps thought i could combine the two to get the best of both worlds but in a particular manor. 

     My basic idea was to have scale for coverage on most areas of the body such as chest, thighs, arms, the kneecaps, and then to use chain mail on the joint areas like the back of the knee, the elbow or the arm pit area. 

     The questions i have are as follows:

     How effective would this combination be at combining protection with mobility?

     Is there a perhaps a better or recommended way than my idea? 

     Is there anyone here in the community familiar enough with medieval armor that can assist me with my questions?

     Thank you for your time  

lotet

are you going for realism here?
you should check out Polish armor from the 1600.  they rocked a pretty sweet layered plate mail that was pretty much the best in the world.
if you want practical, no offense, but there is probably nothing "new innovative" we can come up with today that folks back then didn't try already. 
and honestly if you want mobility AND good protection, just wear a chain mail under the plate mail, no need in making it complicated.

battlecow

Scale armor has almost never been used in Europe, brigandines were but it's not really scale armor, I think scale armor was somewhat popular Japan or India, but they  adopted mail too as it is more flexible and offers better protection, you'd just have to stab underneath the scales to injure the wearer. You mostly see it in fantasy/sci fi movies along side useless  "leather" armor (not boiled leather wich is incredibly hard). European soldiers/knights would primarly use chainmail and gambison, as technology advanced they would add plate pieces. Articulated plate pieces started to appear in the 14th century. A well fitted full plate armor will not impact your mobility, the armor's weight is distributed all around your body (that's why it is so tight fitted). the same is true for mail , if you wear a belt ,the mail's weight is evenly distributed on your hips and does not  rest  on your shoulders only.

Swords can't cut through mail, even arrows from a british longbow have a hard time piercing it, mail is truly formidable, why waste your time with scale armor?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hlIUrd7d1Q

U653748

Thanks for the replies, and no offense taken , this definitely helped 

Kwramm

for realism, also consider the century of your armor. Armor changed quite a lot in the medieval period from around 1200 to the late 1400's . Certain techniques in armor making and combinations weren't common until later. For example, in early armor, chain mail was rare because it required a lot of effort to be made. Brigandines and padded under-tunics were more common.

lotet

@battlecow oooh, that video was really cool!
shame they didnt show any armor busters like warhammer or mace techniques though  

battlecow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi757-7XD94&list=PLLIZu9Gilb1ZSAuDyg0gLSOgHfhq8onRa
It's not with a mace but it's almost as good, I think the guy really felt it :]