Protection - Which Lorica was best?

[Erik D. Schmid]

Would be a nice sensation to hack a lorica with a gladius though, but the dpka gladius would probs fall apart after the first blow. Also, this does not take into account other forms of armour (scale, mail and lamellar) which are off course, much more expensive, and I think there will be few people willing to lend these for a slash or hack

Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that. In addition to the full size plumata I am working on, I will be making smaller pieces to be used in destructive testing.

One thing I would like to point out though, pertains to how a plumata acts. The closest armour it resembles would be a medieval brigandine. While it is true that the backing material is mail, the scales effectively lock the links in place to a certain degree. How this affects the armours defensive qualities remains to be seen. Time will tell.