"armoured pike w tassets in late 30 YW?" Topic

Is it appropriate to paint units of pike in full back and breast and tassets for late 30 Years War – i.e. after about 1640?

Wondering if the tendency towards less armour also affected foot, as well as the horse.

Thanks.

My understanding is that the infantry would have been particularly fond of lightening their armour load, since they were the ones that had to march (and march and march) around on foot.

I believe a lot of guys were sawing a few feet off their pikes by that time also.

I am bumping this as my discussion board was not updating its index of threads over the weekend.

Hard to say as that is a period when the sources get really thin for many armies.

Based on the orginals and reproductions I've handled and worn getting rid of the tassets does not save a lot of weight. It does make it easier to move since you won't have the tassets bouncing against the leg when moving at a pace or over terrain that requires more leg movement. But you also loose a fair bit of protection as the tassets procted parts of the body that are fairly exposed in a pike fight.

If you want to save weight I'd get rid of the entire harness and helmet as well and more than a few writers complain that the soldiers did just this. On the other thand I can't remember a complaint about the men ditching the tassets but absence of evidence is not necissarily evidence of absence. Snayers for one certainly depicts pikemen without tassets. (Yet they retain helmets and even shoulder pieces, he also paints more and more unarmoured pikemen in his later works)

To expand the subject, to what extent did pike become unarmoured and in what time period would this be happening?