Beriadrim Arms and Armour Guide

The Archers

Weapons of the Beriadrim Archers

Every Beriadrim Archer should have:
~ One longbow
~ One quiver, containing 40 arrows
~ One shortsword

Armour of the Beriadrim Archers

To protect themselves, all archers should wear the following when going into combat:
~ One chainmail hauberk
~ A helmet
~ A set of bracers
~ A set of greaves

The Archers' Uniform

Like all other army divisions, the Archers have a uniform consisting of:
~ A dark green cloak
~ Forest green tunic
~ The emblem of Eärendil's star in a wave (The Beriadrim Emblem) on the braces
~ All leather parts of the armour are black or light brown

Descriptions of weapons and armour

Weapons:

Bows:
~ A longbow, carried on the back when not in use. Measuring between 5 to 6 feet in length and made of yew, the bow is powerful and has a range of up to 350 metres
~ A quiver, carried on the back containing 40 arrows

Sideweapons:
As a sideweapon archers use straight shortswords, two-edged and used for stabbing and slicing.
Comment: Swords are worn by the side (usually left - opposite to the swordhand) in scabbard.

Armour

Hauberk:
Long shirts of chained mail, reaching the knees. Sleeves usually reach the elbow.
(Source: Silm, the description of Gondolin troops)

Helmets:
All Beriadrim helms do have backhead and side protection - either in form of aventail (made of chainmail) or plate steel. The form of the helm itself differs according to the wish of soldier:
1)Dwarven and Sindarin: such helms are rounded at top, if the helm is made according the dwarven patterns it can also have eyeguards (halfmask) or full mask, covering all the face (source: UT); (RL - viking type)
2)Noldorin: high-crowned, conical pointed helm, open-faced unlike dwarven ones (source: Silm, ammunition of Feanor's sons); (RL - norman, some celtic types)

Bracers:
Leather wrist protection, they protect archer's wrist from the bow-string.

Greaves:
Defenses for the knee and lower leg. They are shaped and hinged to fit the front of the knee, lower leg and calf, and have raised and thickened edges to minimize the chance of these digging into the leg if hit. They are held in place using leather straps that buckle behind the leg.
The Archers use greaves made of leather.