Like it or not, you can learn a lot from historically-based video games like Civilization IV or Medieval Total War. These games are great for getting a general education on historical events, cultures, and types of ancient buildings and warriors. If you are looking to buy armor, then you can read this article to learn how these sets can help you do some preliminary research on your armor.

Medieval II: Total War (which we’ll call MTWII in the rest of the article) is a great place to check out some historical armor. It’s the latest game from Creative Assembly, so the graphics are top-notch and you can see in quite a bit of detail what soldiers wore in medieval times. For example, playing as the French faction in the game, you will eventually have a large number of knights at your disposal. Knights are the prime example where most suits of armor are found in castles and houses today. Why? Because they were often the most armored to serve as shock troops and break through hard-line defenses. Once you get that far in the game, you can see around 5 different types of armor that the knights wore. They include a Gothic style armor and a Milanese type armor. They also have the standard crossover and sugar loaf type of armor.

The surprising thing is that if you look around buying these, you will see similar designs in retail stores today. Why? These are from a third person perspective and you will be able to see in great detail the armor that the soldiers were wearing. Just pause the game and take a look at the armor a character is wearing. You will casually learn what designs seem to be popular in medieval times.