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Shoulder Plates & Neck Armor
Shoulder armor is the piece that completes the upper body. A chest plate covers the torso, vambraces protect the arms, but the shoulders are what connects them, fills the silhouette from every angle, and frames the neck and head in a way that no other single piece can. Get the shoulders right and a kit reads as whole. Leave them bare and even an excellent chest piece can look unfinished.
This category covers two distinct types of upper body plate armor, each solving a different part of that problem. Shoulder plates, in the form of pauldrons and spaulders, protect the shoulder joint itself and the upper arm. Gorgets protect the throat and neck. Both are covered here, and several pieces in the range combine them into a single assembly.
Shoulder Plates: Pauldrons and Spaulders
Shoulder plates are the broad family of armor pieces designed to protect the shoulder joint, the top of the upper arm, and in more complete designs, the upper chest and back as well. Within that family, two distinct forms have the most historical grounding.
A pauldron is the larger and more complete of the two: a multi-plate assembly that covers the entire shoulder and typically extends across part of the chest and back, often with articulated lames that follow the contour of the upper arm downward. Pauldrons are the shoulder armor of fully equipped knights and men-at-arms, the pieces that give late medieval plate armor its characteristic broad, imposing silhouette. They are also the more involved piece to fit and wear correctly, typically securing via straps to the chest and backplate or to an underlying garment.
A spaulder is a simpler, more compact shoulder defense: fewer plates, less coverage of the chest and back, and generally easier to wear as a standalone addition to a kit that is not full plate. Spaulders are historically associated with soldiers and fighters who needed shoulder protection without the weight and complexity of full pauldrons, and in a LARP context they are often the more practical choice for players who want shoulder coverage without committing to a complete upper body harness.
The range includes both, alongside several pieces that blend elements of each. The Landsknecht and Milanese pieces reference specific historical traditions with care, the Eventide, Dark Drake, and Dreki options commit fully to fantasy aesthetics, and the Captain, Soldier, Scout, and Mercenary shoulder plates occupy the practical middle ground that suits the broadest range of LARP character types.
Gorgets, Bevors, and Neck Protection
A gorget is a plate armor piece designed to protect the throat and neck: one of the most vulnerable targets in combat and one of the most visually important parts of a complete harness. Historically, the gorget developed alongside the cuirass as armor makers recognized that protecting the torso while leaving the neck exposed created an obvious and exploitable weak point. A well-fitted gorget closes that gap, connects the chest piece to any helmet above, and adds a level of completeness to the upper body that is immediately visible.
The bevor is a closely related piece that extends protection upward from the throat to cover the lower face and chin, and is included in this subcategory for that reason. Where a gorget protects the neck, a bevor bridges the gorget and the helmet, covering the area between them. The two were historically worn together as part of a complete head and neck defense.
Several pieces in this range combine gorget and shoulder protection into a single assembly, including the Rogue Neck and Shoulders, the Gothic Gorget and Shoulders, and the Black Ice Neck and Shoulder set. These are worth considering for anyone who wants to address both areas without sourcing two separate pieces, and they tend to offer a more cohesive visual result when the neck and shoulder design share the same aesthetic language.
Building Upward From the Chest
Shoulder plates and gorgets are most naturally added once a chest piece is in place, since both are designed to connect to and complement torso armor. The typical build sequence runs chest first, then gorget to close the neck gap, then shoulder plates to complete the upper body silhouette. That sequence is not a rule, but it reflects the order in which each addition makes the most visible difference.
For players and reenactors building incrementally, a gorget is often the higher priority addition since the neck is both a vulnerable target in LARP combat and a visually prominent gap in any kit. Shoulder plates follow naturally once the neck is covered, and the combination of chest, gorget, and pauldrons is the foundation of a complete upper body harness.