HI folks
I’m a soon-to-be first-time LARPER (coming to the Winter Solstice event in April) and am looking at armour options. I came across a few sites selling polyurethane “metal looking” suits and wondered if anyone had first hand experience of them at an event.
Are they durable? Are they sweat machines? How good do they really look when you’re wearing them?
Fist up, welcome along, to the hobby, the game, and these forums! 
They look pretty good, and given that the Orc armour is the same stuff, they can stand up to quite a bit of punishment, but can be tricky to get to fit correctly. Also, they are light as anything, which is a bonus. I’ll see if I can get some experts to answer you, as I don’t own any myself…
Armour, in general, is a sweat machine, as you will (no matter material) want to have a padding layer between you and the armour itself
(It may sound weird, but believe me, the bruises, pressure rubbed spots and/or nipped skin is not worth not wearing something between it and your base kit)
That and poly, like steel or aluminium, isn’t a super permeable material…and leather is barely permeable in armour form.
I wear steel riveted maille if in combat, so can’t comment on poly beyond the fact it is light and comes in some beautiful looking sets
What Nation are you looking at?
Heya, I’m a massive fan of poly armour, it’s durable, it’s light and it looks great!
It’s also dead comfy to charge downhills in 
I’m going to be an Imperial Orc so will be struggling with the latex mask ontop of my armour considerations. What I was thinking is that the poly armour would be a bit easier to live with as a Newbie (and its a lot cheaper) whilst I get used to the dynamics of the character and I can then build up a suit of proper plate over time.
What I’d really like to find is a graveyard where old armour goes to die and cannibalise stuff from there!
The issue is that LARPers dont tend to break armour at events, and it is a hell of a hassle to drag armour around, much less one that you wont use. There are some beautiful poly armours that suit a Imperial Orc very well though!
However, the Imperial Orcs (poor folks) have had quite a high turnover amongst characters. It might be worth asking on their Facebook page (or their forum) if they have any old armour they can’t bear the throw away, but would love to sell (likely cheap) to a new player.
Seconding above
Other thing which I’d say is give some of the traders at event a nosy. I did see some decent nick secondhand/seconds armour at a few of the stalls last event
Hi.
I’m fairly new to Larp (3 events) and I have a set of Poly armour and I think it’s great. It is light, comfortable, cheaper and no maintenance. No having to keep it oiled and rust free. It’s durable and I find because it’s light you are more likely to feel it if you are hit and keep track of your hit points.
Thanks for the advice - I’ve decided to bite the bullet and go for some bespoke plate armour which I think I can make work with my character’s back story
