Uh, a tin can is just that: Made of tin, (or maybe aluminum). Not really comparable to armor made of 3 inch thick steel. ;)

lol... that would be some weighty armor. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Chain is good, but plate was the ultimate in modern midaeval 'tank of the battlefield' equipment. A charger mounted knight must have been a lot like a tank on the modern battlefield, big, heavy, ponderous, able to do a LOT of damage and difficult to kill. At the same time they were vulnerable to light fast and manuverable mounted infantry and archers... so they required adequate support from foot to be effective. They also tended to be dumb as a box of rocks and easy to manipulate, the machiavellian style derision for education was telling when they faced foes with compentent leadership and advanced tactics (Monguls come to mind).

One of the favorite tactics of the monguls (mounted light archers) was to engage western forces, then feign a withdrawl. The Knights, emboldened by the obvious cowardice of the enemy, would charge along after them, heedless of the fact that they were leaving their foot far behind. Soon the mongols would flank and encirle the knights and pick them off one at a time. The western knight could be a powerful adversary in single combat, but frankly I think as a fighting force the Romans were far more adept... and they were a thousand years earlier.