aldehid

I think that armor amog with other valuable things were part of the loot wich was shared with nobels who got the bigger part of it, but it's much likely that stealing from dead occured. But I mentioned the economical issues also to support the argument that those man went to battle almost naked. And they were motivated; they had nothing to lose and much to gain. BTW: This might seem off-topic but do you wonder adding some concept of looting in the game?

I think the economical point of view is still missing in this discussion. Consider this: Even in the second half of 19th century during the American Civil War it was somtimes very hard to equip an army with a uniform or adequate weapon. This was happing in industrialized world, when most of the hard metal-working manual labour was replaced by heavy machinery powerd by giant steam engines. Steel was produced in milions of tons per year. (According to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_steel_industry_(1850–1970) ). Textile-industry was even more progressive (According to Wealth and Poverty of Nations - David Landes). And still, there was lack of some esential eqiupment. It's estimated that around 100 AD the anual production of iron was 84 000 t. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ferrous_metallurgy#cite_note-30). That's just 0.84 kg of metal for each inhabitant of Roman Empire. Since less then a half of this production was used in military, that's just about 0,4 kg. Just enough to make a spear - and nothing else. Now, the price of such spear would be astronomical whan adding the work of a blacksmith who used just his own hands. I admitt the calculation is very simplified but we should consider the lack of resources in that point in history.