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Last of all the eastern force to stand firm were the Dwarves of Belegost..... it was their custom moreover to wear great masks in battle hideous to look upon; and those stood them in good stead against the dragons.
actually in Tolkein's works the First Age was presented as a golden age, of which the 2nd was a pale shadow.. and the 3rd Age was a pale shadow of the 2nd age. the 3rd Age was clearly presented as an early middle ages ("dark ages") aesthetic in general, though the Shire is clearly a slice of 17th century rural england stuck into an otherwise medieval age.the 1st and 2nd age involving more elaborate styles of the sort we saw in later periods IRL seems fitting to me, given that in the 1st age we also had things like the 'forged monsters of iron and fire' used to breach the wall of Gondolin (the description of which sounds very much like Tanks), or the flying ship Vingilótë captained by Eärendil. the First age was an Age of wonders unlike any that followed, so it seems weird to limit it to one tiny slice of real history, particularly one that was already well represented in the 3rd Age.
it gets even more so when you consider that while Oathmark is definitely Tolkein inspired, it is not middle earth, and as long as the result looks good alongside the existing Oathmark Dwarves, they can use whatever the heck they like for armor style inspiration and no one can say they are 'inaccurate', since it is a fantasy setting.
Might just have to agree to disagree on Tolkien armour and plate
That's true Mithril, but I must point out the masked Dwarves here are a 'Nick thing' and in no way anything to do with official Oathmark stuff. It's me goofing around with plastic bits, and musing on Tolkien's words.
We're actually going to incorporate masks into the helmet design of the 2nd Oathmark Dwarf box set