To take a closer look at this set of figures, please visit http://2paintminiatures.com/blog/?p=6072 Historians divide the development of arms and armor in Russia into three periods. The first or "Norman" period from the 9th to the 13th centuries is characterized by the use of the kolchuga - mail shirt - for body armor; the mech - long straight sword - as offensive weapon; theshelm - round, hemispherical iron cap - for helmet; and the long, almond shaped "kite" shield. The second period began in the 13th century with a transition to a more Eastern, Mongol and Tatar-influenced style of weaponry during which sabers, round shields and eastern style body armor appeared in general use. At the beginning of the 17th century the third period saw the gradual introduction of Western influences and the Oriental styles wained slowly. Russians categorize medieval arms and armor as follows: Offensive: kolushchyeye - thrusting weapons, (including sabel, konchar, mech, nosh, and kindjal); metatel'noye - shooting (launching) weapons (including kolchan, djid, naluch, saadak, samostrel and sulitsa ); ru'yashchyeye - chopping weapons (including berdysh, sovna and rogatina); and udarnoye - striking weapons (including bulava, chekan, klevets, palitsa, shestoper, and topor). Defensive: dospekh orbronya - body armor (including pantsir, baidana, bakhteretz, kalantar', kol'chuga, kuyak, nagavits, tyegilyai, yushman and zertsalo); sholom or shlyem - head or neck protection - helmet (including barmitsa, litchina, misyurka, shishak, shlyem, yalovets and yerikhonka); and the shchit - shield (including the tarch). Reference: http://www.xenophon-mil.org/rushistory/medievalarmor/parti.htm