Are two sword like Knee Spikes on Armor functional?

Here's a picture of what I'm imagining:
images


Now remove two spikes from each and place the last spike directly in the center slightly facing upwards.

When this be functional; or even practical in armor? If so; why was it not seen in medieval armors at all?

I imagine being able to knee your opponent to death would be useful If it ever comes to upclose combat.

Legs are powerful; and with enough force such spikes may even pierce armor.

Is it because of the possibilty of kneeing your opponent and the force backfiring and breaking your knee?

Would that occur even with sufficent internal padding?


Relevance: As to why/if this armor existed/did not exist in medieval times.
 
Doesn't have the reach to be terribly useful, and if you make it too long it unbalances you. Trying to knee someone in the middle of battle would be a good way to get your leg chopped off or get pushed over while standing on one foot.
 
Those spikes would be excellent targets for any polearms and will also act as a superb latch to move the knee in directions a knee is not designed to go ie a boar spear or bill, hook onto knee spike and pull or push equals dislocated knee
 
You could build that, but it would have to be a suit designed solely for one-on-one foot combat. Most armours are meant for battlefield use, and there, it would be highly impractical. Firstly because you need your legs for all kinds of things other than kicking. Riders guide horses with their legs (this looks like a good way to hurt a mount). Footsoldiers kneel in formation. Everybody walks, sits down, occasionally climbs stuff. Spikes would get in the way. Secondly, because in real armoured combat, you are going to get very close to other people in an uncontrolled environment. Even if you are good enough not to catch your spikes on anything and anyone and the enemy is bad enough not to hook or push them deliberately, you're going to be a hazard to your comrades as much as the enemy.
 
You could build that, but it would have to be a suit designed solely for one-on-one foot combat. Most armours are meant for battlefield use, and there, it would be highly impractical. Firstly because you need your legs for all kinds of things other than kicking. Riders guide horses with their legs (this looks like a good way to hurt a mount). Footsoldiers kneel in formation. Everybody walks, sits down, occasionally climbs stuff. Spikes would get in the way. Secondly, because in real armoured combat, you are going to get very close to other people in an uncontrolled environment. Even if you are good enough not to catch your spikes on anything and anyone and the enemy is bad enough not to hook or push them deliberately, you're going to be a hazard to your comrades as much as the enemy.

That makes sense.

Thank you all for the replies.
 
One Youtube channel I visit is called Lindybeige, it includes a number of videos on the topic of how fantasy arms and armour would actually work in the real world. One of the videos is specifically about spiked armour:


Some videos of particular interest:




 
LINDYBEIGE! I'm subscribed to his channel; he has a LOT of informative videos.

Aside from all the problems of use, I would imagine forging such armor could be problematic; after all, the spikes could easily break off or bend.
 
I have seen some photos of spiked elbow armor, not sure if historical, though. But yes, spiked knees would be too impractical.
 
The only spiked armor that is useful is shields if for no reason you can get rid of it if it gets in the way.
 
spiked armor (like the infamous 'boob armor' for women warriors) is one of those things that look good in fantasy art, but a bad idea in reality. Medieval armor was smooth and rounded for the same reason they put sloped armor on tanks... you want the enemy weapons to slide away, not get a solid hit...
 
One of the biggest problems with fantasy armors IMO is that the people designing them don't imagine what it'd actually feel like to wear it, especially in a non-combat setting. A recurring problem I've noticed are the goofy giant pauldrons that would prevent the wearer from lifting their arms up at all that tend to show up all the time in stuff like Warcraft or Warhammer. Or super-spiky armor that'd prevent you from sitting down in a chair without a hassle. Some artists need to learn the meaning of ergonomics, as well as "less is more".
 
Setting aside the practibilities in a fight, I don't think you want armor that might accidentally stab the person in front of you while you are standing in a line either. That seems like a rather excellent way to ruin a formation.
 
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