The plane-strain indentation of single crystals by a periodic array of flat rigid contacts was analyzed. The mechanical response of the crystal was characterized by assuming conventional continuum crystal plasticity or discrete dislocation plasticity. The properties used for the conventional crystal plasticity description were chosen so that both theories gave essentially the same response in uniform plane-strain compression. The indentation predictions were then compared with particular regard to the effect of contact size and spacing. The limiting cases of frictionless contacts and of perfectly sticking contacts were analyzed. Conventional continuum plasticity predicted a size-independent response. Unless the contact-spacing/size ratio was very small, the predicted deformation mode under the contacts was a wedging mechanism of the type described by slip-line theory. This was only weakly sensitive to friction conditions. For the micron-scale contacts which were analyzed, discrete dislocation plasticity predicted a response that depended upon the contact-size as well as upon the contact-spacing/size ratio. When the contacts were spaced sufficiently far apart, discrete dislocation plasticity predicted that the deformation was localized beneath the contacts. For more closely-spaced contacts, deformation occurred via shear bands which extended relatively far into the crystal. Unless the contacts were sufficiently close together that the response was essentially one of plane-strain compression, the mean contact pressure predicted by discrete dislocation plasticity was substantially greater than that predicted by conventional continuum crystal plasticity and was more sensitive to the friction conditions. Multi-Asperity Contact - a Comparison between Discrete Dislocation and Crystal Plasticity Predictions. L.Nicola, A.F.Bower, K.S.Kim, A.Needleman, E.Van der Giessen: Philosophical Magazine, 2008, 88[30-32], 3713-29