Medieval & Fantasy Minecraft Roleplaying

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Weapons to consider

MRPolo13

The Arbiter of the Gods
Again, I agree.

For start, I am certainly not a professional historian, and am far from them. I also find twentieth century more interesting. Though I am trying to fill out gaps in knowledge, as you said, things like polearms is a gigantic topic of its own that could easily make an entire thread.
You're clearly the expert here, I'm just trying to help people enhance their Role Play and push people away from "A sword" and "A bow", which is what I stated to start with :p
 

ThadTheDinger

Loyal Servant of Altera
:oops: I'm no expert. I just have a morbid interest in strategy and war.

I'd just like to offer my my thanks for the work you put into this.
 

Sos

Lord of Altera
question... what about more unconventional weapons...
like the Ulaks


Now a certain respectable man who is quite knowledgeable said that they may have some use...
cough*
*cough*


Thoughts?
 

MRPolo13

The Arbiter of the Gods
question... what about more unconventional weapons...
like the Ulaks


Now a certain respectable man who is quite knowledgeable said that they may have some use...
cough*
*cough*


Thoughts?
My answer is this:
Even if of any use, why bother? These weapons are easily worse than normal daggers and, if you really have to, sickles. There is next to no guard, and punching with these wouldn't be that effective. I'd personally go with a normal dagger, or one with a curved edge. Not only would this weapon be hard to make (since it's not easy to forge something like this. The Ukaks here are probably cut out and smoothed, not forged, although I'm no blacksmith :p), it also doesn't protect half as well as a dagger with a crossguard, which protects the back of the hand too. Also, you lose a lot of range with equal weight, because you have a very short range in whatever way you use this weapon. As for other unconventional weapons, it's really a case-by-case thing. Also, that's my opinion, backed by my own observations :p (Skaalgrim annoys me. He's extremely arrogant and rarely uses actual historical data to support his case, which does't mean he's bad. I respect the guy and his tests of modern weapons are pretty damn good, but if I was to choose between him and, say, Matt from Schola Gladiatoria, I'd go with Matt who always presents historical accounts. Just a personal opinion :p)
 

Gaby

Lord of Altera
I am so happy you made this.

I wanted a bit more info on unconventional blades, however. not ulaks specifically, but say for example, hook swords and curved daggers
 

MRPolo13

The Arbiter of the Gods
As I said, unconventional weapons are all a case-by-case things.



I assume that's what you meant by hook sword. If not, please post a picture of one :p

Well, this sword is... odd, and fairly useless in my opinion. It wouldn't have much in the way of balance, and a large portion of the top would be useless, effectively shortening the edge. The hook seems like a weak point in the design and would simply handicap the weapon, since stabbing is no longer an option. In a sense, this weapon would therefore be only for cutting, and the extremely short range that the hook gives extra in this attack isn't worth losing the ability to stab. What I CAN see this weapon be used for is fighting against shields, perhaps, or as a sort of crowbar against armour, but other than that, it seems really impractical, unbalanced, and leaves your hand largely unprotected as soon as someone gets their blade to the back edge.

As for curved daggers, they work. Indians used curved daggers for centuries, and it clearly works. Depending on the curve, they can be the same as straight daggers (albeit, often shorter and/or stubbier) or they can be thicker than them. Probably not as great as weapons in the same sense as European daggers were (which were used to get through armour and were often thin), but I'd say good against lightly armoured opponents or for normal civilian use.
 

Gaby

Lord of Altera
the thing about the hooked swords (that I remember at least) is that they weren't used for stabbing at all. they were for the express purpose of disarming your opponent. they were a more defense-oriented sword, not really built to run someone through, rather to get their sword out of their hands and incapacitate them. as far as weapons go, pretty peaceful, honestly.

there's also a great deal of technique involved in fighting with sickles. once again, most of this technique has to do with incapacitating your opponent. (the most I remember of it is that you keep your other hand raised, palm open, for some really good reason that I forgot because weaponry is not my forte)

another unconventional blade I noticed (probably only unconventional from my perspective) was the dagger @BrianAT16 stated belonged to his character Morna Rhett. as I noted in the link he gave me, it was a triple-edged dagger, as opposed to the single-edged or double-edged blades we're used to. because of this unique quality, it more resembled a point than a proper blade. it was also very skinny.
as the site noted, such a blade would be best used in stabbing someone quickly, as it could more easily find a chink in someone's armor, but its rather... round shape meant it wouldn't be all that good for slashing. it could be used to parry attacks, I suppose, but I doubt that was its intended use.

(I'm taking all this info from memory because I don't have links weh ;_; )
 

MRPolo13

The Arbiter of the Gods
the thing about the hooked swords (that I remember at least) is that they weren't used for stabbing at all. they were for the express purpose of disarming your opponent. they were a more defense-oriented sword, not really built to run someone through, rather to get their sword out of their hands and incapacitate them. as far as weapons go, pretty peaceful, honestly.

there's also a great deal of technique involved in fighting with sickles. once again, most of this technique has to do with incapacitating your opponent. (the most I remember of it is that you keep your other hand raised, palm open, for some really good reason that I forgot because weaponry is not my forte)

another unconventional blade I noticed (probably only unconventional from my perspective) was the dagger @BrianAT16 stated belonged to his character Morna Rhett. as I noted in the link he gave me, it was a triple-edged dagger, as opposed to the single-edged or double-edged blades we're used to. because of this unique quality, it more resembled a point than a proper blade. it was also very skinny.
as the site noted, such a blade would be best used in stabbing someone quickly, as it could more easily find a chink in someone's armor, but its rather... round shape meant it wouldn't be all that good for slashing. it could be used to parry attacks, I suppose, but I doubt that was its intended use.

(I'm taking all this info from memory because I don't have links weh ;_; )
All right, let's assume you use your weapon for disarming purposes. You manage to hook around the opponent's blade and catch it in the hook. However, he has the lever here. All he has to do is thrust, since following laws of physics he has the advantage. I guess the sword could work under certain circumstances, but personally I wouldn't touch that thing with a ten-foot pole... Which actually brings a fair point; this sword could be used for disarming polarm-wielding opponents. However, they also had sidearms, which would be a lot nastier against this thing.

I'm far from being an expert on sickle-fighting. I appreciate it's there, but sickles can vary greatly in shapes and sizes, and there were far more capable people who wrote treatises on sickles throughout centuries, usually with beautiful pictures to fit with it ;P

I can't comment on the dagger since I didn't see it, though remember that no weapon makes your hand specifically faster. It's not like you can go any faster than with your arm alone. Some weapons might be slower, as in heavier, to use, but that won't make other weapons faster to use than your raw strength.
 

MRPolo13

The Arbiter of the Gods
I never said it did that.
I just said it can fit into small spaces better, being skinny as heck.
So were most European daggers throughout Medieval times. Daggers were, especially amongst men-at-arms, means of finishing off an armoured oponent. Weapons such as misericorde dagger (literally - act of mercy) or some rondel daggers are a perfect example.



 
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