Melee weapons and their clichés

[MorningWood]

Alright, first of all, this thread is supposed to take a quick overview about melee weapons, the use of these weapons and what are clichés we should get rid of.
We'll kick the can with our first cliché:



Double-sided axes.

What's the other side for? The other side of the axe is just extra weight and encumbrance you put on it. Most of the time when you swing you'll turn your arms before the next swing so you'll automatically have your axe's side pointing at the right side. Also, if you swing it back to the other side without turning your arms, your blow will become much less harder and thus less effective because you can't use your shoulders enough to swing your arms. A pick as other side is acceptable.



Now we go on to...



Greatswords... In the sense of 'great'...
Now I see this many times, those one-handed swords with a quite oversized blade. In some cases it is quite acceptable, like when the character uses the blades of a bastard sword on his one hander sword, but ranging from twohander swords to 'unrealisticgreatcumbersomesuperbreakablebutubersh iny swords'. After a swing or two, your arm muscles will already begin to feel the effects of swinging a really unbalanced blade, and that is not good, because you never know how long a battle might take. Also, another comment on those really unrealistic fantasy swords whose blades have the size of a human including it's width while they are still being carried with one hand.... believe me, even with using two hands those things will handle really slow. Also, they are extra breakable, swords are no lumpy clods of steel; real swords are fine pieces of steel who are a little bit flexible as well.



Another annoying factor:

Armor
This subject is a little more difficult, but it be overlooked. Ok, armors CAN be pierced, penetrated shattered, even with swords. There is NO such thing as "The unbreakable armor made by my father the blacksmith lalala...." Unless those armors are 'magically enchanted' they can be penetrated. A sword may be more unlikely to pierce it, but from a correct angle and a good blow, armor may just protect your life but not your flesh... Also, there are armor-piercing melee weapons, like axes, pickhammers, halberds, etc...
Armour ALWAYS has weak spots: Plate armour often leaves the armpits, neck and crotch open, mail armour can deflect sword slashes, but harder cuts especially from armor piercing weapons will shred that mail armour. Also, mail armour is more vulnerable to arrows.

Oh, arrows, I almost forgot. Short bows and/or recurve bows have small chances to pierce through fine plate armour, bows like "The Welsh Longbow" have a fair bit more chance to penetrate armour, and Crossbows, especially with steel arms, are THE medieval equivalent to anti-tank missiles.



And last but not least:


Shieldz

Give it up, shields are not entirely made out of iron, NEVER. Except some few exceptions like buckler shields, but they are thick and not suitable to cover from arrow fire.
Shields are most oftenly made out of wood with some leather over it. It stops arrows fairly well, but keep in mind that the more arrows your shield catches, the less able you'll be to use that shield. Those arrows replace the balance point of your shield, making it a LOT heavier. Shields eventually break too, especially when they get battered by a two hander axe or something brutally like that.




So. I'm fed up writing with this lot information. Might add a bit later, but here are some main points and stuff.

[Azarthes]

THANK YOU!!! OMG THANK YOU >< freaking gah, also, one points..... one that I have often disregarded (Hypocritical I know) double swords, are heavy and leave you exposed, you will get tired after a couple swings from a sword alone, I have swung a sword and in about 20 swings my arms gave out. If you double that you will tired a lot quicker, also double swords swing you all over the place, you build momentum thats not easy to stop, you won't stand in one place with two swords most likely, you will probably fall down unless its really thin and pathetic iron that will break really easily..... >< /endincoherentrant

But yeah thank you for this article

[MorningWood]

THANK YOU!!! OMG THANK YOU >< freaking gah, also, one points..... one that I have often disregarded (Hypocritical I know) double swords, are heavy and leave you exposed, you will get tired after a couple swings from a sword alone, I have swung a sword and in about 20 swings my arms gave out. If you double that you will tired a lot quicker, also double swords swing you all over the place, you build momentum thats not easy to stop, you won't stand in one place with two swords most likely, you will probably fall down unless its really thin and pathetic iron that will break really easily..... >< /endincoherentrant

But yeah thank you for this article

Another thing, if you carry one sword in the right arm ((for most of us that is our good arm)) then we may have the feeling to do nothing woth the left arm because that is our inferior one etc. So yea, double swordfighting isn't that practical.

[Griffith]

Good you mentioned that thingy 'bout double sider axx.. Reel viking no need two axx. One axx good for many skull

[Lord DragonFly of Dawn]

I see no one has touched on sword length. the longer a sword in the more restricted it's movements are because the ground gets in the way.

it might be impressive looking to have a sword that is longer than you are tall, but in reality you are restricted to at most four moves with the sword.

1) side sweep along the ground at about waist height or higher
2) over head strike
3) slash at along a diagonal (impossible with blades over a certain length without getting stuck in the ground and leaving you more open than the length of the blade already does
4) stabbing

all in all it looks impressive but leaves far too many blindspots, cannot react quickly to attacks and is incredibly easy to read. Stick to a normal sized blade and you'll live longer

(and if you are a mage... carry a sword or bow anyway. that way when you run out of spells you can still fight)

[Ender Wiggin]

Unless the character breaks off the arrows...

[Azarthes]

@ Dragonfly, and number 4 is slow and awkward with a blade longer then you are

[Lord DragonFly of Dawn]

@ Dragonfly, and number 4 is slow and awkward with a blade longer then you are

indeed that is true.

so really.... that s two modes with two other invitations tokill the weilder because the weilder doesn't know enough to live.....

[firehawk767]

Great work. Hope a lot of people read this. You should also include two swords in this. I do it every now and then but I know how to regulate ones power with two swords, but I see a lot of people using two blades as if they can't be hit ever again as they can always block and always out attack.

[Ryne]

Dual wielding swords is not an impractical task so long as the swords are not too heavy. One to attack and one to defend. That is the way dual wielding swordsmen must fight. I was actually trained to fight with swords, so I know the secrets of fighting with a single sword and two swords. If you do not follow the rule that I stated, then you might as well only use a single sword, since it would be smarter. Ignoring that fundamental rule leaves more openings in your defense and distracts you.

You should also mention polearms.