Medieval Weapons

Angilion · 2 Mar 2017 at 01:43

Cromulent said:
I wish I knew more about medieval weapons. I went to a live action replay of a medieval battle when I was a kid and it was AWESOME . It left a really big impression on me. Maybe that is why I enjoy playing low fantasy RPGs so much?

Here are some channels that you might find interesting for various opinions on various things and mainly medieval weapons and armour. Seperating the two is a bit of a mistake IMO because they affected each other a great deal. For example, cutting is utterly useless against plate armour and that's obviously very relevant to how effective any weapon will be. Knyght Errant is a particularly good channel for armour. You want a 15 minute video on what was worn under armour? It's there. A couple of hours on helmets alone? That too.

https://www.youtube.com/user/neosonic66/videos
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt14YOvYhd5FCGCwcjhrOdA
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9pgQfOXRsp4UKrI8q0zjXQ
https://www.youtube.com/user/SkallagrimNilsson

Angilion · 2 Mar 2017 at 01:54

A war-grade longbow, a few hundred metres distance and enough strength and training to use it.

For hand to hand distance...well, I'd almost certainly be dead whatever I had. Definitely dead without armour.

Late medieval plate armour and two long daggers. The animals would be on you like white on rice, so your only hope would be superb armour to keep you alive while you stabbed them to death. Daggers would be best for stabbing when they're right on you and two would give you one in each hand so you'd still be able to attack with one arm pinned. Wolves, OK, that would probably do. Polar bear or gorillas would be another story. Far too much blunt force. Although they might be put off hitting steel and back off instead. Maybe.

Angilion · 2 Mar 2017 at 02:04

Rroff said:
Yup against a charging polar bear you are pretty much screwed - you could stand still and hope it decides you aren't a threat/its not hungry and goes away or make a lot of noise and hope it is actually more scared of you and backs off. There is a reason its recommended to use large bore cartridges i.e. magnum for protection against them I suspect that only a crossbow would likely provide much protection out of the medieval options. Assault rifle not really the best option against a charging bear you really want something with more stopping power per bullet. I'd rather deal with a pair of gorillas - though I think its pretty rare for bears to be aggressive to the point they are intent on ripping you to shreds when they charge compared to gorillas.

There's a town way up north called Svalbard where it's a requirement to be very heavily armed because of the risk from polar bears. Top quality 21st century heavy hunting rifles...and the main protection is the noise, which almost always makes the bear back down. Even aggressive and angry animals will usually back down from something they perceive as being a serious threat.

Angilion · 2 Mar 2017 at 02:07

danoliver1 said:
A lute and hope my god awful minstrel singing scares them away.

Brave Sir Dan ran away, bravely ran away away!

Vern1961 · 2 Mar 2017 at 08:09

As noted, a ranged weapon is probably the most effective, if the wolf or bear is within striking distance then you're almost certainly going to be dead in a few moments. Despite what our games show us, I suspect most people in medieval times did not carry round an arsenal of melee and ranged weapons as Skyrim would have you believe. (You would be too encumbered in reality to effectively swing a sword). A commoner/peasant might carry a knife or short sword for close quarters protection against other citizens of an ill favoured nature (or to do your own mugging) but that would probably have been it.

J.T · 2 Mar 2017 at 09:10

A Longbow then when they get close switch out to sword and shield.

Roar87 · 2 Mar 2017 at 09:17

If you think you're going to be in any position to calmly reload a crossbow or pluck another arrow from your quiver while 2 large Silverback Gorillas are charging you then you are utterly deluded

adolf hamster · 2 Mar 2017 at 09:30

Roar87 said:
If you think you're going to be in any position to calmly reload a crossbow or pluck another arrow from your quiver while 2 large Silverback Gorillas are charging you then you are utterly deluded

thats why you have 2 crossbows

your right though, a trained, experienced and fearless longbowman may just about manage to fire off enough arrows to make their mark and stop a pair of gorillas, but us plebs probably wont manage it.

still doesn't solve the wolves though, as others have said even with modern weaponry that's quite the challenge. tbh i'd most likely opt for some breed of submachine gun, controllable but quick aimed with low recoil and enough punch to do the job. doesn't help if they encircle you and attack from behind though (which they will)

this is ofc on the broad assumption that in any of these encounters the animals are determined, and cant be just scared off.

Roar87 · 2 Mar 2017 at 10:05

I don't know why people are bothered about Wolves, 90% of the victims of wolf attacks are children, the other 10% are small Women. And attacks are very rare. Wolves don't prey on adult humans, especially Men. They're going to smell you half a mile away or more and run away unless they're rabid and starving to death.

SexyGreyFox · 2 Mar 2017 at 11:37

Roar87 said:
If you think you're going to be in any position to calmly reload a crossbow or pluck another arrow from your quiver while 2 large Silverback Gorillas are charging you then you are utterly deluded

but it has now been established that they held three arrows between the fingers.
I was quite impressed that the Great Wall film featured this.

ttaskmaster · 2 Mar 2017 at 11:43

Angilion said:
Here are some channels that you might find interesting for various opinions on various things and mainly medieval weapons and armour.

Couple of very good ones, too, but I'd advise emphasis on the 'opinion' part in particular when it comes to Matt Easton at Schola Gladiatora...

Angilion said:
Seperating the two is a bit of a mistake IMO because they affected each other a great deal.

Very much so.
You can learn a lot about history in general from studying martial weapons - The type of weapon used and how it was used, because of the type of armour worn, because of the local materials and tradecrafts... or even because of fashions at the time, politics, immigration or cultural influence. It's quite amazing how interconnected everything is.
The idea of some Elizabethan rapiers, for example, being a ridiculous 5' long simply because of fashion!

I don't know if it's publicly accessible, but the Arms & Armour Society publications are excellent reading, both for the actual items and the historical context. The Society has some of the world's leading experts on these things. I'm a particular fan of David Edge's work, especially after he personally took the time to compile and send me a 2" thick stack of reading all about Brigandine armour!

Vern1961 said:
A commoner/peasant might carry a knife or short sword for close quarters protection against other citizens of an ill favoured nature (or to do your own mugging) but that would probably have been it.

They often had a servicable knife on them and even priests were noted to have at least a knife at their back when going about their daily business... but most would have had something like a quarterstaff - It's usually a far better weapon against anything shorter, anyway, and records of legal procedings show the staff was by far the most common weapon carried by people. It's also cheap, nigh-on free, really. Cudgels were pretty common, too. Local Sherrifs had their equivalent of beat coppers, called Tipstaffs because their version of a Police truncheon was a 6' quarterstaff with the tips (upper and lower 6") shod in iron... Ain't gonna try knocking their helmets off!!

But swords were very, very expensive. In the 1500s a simple Broadsword would cost around 40 shillings, which was a good month's wages for a skilled artisan (ie middle-upper class). Commoners, peasants and labourers had no hope. Rapiers were over a hundred Pounds and very much the domain of the flashy rich folk.

adolf hamster said:
thats why you have 2 crossbows

Are you a vampire hunter, or something? Who the hell else would carry TWO crossbows??!!

Then again, I did know someone who carried four different mobile phones in executive style leather belt pouches, once, and met another who had three different sized D-cell Maglites back when they were the in-thing...
OK, you can have two crossbows, but only a big one and a little one. They do D8 damage when used together, take D3 rounds to reload and add 60 encumbrance...

Roar87 said:
I don't know why people are bothered about Wolves

The hypothetical enemies in this seem to be bloodthirsty zombie dire wolves/bears/gorrillas, or something, since they're attacking you non-stop and with utter, hellbent committment just like a Skyrim NPC.... and yet you're not allowed to respond as if you too are in Skyrim. *shrug*

ubersonic · 2 Mar 2017 at 11:43

Either a Gladius (I know they are pre-medieval however they were still around and very useful), or a Cutlass.

ubersonic · 2 Mar 2017 at 11:45

[FnG]magnolia said:
katanas

Well it was nearly 50 posts before Hollywood/anime arrived XD

ubersonic · 2 Mar 2017 at 11:47

Roar87 said:
If you think you're going to be in any position to calmly reload a crossbow or pluck another arrow from your quiver while 2 large Silverback Gorillas are charging you then you are utterly deluded

Having owned a crossbow I can confirm it's just about the worst weapon you could have when facing multiple opponents, and yes that even includes zombies.

wildman · 2 Mar 2017 at 12:21

short handled flail with iron spike ball attachment. Provides for excellent mobility and maximum damage when you get the ball in your face

Edrof · 2 Mar 2017 at 13:01

ttaskmaster · 2 Mar 2017 at 13:12

ubersonic said:
Either a Gladius (I know they are pre-medieval however they were still around and very useful), or a Cutlass.

You could always go for a falchion - That's along the same lines and comes with many optional extras!

wildman said:
short handled flail with iron spike ball attachment. Provides for excellent mobility and maximum damage when you get the ball in your face

Not supposed to get it in your face, though...

TheMightyTen · 2 Mar 2017 at 13:23

ttaskmaster said:
I'm a particular fan of David Edge's work, especially after he personally took the time to compile and send me a 2" thick stack of reading all about Brigandine armour!

I'm had a good laugh in the past with Dave

, when I was reeancating in a more serious way he used to bring along to Tudor Group events less important Wallace Collection conservation projects for us to "trial"

my favourite being a 16th Century Italian Mace we christened Mr Thumpy; Mr Thumpy, a donated pigs head and my "end of a long day dealing with school kids" frustration thwack made everybody watching retch just a little bit

Dave also helped myself and Mark Goodman (husband of Ruth Goodman who does all the Victorian and Edwardian Farm etc. TV series) build as authentic as possible, materials allowing, Jack of Plates

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_of_plate (by the way that's Mark Goodman in the photo making a Jack of Plate

, and just noticed my old Rapier on the right of the two in the background

)

For our Tudor Group work. He's a cracking chap

Rroff · 2 Mar 2017 at 13:25

wildman said:
short handled flail with iron spike ball attachment. Provides for excellent mobility and maximum damage when you get the ball in your face

Problem is you are realistically going to get one attempt at pulling it off against a polar bear and you are basically going to have to hold your nerve and plant it at exactly the right time in exactly the right place perfectly - would make a nasty mess if you pulled it off. Not quite sure what the reality would be against a couple of gorillas compared to how I imagine using it as a whirling defence.

EDIT: Plus it is disputed as having actually existed in that period.

ttaskmaster · 2 Mar 2017 at 15:09

TheMightyTen said:
he used to bring along to Tudor Group events less important Wallace Collection conservation projects for us to "trial"

I loved the Wallace!
A friend of mine used to work there and we'd hire out the meeting room downstairs to train and spar in. He took me to the restoration rooms, where they made replicas for display while keeping the originals safely tucked away, and I got to swing around a couple of swords. I thought they were excellent replicas, wonderfully light and well-balanced just around the crossguard... until the guys pointed out they were still working on the replicas - These were the REAL 15th Century blades - EEK!!!
I was very embarrassed, until my friend told me the guys pulled the same thing on him... except he did it with the Sword of Ranjit Singh, the guy who founded the Sikh Empire. It hit home later when he saw all these Sikhs coming in, kneeling down and worshiping the thing when it was up on display!!!

TheMightyTen said:
Dave also helped myself and Mark Goodman (husband of Ruth Goodman who does all the Victorian and Edwardian Farm etc. TV series) build as authentic as possible, materials allowing, Jack of Plates

I remember reading a lot about a (The?) Wisby Coat of Plate in the stuff he gave me. IIRC, it was one of the main items from which a lot of research was drawn.
The whole thing started because David had his own replica Brigandine, I assume from his Tudor re-enactment work, that he kept on display in the Wallace... and it fitted me perfectly. I wanted one immediately and even had a bash at making my own from leather and some steel sheet from B&Q - Don't find that many dead fighters lying around in Reading... well, none from whom you can scavenge bits of plate armour for your own Brigandine anyway!

Rroff said:
Problem is you are realistically going to get one attempt at pulling it off against a polar bear

Depends what hypothetical rules you want to enforce... If it's a normal bear looking to have a go at you, basic primal psychology comes into play and so long as you present a threat (ie can throw attacks at it) you stand a chance of making it think twice, which gives you the space for multiple attack attempts.

If it's the unstoppable Skyrim Death Beast, then yeah you're screwed, blued and tattooed... but then, you should be casting magic firebolts at it in the first place.

Rroff said:
EDIT: Plus it is disputed as having actually existed in that period.

You could always use farm threshalls instead... They definitely existed, being another classic peasant weapon.
4-5' pole (8' for the battlefield version) with a leather 'hinge' at the top, attached to which is a thicker length of wood about 2' long. Used like a polearm, but essentialy a 'nunchak' in operation... brain anything with that and they're done for!!