Pike blocks could be broken by flanking attacks and bad terrain. They were nearly useless against fortifications and very vulnerable to field artillery. The Halberd was just more versatile.
axe-head was questionable at times
ability to chop with it is actually quite limited, so its main benefit is actually just adding more weight to the weapon to penetrate maille
it also limits how long you can make the polearm, because the longer it gets the more leverage the axe head has to pull down
Halberds are relatively short for polearms, usually around 5 feet tall.
So, why would you develop a short, heavy, and most importantly expensive pole-arm?
To be used in guard duty, by the royal guard, etc.
One of the indicators that the Halberd isn't a battlefield weapon is the fact that it has a spike on the bottom end of the shaft. Military weapons don't have two pointy ends, because you're probably just going to end up stabbing the dude behind you on accident.
>No one uses double ended spears because of friendly fire reasons >Let me cherry pick the one singular example in history of people using double ended spears >That means that the halberd is a battlefield weapon
1. Halberds were undoubtedly battlefield weapons, we have tons of evidence for that
2. Halberds don't usually have back spikes
3. Pollaxes usually do, and they were used on the battlefield as well. It seems the risk of friendly fire can be mitigated by being careful.
pike has the advantage in shoulder to shoulder formation fighting, naked germans with oversized swords beat them in a broken melee, and you'd always rather be 100m away with a crossbow anyways, melee is a chump's game
still love the halberd though and unless your opponent is a well disciplined pike and shot formation the halberd will be competitive
Pikes and halberds would literally never fight each other. You fight pike formations with pike formations; there's no such thing as a halberd formation.
Think of your Halberd like a cops sidearm and uniform all in one. It lets everyone know in a glance who you are, what your job is, etc.
Also, pure speculation on my part, but the halberd would have a very distinct manual of arms, meaning your skill with one could be used as an indicator of wealth and status..
would that be considered a weapon of mass destruction? how far does the radiation reach? >a hundred heavily armored guys on horses stampede to the center of the battlefield >start swinging their demon flails >a week later everyone involved in the battle is dead
>how far does the radiation reach?
It drops of very rapidly, note the difference in dosage between the two victims here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core#First_incident
[...] >would that be considered a weapon of mass destruction? how far does the radiation reach?
i wonder same. you could simple attach a demon core on a drone and let it fly around in a city
Without preposterous amounts of (heavy and bulky) shielding the first burst of radiation would kill the drone's electronics. Remember why they resorted to "biorobots" on Chernobyl's roof.
would that be considered a weapon of mass destruction? how far does the radiation reach? >a hundred heavily armored guys on horses stampede to the center of the battlefield >start swinging their demon flails >a week later everyone involved in the battle is dead
>would that be considered a weapon of mass destruction? how far does the radiation reach?
i wonder same. you could simple attach a demon core on a drone and let it fly around in a city
>Go to town >Town makes you check your halberd at the gate >Get into fight at tavern >Get stabbed by some guy with a knife shaped like a dick >"B-but my peak melee weapon!"
Sure, but so is taking a halbert out of play by legal means. It's also ironic since the Halbert was commonly used by city guards who would enforce those laws.
As a general purpose field combat weapon, probably. The axe is good against lighter armor while the spike can punch through armor with a strong swing. The real benefit, however, is the Halbert's tendency to hook and pin. See, you didn't kill foes in full plate. Full plate is expensive and only given to the most valuable fighters. If you can take them captive you can ransom them for a pretty penny.
Halberds also make great firefighting tools, which you'd probably doing more of a a town guard than defending against an armed assault. It's a demolition tool that also makes a decent weapon, and with a couple of buddies, you can exert physical control with the immediate threat of lethal force without going all the way.
Honestly if you had to go full medieval on your home defense I don't think a small shield and a short spear would be a bad idea. The spear can be used well with or without a shield, which itself helps to add protection, potential offense, and extra "get the frick out of here" vibes to your overall presentation. Legally speaking you'd probably be better served bonking them with a baseball bat or something, but your ancestors will definitely smile upon you for picking a proper warrior's weapon.
Swiss infantry used a mixture of pikes and halberds, and that setup was never surpassed in melee. German landsknechts copied it and added greatswords, the spanish used a mixture of pikemen and swordsmen, but neither of those proved superior to the swiss. It does require a decent amount of armour though, and good training and cohesion to make up for the vulnerabilities of the pikes.
It says "halberdier" right there my man
English bills could practically be called a halberd variant, but they're called bill and not halberd. And the swiss called their weapons "helmbarte" aka halberd and not bill.
The source is probably from an Osprey publishing on swiss mercenaries or the burgundian wars from the late 15th century.
But If you want the source of the source however, it would be pic related. The guy seems to be some kind of cheerleader
This guy gets it. Halberds were a supplement for pike squares, used for flanking, exploiting gaps, and pursuit (similar to how the Spanish used swordsmen in their tercios)
Lucerne and bec de Corbin are the swiss army knife of polearms; spear, hammer and spike to deal with heavy armor and gambeson. Not a shoulder to shoulder pike formation weapon, but the ideal skirmisher's tool
>can stab a homie >can chop a homie >can spike a homie >can pin down a homie so your fellow homies can do any of the previous to him
I think it might be.
The blades of many halberds are angled to allow for damaging the poles of other weapons. If you can detach the head of a polearm, they now only have a stick.
I think I read somewhere that pike length Ji/Ge were used in ancient china, and smacking people with pikes was a tactic the japs used so I think its viable.
>A series of multiple wars across multiple centuries, largely decided by economic and demographic factors, can be blamed entirely on a single weapon
Cool story, brainlet.
My dick is the ultimate weapon
There is no peak. The best melee weapon depends on what you're using it for and the context you're using it in.
pike has reach advantage
Pike is useless outside of a formation.
What so are we just talking about duels and skirmishes then?
Pike blocks could be broken by flanking attacks and bad terrain. They were nearly useless against fortifications and very vulnerable to field artillery. The Halberd was just more versatile.
axe-head was questionable at times
ability to chop with it is actually quite limited, so its main benefit is actually just adding more weight to the weapon to penetrate maille
it also limits how long you can make the polearm, because the longer it gets the more leverage the axe head has to pull down
Halberds are relatively short for polearms, usually around 5 feet tall.
So, why would you develop a short, heavy, and most importantly expensive pole-arm?
To be used in guard duty, by the royal guard, etc.
One of the indicators that the Halberd isn't a battlefield weapon is the fact that it has a spike on the bottom end of the shaft. Military weapons don't have two pointy ends, because you're probably just going to end up stabbing the dude behind you on accident.
>Military weapons don't have two pointy ends, because you're probably just going to end up stabbing the dude behind you on accident.
???
>No one uses double ended spears because of friendly fire reasons
>Let me cherry pick the one singular example in history of people using double ended spears
>That means that the halberd is a battlefield weapon
1. Halberds were undoubtedly battlefield weapons, we have tons of evidence for that
2. Halberds don't usually have back spikes
3. Pollaxes usually do, and they were used on the battlefield as well. It seems the risk of friendly fire can be mitigated by being careful.
>muh wikipedia articles
You have to be 18 or older to post here.
thats poleaxes/pollaxes
halberds are usually between 7 and 8 foot
pike has the advantage in shoulder to shoulder formation fighting, naked germans with oversized swords beat them in a broken melee, and you'd always rather be 100m away with a crossbow anyways, melee is a chump's game
still love the halberd though and unless your opponent is a well disciplined pike and shot formation the halberd will be competitive
Pikes were cheap when gathering a great horde of men, but they were not the best tools around.
Pikes and halberds would literally never fight each other. You fight pike formations with pike formations; there's no such thing as a halberd formation.
Think of your Halberd like a cops sidearm and uniform all in one. It lets everyone know in a glance who you are, what your job is, etc.
Also, pure speculation on my part, but the halberd would have a very distinct manual of arms, meaning your skill with one could be used as an indicator of wealth and status..
>Pikes and halberds would literally never fight each other.
Battle of Flodden.
Those were voulges you uneducated c**t.
No, bills and halberds were present, c**t.
Bullshit, Halberdiers often screened the flanks of pike blocks and would dismantle pike blocks from the flanks.
no billhooks are
>not on 1v1
>spears are better for invest in massive armies
>heavy, non practical
they were as useless as zweihänder
No. You can't spare your hand to hold a shield. good luck with hard blows to the head and joints
EVERYONE BACK THE FRICK UP WITH YOUR POINTY STICKS!!
Pls post uncompressed
would that be considered a weapon of mass destruction? how far does the radiation reach?
>a hundred heavily armored guys on horses stampede to the center of the battlefield
>start swinging their demon flails
>a week later everyone involved in the battle is dead
>how far does the radiation reach?
It drops of very rapidly, note the difference in dosage between the two victims here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core#First_incident
Without preposterous amounts of (heavy and bulky) shielding the first burst of radiation would kill the drone's electronics. Remember why they resorted to "biorobots" on Chernobyl's roof.
>Without preposterous amounts of (heavy and bulky) shielding the first burst of radiation would kill the drone's electronics.
so just drag it behind a tank on a chain through a city
>would that be considered a weapon of mass destruction? how far does the radiation reach?
i wonder same. you could simple attach a demon core on a drone and let it fly around in a city
here you go
>Go to town
>Town makes you check your halberd at the gate
>Get into fight at tavern
>Get stabbed by some guy with a knife shaped like a dick
>"B-but my peak melee weapon!"
>Not carrying a sword as a sidearm.
Glossing over your sword also being over the length limit, that's not particularly relevant to the thread.
Sure, but so is taking a halbert out of play by legal means. It's also ironic since the Halbert was commonly used by city guards who would enforce those laws.
According to?
>swinging a halberd in a tavern
Do peasants really?
is nobody at that consecration going to comment on his non-matching green and white pantaloons
it was a different time
As a general purpose field combat weapon, probably. The axe is good against lighter armor while the spike can punch through armor with a strong swing. The real benefit, however, is the Halbert's tendency to hook and pin. See, you didn't kill foes in full plate. Full plate is expensive and only given to the most valuable fighters. If you can take them captive you can ransom them for a pretty penny.
Halberds also make great firefighting tools, which you'd probably doing more of a a town guard than defending against an armed assault. It's a demolition tool that also makes a decent weapon, and with a couple of buddies, you can exert physical control with the immediate threat of lethal force without going all the way.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/86YMa7H3xSY?feature=share
>just slap an axe head on the end of it bro!
>it'll be so cool bro!
Why would a man attempt to improve upon perfection?
is spear+gladius for tight quarters the ultimate home defense melee combo?
Spears are shit in tight corners because shields become OP. You want a 2h axe or hammer for tunnel fights. Just ask the dearves
i was thinking spear in corridors and gladius for room/corners
Honestly if you had to go full medieval on your home defense I don't think a small shield and a short spear would be a bad idea. The spear can be used well with or without a shield, which itself helps to add protection, potential offense, and extra "get the frick out of here" vibes to your overall presentation. Legally speaking you'd probably be better served bonking them with a baseball bat or something, but your ancestors will definitely smile upon you for picking a proper warrior's weapon.
YES, brother.
i have same
Swiss infantry used a mixture of pikes and halberds, and that setup was never surpassed in melee. German landsknechts copied it and added greatswords, the spanish used a mixture of pikemen and swordsmen, but neither of those proved superior to the swiss. It does require a decent amount of armour though, and good training and cohesion to make up for the vulnerabilities of the pikes.
Those are bills not halberds
It says "halberdier" right there my man
English bills could practically be called a halberd variant, but they're called bill and not halberd. And the swiss called their weapons "helmbarte" aka halberd and not bill.
Every medieval source we have that mentions bills says to use them in pretty much the same way you would use a halberd.
They're almost all identical.
I need the full Pic with legend, I need to know what #5 is about. That getup is hilarious
The source is probably from an Osprey publishing on swiss mercenaries or the burgundian wars from the late 15th century.
But If you want the source of the source however, it would be pic related. The guy seems to be some kind of cheerleader
This guy gets it. Halberds were a supplement for pike squares, used for flanking, exploiting gaps, and pursuit (similar to how the Spanish used swordsmen in their tercios)
But pikes were doing most of the work
they were the meta in Ultima Online so yeah, I'd say so.
LUCERNE CHADS WW@????
Pollaxe category
Short polearms for single (heavily armored) combat. Longer polearms like halberds or bills for formation combat.
Here ya go, bro.
Lucerne and bec de Corbin are the swiss army knife of polearms; spear, hammer and spike to deal with heavy armor and gambeson. Not a shoulder to shoulder pike formation weapon, but the ideal skirmisher's tool
Yep. Next question.
Best melee weapon is a bayonet because it's attached to a gun
It looks REALLY heavy and therefore unpractical but i never held one
>can stab a homie
>can chop a homie
>can spike a homie
>can pin down a homie so your fellow homies can do any of the previous to him
I think it might be.
That's not a Katana.
no everything has a specific case use and halberds suck ass in narrow confined indoor spaces
whats the advantage of the halberd vs a same long spear ?
i dont see any
It looks cooler
The blades of many halberds are angled to allow for damaging the poles of other weapons. If you can detach the head of a polearm, they now only have a stick.
Can we make a pike length halberd?
No. The axe head makes it too unwieldy if it gets too long
I think I read somewhere that pike length Ji/Ge were used in ancient china, and smacking people with pikes was a tactic the japs used so I think its viable.
BEHOLD
Na-nani!?!?!?!?!?!?
Note that
no.
Bilhook is better
>Billhook is cheaper
ftfy
It's the same thing
No.
>the bill hook used almost exclusively by the brits was so superior that they lost their continental holdings with it
>A series of multiple wars across multiple centuries, largely decided by economic and demographic factors, can be blamed entirely on a single weapon
Cool story, brainlet.
>implying it's not the obviously superior bill-hook
i want continentals off of my board.
Those are Italian bills you Indian-ruled island monkey. English ones look like a halberd with a birth defect: