Because hema is more varied and fun without spears. You can use longswords, sabers, rapiers, bucklers, off hand weapons, etc. if your opponent is using a spear, then you’d have to use one too, or be at a massive disadvantage.
If your opponent is using a spear you grab a kite shield and win over and over again with minimal effort until they grab a kite shield themselves.
Where's the fun in this?
So this is just me watching random morons hit each other, but spears are not easy to control in a 1 handed grip, and from what I have seen, 2 hand spear does better than spear/shield against a sword and board, because you can quickly thrust and threaten multiple areas of the opponent's body and not lose control when you rebound from a shield
Yeah that's true I meant to say they'll grab kite shield and some suitable 1 handed weapon too.
You're right, your reach is your defense. Big shields basically negate your reach advantage so you're left pretty defenseless against a sword if all you have is a spear.
Low skill + really solid. Basically it’s an unfun choice if you want to learn some cool techniques and also work better in formations, where as most people have fun in duel scenarios
Assuming equal physical skills, easy.
In Japan, modern spearfighting -- atarashii naginata and naginatajutsu -- are mostly practiced by women. Why? Because it's so easy for an athletic male naginatajutsu novice to mog expert kendogays that it's considered unsporting and somewhat dishonorable.
then why were naginata largely gone from the battlefield after the Heian period? (where they were just weapons of foot retainers who chased after mounted archers)
not the same guy, but it was the yari. And the yari was adopted b/c it's far easier to train somebody to use over the naginata. This ease of training was important as the introduction of matchlocks to Japan suddenly gave those who could raise ashigaru armies the ability to steamroll samurai.
I lived in Japan for a long time and was always told by the old timers that back in the day, when almost all schools had mandatory kendo or naginata, that girls would congregate towards naginata just to avoid the boys, who all picked kendo. That seems to make more sense.
There is also onna-bugeisha using naginata in popular culture, so there is some cachet there for Japanese girls. Pretty sure most sports clubs are still segregated, at least, they were in the 2000s
https://i.imgur.com/7NBJ7wo.jpg
>The Chinese spear, on a flexible yew wood pole, with tassle,
Bullshit propagated by Hong Kong kung fu Cinema.
In actuality Qiang are usually on a hardwood shaft (some pike versions are on bamboo-timber composites) were as long as 1 and a half men or 2 men. The tassel serves no tactical purpose its purely decorative and indicates that the warrior belong to an elite military unit. A practice the Chinks adopted from their SteppeBlack person Opponents whose elite men tied horsetail tassels on their spears.
martial artists used waxwood for spears, which is, indeed, quite tough and springy; the military didn't, but that's where it comes from
https://i.imgur.com/ItETDA0.jpg
Why do HEMA guys hate spears?
>HEMA guys hate spears
They don't, its just that manuals of arms for spears are few and sparse, meant for grunts with lukewarm IQs, and swordplay was refined and studied by rich men and dilettantes who left many tomes of autistic ramblings about their various favorite ways to poke other rich men with their sharpened steel penises.
There was always a fantasy element to swordplay in HEMA, even when it was being recorded 500 years ago, and that appeals to the modern hobbyist as well. There's much less fun to be had with "point stick at enemy, try not to die"
>There was always a fantasy element to swordplay in HEMA
Sounds like unimaginative homosexualry, there is no reason you can't apply fantasy elements to spears.
It's primarily a matter of safety as mentioned. Even if you use a rubber spear blade, you still have a big stiff oak shaft that can do serious damage to someone even when in full protection. You could use something less dangerous like rattan, but then the weapon is absurdly light and behaves nothing like a proper spear, which isn't a problem with federschwert.
You can really only safely spar with spears at any kind of energetic level with full plate armor, which costs as much as a used car. So hardly anyone wants to spend such money on a niche weapon.
Besides all that, spear is just nowhere near as fun as swords, and there are a mere fraction of historical techniques written for them. Especially since one of the main "techniques" historically written for spear is to drop it and pull out a sword or dagger if the enemy gets past your point. It's an extremely simple weapon, which while great for actual combat use, just lacks the sheer dynamics of swords and the amount of material written for them.
One more thing: A lot of HEMA guys actually do spear at some point, but the skill ceiling is so low that they get bored quickly. You can get really good at spear in like a week. Whereas it can take years to master a sword. So guys will jump into spear, read all the available historical material in a day, and 6 days later they're annihilating anyone who isn't also using a spear. So they go, "Okay, that's about it for spear" and move on to other weapons.
Because HEMA rules are shit for spears >oh you parried that stab? Too bad I am gonna slightly tap you with the parried tip and end this exchange
Nobody wants to see spears and increasingly bigger shields fight because rules are unrealistic.
Has there been any good spear vs. armor testing? I've seen a lot for bows and crossbows but nothing for spears and I imagine it'd be pretty hard to punch through a breastplate with one.
Don't need one. Weapons adapted by the time armor was getting better. Even the poorest fricks could use a makeshift mace, but usually the standard for poor fricking infantry was something pic related. Personally, I think its peak melee weapon evolution.
>the standard for poor infantry was highly decorated pollaxes
No anon, it would have been something like a halberd similar to this, or a bill or maybe a spear.
Yeah, if you look into what people study in antiquity there is a few people that do that sort of testing. Even a cloth armor like a linothorax that is suppose to be laminated cloth glued together can stop it. When you get to a thing like a coat of plates that's a combination of a linothorax with plates in it. It's just not going to happen. I mean I fully believe though on the other hand a spear is a knife on a stick, you get more leverage if you take a slash from the far end of the stick I'm certain it does nasty things and probably breaks more often than it does armor but absolutely has killed quite a few people just from a guy with a long stick with a knife on it going full moron strength swinging the thing full force out of desperation. You hear about people in armor getting killed in the thousands. I really think armor was a lot more spotty in quality in the past. A lot of time I'm pretty sure it was a group trying to outnumber another one. You hear in stories when guys would take over a battlefield till they get killed and people approach them without committing to attacking getting repelled. I suspect armor was going through a quality control check a lot in the past because even during the heyday of chainmail I've heard of swords cutting through it. If you look at people on youtube they got stuff bouncing off chainmail or can hardly puncture it. I mean look at stuff in the 18th century without armor, a wound isn't going to stop you initially but long term you're probably going to be fricked. It's not like you can just abandon a campaign because you got a booboo that a normal person would recover fine from if they went home and coddled it. Your in hostile territory the only surgeon you'll find is the one you brought. If it didn't hurt or kill people it wouldn't have been used. I'm pretty sure usually people resorted to zerg tactics so it was more like playing whackamole than some horatio on the bridge kind of stuff is what I'm rambling at.
You know how in some games, there are weapons that are so busted that if an opponent is using one, you have to use one too or be at a huge disadvantage?
Yeah, spears are that for HEMA
The Chinese spear, on a flexible yew wood pole, with tassle, in the right hands, is arguably one of the most devastating melee weapons on planet earth.
>The Chinese spear, on a flexible yew wood pole, with tassle,
Bullshit propagated by Hong Kong Kung Fu Cinema.
In actuality Qiang are usually on a hardwood shaft (some pike versions are on bamboo-timber composites) were as long as 1 and a half men or 2 men. The tassel serves no tactical purpose its purely decorative and indicates that the warrior belong to an elite military unit. A practice the Chinks adopted from their SteppeBlack person Opponents whose elite men tied horsetail tassels on their spears.
The Chinese spear, on a flexible yew wood pole, with tassle, in the right hands, is arguably one of the most devastating melee weapons on planet earth.
Chinese martial arts are as fake as their concrete, it's why when the west got into it and developed serious systems like MMA kung-fu got conclusively blown the frick out, it's all cope walks like their military. When a based (and probably genetically mostly Mongolian judging by his appearance) MMA fighter in China started challenging kung-fu masters the government shut him down for embarrassing China.
Holy shit that village looks comfy af.
Can grab a bottle of wine, sit outside in the shade, and watch the spear sparring. Ah....
https://i.imgur.com/HDsJZLO.jpg
And yet when you look at most Martial/Heroic European statues, they all have swords. Generals wave swords around. Europeans talk of swords poetically & metaphorically to represent martial might.
This is because swords were symbolic -- a totem of the upper classes and ruling elite of the time. (Maces are much the same, and were eventually transfigured into scepters.) Spears, though more practical, were plebian, cheaper, and less celebrated.
"I am the sword, deadly against all weapons. Neither spear, nor poleaxe, nor dagger can prevail against me. I can be used at long range or close range, or I can be held in the half sword grip and move to the narrow game
I can be used to take away the opponent’s sword, or move to grapple. My skill lies in breaking and binding. I am also skilled in covering and striking, with which I seek always to finish the fight. I will crush anyone who opposes me.
I am of royal blood. I dispense justice, advance the cause of good and destroy evil. To those who learn my crossings I will grant great fame and renown in the art of armed fighting."
If you're good with enough with a sword it'll overcome anything, and in learning all of it you learn to use basically all hand to hand weapons, plus some poetic ideation
From a guy who knew
2 years ago
Anonymous
Lol mega-cope. Which HEMA larper wrote this cringe?
2 years ago
Anonymous
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiore_dei_Liberi
I think he knew more about it than you do
2 years ago
Anonymous
> HEMA Larper.
Exactly.
Here's based chad George Silver's weapon tier list.
"The single sword has the vantage against the single rapier.
The sword and dagger has the vantage against the rapier and poniard.
The sword & target has the advantage against the sword and dagger, or the rapier and poniard.
The sword and buckler has advantage against the sword and target, the sword and dagger, or rapier and poniard.
The two handed sword has the vantage against the sword and target, the sword and buckler, the sword and dagger, or rapier and poniard.
The battle axe, the halberd, the black-bill, or such like weapons of weight, appertaining unto guard or battle, are all one in fight, and have advantage against the two handed sword, the sword and buckler, the sword and target, the sword and dagger, or the rapier and poniard.
The short staff or half pike, forest bill, partisan, or glaive, or such like weapons of perfect length, have the advantage against the battle axe, the halberd, the black bill, the two handed sword, the sword and target, and are too hard for two swords and daggers, or two rapier and poniards with gauntlets, and for the long staff and morris pike.
The long staff, morris pike, or javelin, or such like weapons above the perfect length, have advantage against all manner of weapons, the short staff, the Welch hook, partisan, or glaive, or such like weapons of vantage excepted, yet are too weak for two swords and daggers or two sword and bucklers, or two rapiers and poniards with gauntlets, because they are too long to thrust, strike, and turn speedily. And by reason of the large distance, one of the sword and dagger-men will get behind him.
The morris pike defends the battle from both horse and man, much better than can the short staff, long staff, or forest bill."
2 years ago
Anonymous
George Silver was so pathetic that the only man he dared to call out for a duel had most likely died of old age when he did so
2 years ago
Anonymous
Nah Silver was based. Autistic swordgays hate his guts and slander him at every opportunity, is all. > B-but the quarterstaff can't possibly be better than muh sword!! T-that S-silver is a real jerk!
2 years ago
Anonymous
Nah Silver was based. Autistic swordgays hate his guts and slander him at every opportunity, is all. > B-but the quarterstaff can't possibly be better than muh sword!! T-that S-silver is a real jerk!
Silver comes 150 years after Fiore and as an English Master of Defence was almost certainly a sport orientated fencing master similar to Meyer but with legitimate experience of urban self/defence and affray. He didn't train either militia for warfare, didn't train nobility for judicial or life and death duels across the continent and didnt take part in them himself, he doesn't factor fighting in or out of armor at all. Silver's governors are very good teaching devices, he's very underrated by the community, but his wheelhouse is non-lethal combat for display and civilian self defense, which is why he is correctly fond of quarterstaffs for that context. He doesn't actually mention anything about longsword - two handed swords in his time and place meant what we refer to as greatswords today, and his only advice on them is to use them like a staff, which is obviously highly suspect. A lifetime trained knight or man at arms from the 15th century is just a different kind of beast.
I do assume you think you're trolling, above is for the benefit of anyone reading, you on the off chance you're actually interested and just very misinformed. Also, in case you missed it, Silver was primarily a prize player - a sport fighter for public demonstrations. What's your criteria for LARPing?
2 years ago
Anonymous
That list is batshit moronic. It's Phil Elmore tier moronic
2 years ago
Anonymous
Why?
Spears and other weapons "of perfect length" are indeed superior to swords. Cope and seethe.
[...]
Silver comes 150 years after Fiore and as an English Master of Defence was almost certainly a sport orientated fencing master similar to Meyer but with legitimate experience of urban self/defence and affray. He didn't train either militia for warfare, didn't train nobility for judicial or life and death duels across the continent and didnt take part in them himself, he doesn't factor fighting in or out of armor at all. Silver's governors are very good teaching devices, he's very underrated by the community, but his wheelhouse is non-lethal combat for display and civilian self defense, which is why he is correctly fond of quarterstaffs for that context. He doesn't actually mention anything about longsword - two handed swords in his time and place meant what we refer to as greatswords today, and his only advice on them is to use them like a staff, which is obviously highly suspect. A lifetime trained knight or man at arms from the 15th century is just a different kind of beast.
I do assume you think you're trolling, above is for the benefit of anyone reading, you on the off chance you're actually interested and just very misinformed. Also, in case you missed it, Silver was primarily a prize player - a sport fighter for public demonstrations. What's your criteria for LARPing?
Silver and Fiore weren't all that different. It's just that Silver was a generalist and Fiore was a particularly autistic swordgay.
2 years ago
Anonymous
>Silver and Fiore weren't all that different. It's just that Silver was a generalist and Fiore was a particularly autistic swordgay.
9/10, would be 10/10 comically untrue if Silver didn't retain medieval triangular footwork and a small number of grapples
2 years ago
Anonymous
> t.
You've even got the R*ddit spacing.
Swordgays on suicide watch
2 years ago
Anonymous
>frick frick I'm getting absolutely BTFO by facts and logic >okay plan B I'll just post le 56% meme and call him R*dditor
Keep shilling for your renaissance equivalent of Lucas Botkin though.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Seriously, you're just making up gibberish and posting walls of text.
Silver was explicitly talking about weapons as tools of war, e.g. where he wrote "defends the battle from both horse and man." The sword is starkly inferior in this context.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Fiore: >commissioned for 4-6 manuscripts by highest nobility at a time when even one was a hugely expensive undertaking >Very well documented in historical record for the time training lower class soldiers/militia on behalf of City States and nobility for internationally famous and witnessed duels, including "to pain and death" >was himself a knight of the HRE and travelled multiple countries learning to fight >explicit instruction on wrestling, dagger, sword in one hand and two hands, fighting in armor, pollaxe, spear, wrestling on horseback, sword on horseback, spear on horseback and specific unequal scenarios like improvised weapons, being attacked while seated, dagger against swords and multiple weapons against spears in one cohesive system >heavy grappling focus throughout and the single largest source for dagger, less than half of his manuscript refers to swords alone
Silver: >Got one wall of text focused on how foreigners were teaching swordfighting wrong printed, which included brief mentions of general fighting principles. Had to write another text on what his own system actually was, which was never printed >Is not known outside of the London based Masters of Defence, bubble in his time though his text was referenced by Shakespeare, possibly for fight choreography >the English Masters of Defence were active some 200 years after the renaissance in the early modern period, their fighting context was radically different to men who'd trained to fight with these weapons in warfare from childhood, and never even attained official guild status like their continental counterparts. They specialised in unarmoured duelling for sport, with the idea and in fairness likelihood of defending themselves in ale houses, theatres and other areas of urban violence >outlines his general principles in terms of fighting with swords, then looks at applying to them to the sword + companion weapons, grappling as applied to a swordfight, 2h sword, polearms and "dagger"
2 years ago
Anonymous
Cont:
>two thirds of his unpublished instructional text refers to swords his "dagger" is a long weapon used much more like a dussack, messer or other hanger IE like a sword. The published text was almost entirely a discourse on why foreign fencing instructors were flawed, IE talking about swords
Which of these two was more of a LARPer and autistic sword gay?
2 years ago
Anonymous
> HEMA Larper.
Exactly.
Here's based chad George Silver's weapon tier list.
"The single sword has the vantage against the single rapier.
The sword and dagger has the vantage against the rapier and poniard.
The sword & target has the advantage against the sword and dagger, or the rapier and poniard.
The sword and buckler has advantage against the sword and target, the sword and dagger, or rapier and poniard.
The two handed sword has the vantage against the sword and target, the sword and buckler, the sword and dagger, or rapier and poniard.
The battle axe, the halberd, the black-bill, or such like weapons of weight, appertaining unto guard or battle, are all one in fight, and have advantage against the two handed sword, the sword and buckler, the sword and target, the sword and dagger, or the rapier and poniard.
The short staff or half pike, forest bill, partisan, or glaive, or such like weapons of perfect length, have the advantage against the battle axe, the halberd, the black bill, the two handed sword, the sword and target, and are too hard for two swords and daggers, or two rapier and poniards with gauntlets, and for the long staff and morris pike.
The long staff, morris pike, or javelin, or such like weapons above the perfect length, have advantage against all manner of weapons, the short staff, the Welch hook, partisan, or glaive, or such like weapons of vantage excepted, yet are too weak for two swords and daggers or two sword and bucklers, or two rapiers and poniards with gauntlets, because they are too long to thrust, strike, and turn speedily. And by reason of the large distance, one of the sword and dagger-men will get behind him.
The morris pike defends the battle from both horse and man, much better than can the short staff, long staff, or forest bill."
>"The single sword has the vantage against the single rapier.
No >The sword and dagger has the vantage against the rapier and poniard.
No >The sword & target has the advantage against the sword and dagger, or the rapier and poniard.
Okay >The sword and buckler has advantage against the sword and target, the sword and dagger, or rapier and poniard.
N O >The two handed sword has the vantage against the sword and target, the sword and buckler, the sword and dagger, or rapier and poniard.
N O O O >The battle axe, the halberd, the black-bill, or such like weapons of weight, appertaining unto guard or battle, are all one in fight,
No >and have advantage against the two handed sword, the sword and buckler, the sword and target, the sword and dagger, or the rapier and poniard.
Sometimes? >The short staff or half pike, forest bill, partisan, or glaive, or such like weapons of perfect length, have the advantage against the battle axe, the halberd, the black bill, the two handed sword, the sword and target,
Sure >and are too hard for two swords and daggers,
No >or two rapier and poniards with gauntlets,
Nooooooooooooooo >and for the long staff and morris pike.
who is dueling with a pike? >The long staff, morris pike, or javelin, or such like weapons above the perfect length, have advantage against all manner of weapons, >the short staff, the Welch hook, partisan, or glaive, or such like weapons of vantage excepted,
WTFBBQ >yet are too weak for two swords and daggers or two sword and bucklers, or two rapiers and poniards with gauntlets, because they are too long to thrust, strike, and turn speedily.
No, because two armed men reliably kill 1 armed man no matter what the frick they are holding >And by reason of the large distance, one of the sword and dagger-men will get behind him. >The morris pike defends the battle from both horse and man, much better than can the short staff, long staff, or forest bill."
No shit Sherlock
this is the Fudd from 1552
because they're homosexuals. when i did martial arts i wouldn't touch any of the fricking spinning weapons but I really didn't mind bo kun stuff, came on naturally
Same as axes -- they're inconvenient to make safe for sparring. That said, axes of all sizes and their uses are probably the most intriguing frontier for developing new systems.
I've never done it, but it would seem HEMA is more "historic self defense".
Meaning more along the lines of sidearms, whereas the spear is more of a military thing.
Fricking knew it. Let me guess, every OP response post going "yeah spear is just that good" instead of the much more obvious "HEMA rules favor weapons that can tap even if it wouldn't be an injury in a real fight". Daily reminder that the Romans conquered every speargay they met.
>Daily reminder that the Romans conquered every speargay they met.
as a reminder, romans were essentially the pinnacle of western civilization, (plus they did use spears, especially during later periods) and were fighting to what can amount to a moronic abo holding a spear up against a fricking semi truck.
Throwing spears and closing with sword and shield/two handed sword/axe/pollaxe depending on your army is the chad move and martially approved from the classic to the early modern
Honestly, no one in HEMA (at least my club and assorted peeps) hates spears. They're an integral part of the curriculum.
What I've heard some people complain is Spear tryhards. You can technically exploit the current HEMA ruleset(s) with a spear to score as many easy points as possible while sparring or even while on tournament. Those strikes would not in a million years be threatening in a proper combat setting, but rules are rules.
Other than that, I fricking love spears - they're one of the best things to really get you accustomed to range and closing.
Because spears make a lot of hema redundant. Spears not only force your opponent to also use one since they are so superior to other mele weapons, they are easy to be effective with. This means that the effectiveness of a good spear guy and an avg one isnt that big, therefore making hema drills redundant.
>HEMA
Yikes my dood, its a hobby full of larping leftist, neckbeard, semi-fat incels or cucks.
Just go to a boxing gym and do some semminars with knifes and always carry.
Stop being a manchild larping as le epic medieval knight when shitskins are invading and raping your country and women unopposed.
post any physical accomplishment of yours
1RM, a belt, a diploma, course certificate, anything
alternatively ask me how i know you don't work out or do anything you preach
If they're so difficult to spar and develop methods for, how did countless cultures around the world manage just fine training people to use them against other men as one of the most common tools for war?
difficult to make good training tools that both accurately represent spear usage, and dont injure even well padded opponents. Similar issues with quarterstaff or halberd.
Its not that they hate spears, its because spearhomosexualry in the west was ended by musket usage and Western Martial artists obsessed with swordsmanship forgot about polearms entirely. In the 18th & 19th century there was no living tradition of polearm usage to pass it on to the people who became HEMAgays. Compare it to Japs and Chinks who used polearms well into the 19th century, and thus have a living tradition to draw from.
That and the Spear isn't considered a symbolically romantic & important weapon by Europe's aristocracy & heroic culture, whereas it is in China and Japan.
The spear is literally the weapon of the mounted knight.
Plenty of western heroes are depicted with spears like Saint Georges slaying the dragon or Alexander the Great charging the persians.
Not even talking about greek gods like Artemis or Ares almost always being depicted with a spear.
It's just a question of practility, it was easier to carry a sword and a knife around during the renaissance than a spear.
And yet when you look at most Martial/Heroic European statues, they all have swords. Generals wave swords around. Europeans talk of swords poetically & metaphorically to represent martial might.
The spear is literally the weapon of the mounted knight.
Plenty of western heroes are depicted with spears like Saint Georges slaying the dragon or Alexander the Great charging the persians.
Not even talking about greek gods like Artemis or Ares almost always being depicted with a spear.
It's just a question of practility, it was easier to carry a sword and a knife around during the renaissance than a spear.
They're both good. Neither is a sidearm. This is like arguing about whether your hammer or screwdriver is better, you pick the right tool for the right job and you bring both when you can.
Hema is full of the most insufferable, lamest homosexuals. What kind of grown man would actually do this as a hobby.
If you want to learn to fight go do some mma. If you want to learn to use weapons you learn to shoot guns. The concept of hema is moronic to the point of laughable. The funniest part of it all is that when actual armored soldiers fought each other in medieval times it almost always devolved into wrestling and sticking a knife in the visor or armpit after securing a dominant position on the ground. This is widely documented from Europe all the way to japan. All that prancing flashy shit they do isn't even realistic lmao
>t. contrarian with no idea what HEMA is
You absolute fricking moron. All armored fighting in HEMA is mostly grappling and throwing. What kind of strawman are you even arguing against?
Yes, and anyone who actually does a grappling martial art would beat the shit out of a fatass hema larper. I guarantee anyone who wrestled or does bjj would murder them in their own ruleset. So it's a sad, useless activity is my point
a physical 'sport' where you get to have fun with other people is a useless activity? does everything have to be about preparing for the race war to you?
So you admit you're unprepared? Good. Sit the frick down and stay inside when it happens you useless fatass, you'll be told where you're being sent as slave labor soon enough and your gay toy "swords" will be melted down to make tanks. Russia crushing Ukraine is the death of your kind, of decadent, useless worms and their pointless "hobbies". We're coming for you.
Other types of homosexuals with gay ass useless hobbies that a MMA fighter or wrestler would totally beat the shit out of:
A competition shooter, a baseball player, a recreational fisherman, a hunter, a rock climber, a skater, a mountain biker, a guitarist, a golfer, a triathelete, a motocross rider, any weightlifter who doesn't spar, insert every other physical activity or hobby on earth here.
>I guarantee anyone who wrestled or does bjj would murder them in their own rulese
People who have never used swords are literally hopeless against a well trained swordsman.
Would they win in a grapple without weapons? Sure, against fat HEMAists who don't train like they should. Would they get in close? No.
You do realize every martial art has fatasses who do it as a hobby right?
This is why the mace and warhammer are superior weapons.
Swordgays gotta be seething that their sidearm is at the bottom of the melee weapon tier list.
2 years ago
Anonymous
I've been hit on the head with a solid mace before and you can barely feel it if your helmet and padding are good. Unless you're smacking their fingers you're gonna have a shit time anyway.
That's why knights defaulted to longer 2 handed weapons that give you the leverage to decapitate someone with blunt force alone or tackle & dagger.
2 years ago
Anonymous
lono. warhammers were in use at waterloo and crimea.
Any fighting sport is for dickless homosexuals trying to compensate. Real men dedicate their lives to working. Anything else is a waste of time for losers.
>Everyone in the medieval period wore full plate at all times and there was no such thing as unarmored combat. Judicial duels never happened. Masters in the 15th/16th century who taught and used unarmored techniques were larpers.
not euro but this thread made me remember that Japan has 3 spears from different legendary warriors / smiths that are collectively called the three great spears of Japan
kind of like the crown israeliteels in the UK
I mean honestly anytime I thought about fighting people with medieval weapons half of my fantasies were about shield bashing people to death. That seems really entertaining what they're doing there. Why do they all have a shitty falchion machete rip off instead of an axe unless it's two handed?
>can be used as a short spear >massive leverage when swung >double pay
I know they're popular in pop culture so nobody likes them on the internet, but two-handed swords are rad as frick.
Because it beats their spazz moronation, no matter how good they are. They can't stand that the simple spear, the most widespread weapon of days past, beats their special snowflake lonsword, not understanding that longsword "fencing" and "dueling" was always done with federschwerts (aka fencing longswords) and was just larping even back then, and that only people in armor trained with "long" swords to kill other people in armor, something they cannot afford to do because they're larping neckbeard poors.
This is true.
They hate hate HATE the fact that any athletic chad with literally six hours of spear training beats their decade+ of training with the longsword.
It's the same in Japan as it is in HEMA. The spear is so effective that it's quite literally considered "unfair" in a 1-on-1 duel.
Yes, and sometimes they used their hat.
True: during archery duels between troop leaders, which is how battles were started during one period of Japan's history, it was extremely shameful to dodge, or deflect the arrow with your sword. You either took it on the armor and fired back, after which the full battle would start, or you were a casualty and your side forfeited the Battle.
>and that only people in armor trained with "long" swords to kill other people in armor
People in armor weren't killed... because of the armor. The guy that could afford a full set was a noble and if you had a full set it just wasn't shitty as it was custom made. A noble was either spared because he was a noble or because he was worth ransom (usually both).
So the idea of dude in armor beating each other with blades is and has always been a LARP.
Melee fight in europe was always meant to capture a maximum of ennemy by using better formations to put litteral pressure and force one side to surrender/flee.
There was very little death in medieval battles when there even was battle (most battles are famous... because of how few there are).
You're right, this guy sounds full of it. All of those women trapped in mens body transexuals were frustrated at being incels and would suicide dive into a wave of shields while screaming and then everyone would get all hyped up and this close up camera view as they attack people that are surrounding them and it's total anarchy instead of any sort of tactics but you look really badass if you're attacking people all over the place because real warriors get over run by people and then the fighting you look cool when you attack people from every direction as if getting flanked wasn't some sort of movie error so all the years spent raising a person common sense goes out the window and they just run into the main character flipping around 360 degrees killing everyone in his path because that's pretty cool looking.
This thread is fricking weird.
It's made up entirely of people who don't know the first thing about HEMA (the OP itself is built on a false premise), yet they seethe at it.
Well, of course. /k/ consists purely of noguns arguing which gun or cartridge is best, neverserveds arguing which army is best, and nevertraineds arguing which melee weapon is best.
These threads are the work of one autist who hates swords and loves spears and embarrasses other speargays profoundly. You can tell because he will repeatedly say the exact same moronic thing ("a novice with a spear can beat a master swordsman because they're just that good") with no evidence and reply to himself a bunch when the thread inevitably goes off topic. He cannot help himself.
This thread is evidence of the opposite though, it's mostly "speargays"(who unlike your average HEMAist have never held a spear) being upset that somewhere out there, people are having fun with swords.
Swords will always be kino and the patrician choice forever. Its only just now in modern times that the consoomer neckbeard freaks have learned about swords and turned to shit all they touch.
The most excellent private collections in the world will have some pole weapons but the stars of every single one of them are either armor, antique firearms or swords.
My brother does hema kinda stuff, I have a handful of small amount of bayonet training from military school, I always kick his ass when it come to spear fights. spears are easy to use and super easy to win with if you have alittle training with how to use them, even against other spear users
I assume (knowing nothing) that the strat for a 1v1 spear fight is to wait for a thrust from your opponent and then swat their weapon away and immediatly giving them a stab
do you guys do just spears or spear and shield?
spear vs. spear. there is an easy technique for pushing the enemy bayonet/spear aside and then making your thrust. if youre aware of it, you can counter it but if youre not then it gets you every time.
holding your spear/bayonet you have you left hand forward and your right hand to the rear, have a solid stance (left foot forward and right foot back) you knock the enemies weapon to side by pushing with your left and pulling with your right, for whatever reason most people seem to only use one arm to move a spear and the other just to stabilize it, then follow us with a quick jab.
and of course move your weapon around and use your range, quick jabs and faints to keep them off balance and on the defensive
It's just using a few basic things together, but it's effective
If you practice halfsword against spear you can routinely beat it by deflecting and closing
You can also just point out that if you decide this is a fantasy battlefield scenario and not a matched weapon unarmored duel, that means I'm deciding we're in armor, good luck trying to snipe my armpit before I close
Spears are great for the reasons crossbows are great but worse than longbows, ease of use and quicker training vs skill ceiling and lifetime of practice
Well a rat always knows when hes in with weasels. Here you lose a little every day.
Do they?
Because hema is more varied and fun without spears. You can use longswords, sabers, rapiers, bucklers, off hand weapons, etc. if your opponent is using a spear, then you’d have to use one too, or be at a massive disadvantage.
Just bring a flintlock pistol and shoot the guy with the spear.
That's the thing, pike & shot was an effective formation in history.
If your opponent is using a spear you grab a kite shield and win over and over again with minimal effort until they grab a kite shield themselves.
Where's the fun in this?
So this is just me watching random morons hit each other, but spears are not easy to control in a 1 handed grip, and from what I have seen, 2 hand spear does better than spear/shield against a sword and board, because you can quickly thrust and threaten multiple areas of the opponent's body and not lose control when you rebound from a shield
Your defense in this scenario is your reach
Yeah that's true I meant to say they'll grab kite shield and some suitable 1 handed weapon too.
You're right, your reach is your defense. Big shields basically negate your reach advantage so you're left pretty defenseless against a sword if all you have is a spear.
spears are imba
Low skill + really solid. Basically it’s an unfun choice if you want to learn some cool techniques and also work better in formations, where as most people have fun in duel scenarios
Because a novice with a spear will beat a "master" with a longsword, nine times out of ten.
No
Assuming equal physical skills, easy.
In Japan, modern spearfighting -- atarashii naginata and naginatajutsu -- are mostly practiced by women. Why? Because it's so easy for an athletic male naginatajutsu novice to mog expert kendogays that it's considered unsporting and somewhat dishonorable.
then why were naginata largely gone from the battlefield after the Heian period? (where they were just weapons of foot retainers who chased after mounted archers)
Were they really?
So tell me, apart from heavy of use bows, what were the preferred melee weapon in Japan until modernization?
not the same guy, but it was the yari. And the yari was adopted b/c it's far easier to train somebody to use over the naginata. This ease of training was important as the introduction of matchlocks to Japan suddenly gave those who could raise ashigaru armies the ability to steamroll samurai.
Because Spears where better made and easier and cheaper to produce and train.
Go chk on the spear length in Japan after that preiod.
>uses the term mog
>only examples are mongoloid bullshido
I lived in Japan for a long time and was always told by the old timers that back in the day, when almost all schools had mandatory kendo or naginata, that girls would congregate towards naginata just to avoid the boys, who all picked kendo. That seems to make more sense.
There is also onna-bugeisha using naginata in popular culture, so there is some cachet there for Japanese girls. Pretty sure most sports clubs are still segregated, at least, they were in the 2000s
martial artists used waxwood for spears, which is, indeed, quite tough and springy; the military didn't, but that's where it comes from
>HEMA guys hate spears
They don't, its just that manuals of arms for spears are few and sparse, meant for grunts with lukewarm IQs, and swordplay was refined and studied by rich men and dilettantes who left many tomes of autistic ramblings about their various favorite ways to poke other rich men with their sharpened steel penises.
There was always a fantasy element to swordplay in HEMA, even when it was being recorded 500 years ago, and that appeals to the modern hobbyist as well. There's much less fun to be had with "point stick at enemy, try not to die"
>There was always a fantasy element to swordplay in HEMA
Sounds like unimaginative homosexualry, there is no reason you can't apply fantasy elements to spears.
most likely answer
Yes
just use a longer spear morons
Because they dominate other weapons so easily. Spears were the king of battle for 4000 years for a reason.
Safety mostly. It's easy to frick someone up with a spear.
It's primarily a matter of safety as mentioned. Even if you use a rubber spear blade, you still have a big stiff oak shaft that can do serious damage to someone even when in full protection. You could use something less dangerous like rattan, but then the weapon is absurdly light and behaves nothing like a proper spear, which isn't a problem with federschwert.
You can really only safely spar with spears at any kind of energetic level with full plate armor, which costs as much as a used car. So hardly anyone wants to spend such money on a niche weapon.
Besides all that, spear is just nowhere near as fun as swords, and there are a mere fraction of historical techniques written for them. Especially since one of the main "techniques" historically written for spear is to drop it and pull out a sword or dagger if the enemy gets past your point. It's an extremely simple weapon, which while great for actual combat use, just lacks the sheer dynamics of swords and the amount of material written for them.
One more thing: A lot of HEMA guys actually do spear at some point, but the skill ceiling is so low that they get bored quickly. You can get really good at spear in like a week. Whereas it can take years to master a sword. So guys will jump into spear, read all the available historical material in a day, and 6 days later they're annihilating anyone who isn't also using a spear. So they go, "Okay, that's about it for spear" and move on to other weapons.
Because HEMA rules are shit for spears
>oh you parried that stab? Too bad I am gonna slightly tap you with the parried tip and end this exchange
Nobody wants to see spears and increasingly bigger shields fight because rules are unrealistic.
Has there been any good spear vs. armor testing? I've seen a lot for bows and crossbows but nothing for spears and I imagine it'd be pretty hard to punch through a breastplate with one.
Don't need one. Weapons adapted by the time armor was getting better. Even the poorest fricks could use a makeshift mace, but usually the standard for poor fricking infantry was something pic related. Personally, I think its peak melee weapon evolution.
>the standard for poor infantry was highly decorated pollaxes
No anon, it would have been something like a halberd similar to this, or a bill or maybe a spear.
Bills were pretty kino.
>Black person cavalry charge
>dragged off horse and violently hacked up
Yeah, if you look into what people study in antiquity there is a few people that do that sort of testing. Even a cloth armor like a linothorax that is suppose to be laminated cloth glued together can stop it. When you get to a thing like a coat of plates that's a combination of a linothorax with plates in it. It's just not going to happen. I mean I fully believe though on the other hand a spear is a knife on a stick, you get more leverage if you take a slash from the far end of the stick I'm certain it does nasty things and probably breaks more often than it does armor but absolutely has killed quite a few people just from a guy with a long stick with a knife on it going full moron strength swinging the thing full force out of desperation. You hear about people in armor getting killed in the thousands. I really think armor was a lot more spotty in quality in the past. A lot of time I'm pretty sure it was a group trying to outnumber another one. You hear in stories when guys would take over a battlefield till they get killed and people approach them without committing to attacking getting repelled. I suspect armor was going through a quality control check a lot in the past because even during the heyday of chainmail I've heard of swords cutting through it. If you look at people on youtube they got stuff bouncing off chainmail or can hardly puncture it. I mean look at stuff in the 18th century without armor, a wound isn't going to stop you initially but long term you're probably going to be fricked. It's not like you can just abandon a campaign because you got a booboo that a normal person would recover fine from if they went home and coddled it. Your in hostile territory the only surgeon you'll find is the one you brought. If it didn't hurt or kill people it wouldn't have been used. I'm pretty sure usually people resorted to zerg tactics so it was more like playing whackamole than some horatio on the bridge kind of stuff is what I'm rambling at.
You know how in some games, there are weapons that are so busted that if an opponent is using one, you have to use one too or be at a huge disadvantage?
Yeah, spears are that for HEMA
The Chinese spear, on a flexible yew wood pole, with tassle, in the right hands, is arguably one of the most devastating melee weapons on planet earth.
What are the flexibility and tassle for?
It’s flexible so that when it’s used as a movie prop in kung fu movies, it won’t hurt anyone.
>The Chinese spear, on a flexible yew wood pole, with tassle,
Bullshit propagated by Hong Kong Kung Fu Cinema.
In actuality Qiang are usually on a hardwood shaft (some pike versions are on bamboo-timber composites) were as long as 1 and a half men or 2 men. The tassel serves no tactical purpose its purely decorative and indicates that the warrior belong to an elite military unit. A practice the Chinks adopted from their SteppeBlack person Opponents whose elite men tied horsetail tassels on their spears.
Do people honestly think this looks effective, or even just aesthetically pleasing? It's just plain silly.
You're don't have the athleticism to pull It off: https://youtu.be/r98-BMgn-Bw
>posting the furgay
instant disqualification
Chinese martial arts are as fake as their concrete, it's why when the west got into it and developed serious systems like MMA kung-fu got conclusively blown the frick out, it's all cope walks like their military. When a based (and probably genetically mostly Mongolian judging by his appearance) MMA fighter in China started challenging kung-fu masters the government shut him down for embarrassing China.
Dude that is literally the Hong Kong Cinema bullshit that I crapped on.
Historic Chinese spear fighting based on Ming & Qing Manuals use WAY longer spears look more like this
Even though this is not a spear but a stick, the movements and stances are quite good for Hong Kong martial arts movies:
?t=212
?t=25
Holy shit that village looks comfy af.
Can grab a bottle of wine, sit outside in the shade, and watch the spear sparring. Ah....
This is because swords were symbolic -- a totem of the upper classes and ruling elite of the time. (Maces are much the same, and were eventually transfigured into scepters.) Spears, though more practical, were plebian, cheaper, and less celebrated.
"I am the sword, deadly against all weapons. Neither spear, nor poleaxe, nor dagger can prevail against me. I can be used at long range or close range, or I can be held in the half sword grip and move to the narrow game
I can be used to take away the opponent’s sword, or move to grapple. My skill lies in breaking and binding. I am also skilled in covering and striking, with which I seek always to finish the fight. I will crush anyone who opposes me.
I am of royal blood. I dispense justice, advance the cause of good and destroy evil. To those who learn my crossings I will grant great fame and renown in the art of armed fighting."
If you're good with enough with a sword it'll overcome anything, and in learning all of it you learn to use basically all hand to hand weapons, plus some poetic ideation
From a guy who knew
Lol mega-cope. Which HEMA larper wrote this cringe?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiore_dei_Liberi
I think he knew more about it than you do
> HEMA Larper.
Exactly.
Here's based chad George Silver's weapon tier list.
"The single sword has the vantage against the single rapier.
The sword and dagger has the vantage against the rapier and poniard.
The sword & target has the advantage against the sword and dagger, or the rapier and poniard.
The sword and buckler has advantage against the sword and target, the sword and dagger, or rapier and poniard.
The two handed sword has the vantage against the sword and target, the sword and buckler, the sword and dagger, or rapier and poniard.
The battle axe, the halberd, the black-bill, or such like weapons of weight, appertaining unto guard or battle, are all one in fight, and have advantage against the two handed sword, the sword and buckler, the sword and target, the sword and dagger, or the rapier and poniard.
The short staff or half pike, forest bill, partisan, or glaive, or such like weapons of perfect length, have the advantage against the battle axe, the halberd, the black bill, the two handed sword, the sword and target, and are too hard for two swords and daggers, or two rapier and poniards with gauntlets, and for the long staff and morris pike.
The long staff, morris pike, or javelin, or such like weapons above the perfect length, have advantage against all manner of weapons, the short staff, the Welch hook, partisan, or glaive, or such like weapons of vantage excepted, yet are too weak for two swords and daggers or two sword and bucklers, or two rapiers and poniards with gauntlets, because they are too long to thrust, strike, and turn speedily. And by reason of the large distance, one of the sword and dagger-men will get behind him.
The morris pike defends the battle from both horse and man, much better than can the short staff, long staff, or forest bill."
George Silver was so pathetic that the only man he dared to call out for a duel had most likely died of old age when he did so
Nah Silver was based. Autistic swordgays hate his guts and slander him at every opportunity, is all.
> B-but the quarterstaff can't possibly be better than muh sword!! T-that S-silver is a real jerk!
Silver comes 150 years after Fiore and as an English Master of Defence was almost certainly a sport orientated fencing master similar to Meyer but with legitimate experience of urban self/defence and affray. He didn't train either militia for warfare, didn't train nobility for judicial or life and death duels across the continent and didnt take part in them himself, he doesn't factor fighting in or out of armor at all. Silver's governors are very good teaching devices, he's very underrated by the community, but his wheelhouse is non-lethal combat for display and civilian self defense, which is why he is correctly fond of quarterstaffs for that context. He doesn't actually mention anything about longsword - two handed swords in his time and place meant what we refer to as greatswords today, and his only advice on them is to use them like a staff, which is obviously highly suspect. A lifetime trained knight or man at arms from the 15th century is just a different kind of beast.
I do assume you think you're trolling, above is for the benefit of anyone reading, you on the off chance you're actually interested and just very misinformed. Also, in case you missed it, Silver was primarily a prize player - a sport fighter for public demonstrations. What's your criteria for LARPing?
That list is batshit moronic. It's Phil Elmore tier moronic
Why?
Spears and other weapons "of perfect length" are indeed superior to swords. Cope and seethe.
Silver and Fiore weren't all that different. It's just that Silver was a generalist and Fiore was a particularly autistic swordgay.
>Silver and Fiore weren't all that different. It's just that Silver was a generalist and Fiore was a particularly autistic swordgay.
9/10, would be 10/10 comically untrue if Silver didn't retain medieval triangular footwork and a small number of grapples
> t.
You've even got the R*ddit spacing.
Swordgays on suicide watch
>frick frick I'm getting absolutely BTFO by facts and logic
>okay plan B I'll just post le 56% meme and call him R*dditor
Keep shilling for your renaissance equivalent of Lucas Botkin though.
Seriously, you're just making up gibberish and posting walls of text.
Silver was explicitly talking about weapons as tools of war, e.g. where he wrote "defends the battle from both horse and man." The sword is starkly inferior in this context.
Fiore:
>commissioned for 4-6 manuscripts by highest nobility at a time when even one was a hugely expensive undertaking
>Very well documented in historical record for the time training lower class soldiers/militia on behalf of City States and nobility for internationally famous and witnessed duels, including "to pain and death"
>was himself a knight of the HRE and travelled multiple countries learning to fight
>explicit instruction on wrestling, dagger, sword in one hand and two hands, fighting in armor, pollaxe, spear, wrestling on horseback, sword on horseback, spear on horseback and specific unequal scenarios like improvised weapons, being attacked while seated, dagger against swords and multiple weapons against spears in one cohesive system
>heavy grappling focus throughout and the single largest source for dagger, less than half of his manuscript refers to swords alone
Silver:
>Got one wall of text focused on how foreigners were teaching swordfighting wrong printed, which included brief mentions of general fighting principles. Had to write another text on what his own system actually was, which was never printed
>Is not known outside of the London based Masters of Defence, bubble in his time though his text was referenced by Shakespeare, possibly for fight choreography
>the English Masters of Defence were active some 200 years after the renaissance in the early modern period, their fighting context was radically different to men who'd trained to fight with these weapons in warfare from childhood, and never even attained official guild status like their continental counterparts. They specialised in unarmoured duelling for sport, with the idea and in fairness likelihood of defending themselves in ale houses, theatres and other areas of urban violence
>outlines his general principles in terms of fighting with swords, then looks at applying to them to the sword + companion weapons, grappling as applied to a swordfight, 2h sword, polearms and "dagger"
Cont:
>two thirds of his unpublished instructional text refers to swords his "dagger" is a long weapon used much more like a dussack, messer or other hanger IE like a sword. The published text was almost entirely a discourse on why foreign fencing instructors were flawed, IE talking about swords
Which of these two was more of a LARPer and autistic sword gay?
>"The single sword has the vantage against the single rapier.
No
>The sword and dagger has the vantage against the rapier and poniard.
No
>The sword & target has the advantage against the sword and dagger, or the rapier and poniard.
Okay
>The sword and buckler has advantage against the sword and target, the sword and dagger, or rapier and poniard.
N O
>The two handed sword has the vantage against the sword and target, the sword and buckler, the sword and dagger, or rapier and poniard.
N O O O
>The battle axe, the halberd, the black-bill, or such like weapons of weight, appertaining unto guard or battle, are all one in fight,
No
>and have advantage against the two handed sword, the sword and buckler, the sword and target, the sword and dagger, or the rapier and poniard.
Sometimes?
>The short staff or half pike, forest bill, partisan, or glaive, or such like weapons of perfect length, have the advantage against the battle axe, the halberd, the black bill, the two handed sword, the sword and target,
Sure
>and are too hard for two swords and daggers,
No
>or two rapier and poniards with gauntlets,
Nooooooooooooooo
>and for the long staff and morris pike.
who is dueling with a pike?
>The long staff, morris pike, or javelin, or such like weapons above the perfect length, have advantage against all manner of weapons,
>the short staff, the Welch hook, partisan, or glaive, or such like weapons of vantage excepted,
WTFBBQ
>yet are too weak for two swords and daggers or two sword and bucklers, or two rapiers and poniards with gauntlets, because they are too long to thrust, strike, and turn speedily.
No, because two armed men reliably kill 1 armed man no matter what the frick they are holding
>And by reason of the large distance, one of the sword and dagger-men will get behind him.
>The morris pike defends the battle from both horse and man, much better than can the short staff, long staff, or forest bill."
No shit Sherlock
this is the Fudd from 1552
because they're homosexuals. when i did martial arts i wouldn't touch any of the fricking spinning weapons but I really didn't mind bo kun stuff, came on naturally
I'd probably post here, but then the stupid strawman OP ruined the thread and now it us full of idiots,
Hi Elmslie.
>Why do HEMA guys hate tomahawks?
Same as axes -- they're inconvenient to make safe for sparring. That said, axes of all sizes and their uses are probably the most intriguing frontier for developing new systems.
Because hema is cope shit for b***hes who masterbate and cry
What isn't?
Everything else
Tell me your hobbies and i guarantee you there are substantial populations who denigrate them as childish nonsense for losers.
>t. guy who shoots paper (if that)
t. guy who drinks tea, if that
Are you trying to imply that I'm British?
I shoot loads into your gasping mother
Given the last two responses you got, you got them right where it hurts. Spot on assessment.
because HEMA is for manchildren
go play with your rubber swords, sperg.
I've never done it, but it would seem HEMA is more "historic self defense".
Meaning more along the lines of sidearms, whereas the spear is more of a military thing.
Fricking knew it. Let me guess, every OP response post going "yeah spear is just that good" instead of the much more obvious "HEMA rules favor weapons that can tap even if it wouldn't be an injury in a real fight". Daily reminder that the Romans conquered every speargay they met.
>Daily reminder that the Romans conquered every speargay they met.
as a reminder, romans were essentially the pinnacle of western civilization, (plus they did use spears, especially during later periods) and were fighting to what can amount to a moronic abo holding a spear up against a fricking semi truck.
Throwing spears and closing with sword and shield/two handed sword/axe/pollaxe depending on your army is the chad move and martially approved from the classic to the early modern
Honestly, no one in HEMA (at least my club and assorted peeps) hates spears. They're an integral part of the curriculum.
What I've heard some people complain is Spear tryhards. You can technically exploit the current HEMA ruleset(s) with a spear to score as many easy points as possible while sparring or even while on tournament. Those strikes would not in a million years be threatening in a proper combat setting, but rules are rules.
Other than that, I fricking love spears - they're one of the best things to really get you accustomed to range and closing.
>t. longsword and rapier gay
Because spears make a lot of hema redundant. Spears not only force your opponent to also use one since they are so superior to other mele weapons, they are easy to be effective with. This means that the effectiveness of a good spear guy and an avg one isnt that big, therefore making hema drills redundant.
>HEMA
Yikes my dood, its a hobby full of larping leftist, neckbeard, semi-fat incels or cucks.
Just go to a boxing gym and do some semminars with knifes and always carry.
Stop being a manchild larping as le epic medieval knight when shitskins are invading and raping your country and women unopposed.
>stop being a larper
>pretend to be in a world historical battle of the races in between doing 9 to five at the office
>wagecucking for the israelite world worder
Lmao.
t. megalarper with no job
post any physical accomplishment of yours
1RM, a belt, a diploma, course certificate, anything
alternatively ask me how i know you don't work out or do anything you preach
This is superb bait.
>why does this medieval sparring niche hate weapons that are impossible to safely spar with?
Same reason we don't spar with maces mofo.
No one in HEMA hates spears, they are just difficult to spar with full force without injury so don't see use in tournaments, just in class freeplay.
I do agree that HEMA clubs that only do one part of a system instead of all are terrible generally.
If they're so difficult to spar and develop methods for, how did countless cultures around the world manage just fine training people to use them against other men as one of the most common tools for war?
Very carefully and without having much fun I guess.
Are you implying that a military in the year 300 has the same safety standards as a recreational club in current year?
difficult to make good training tools that both accurately represent spear usage, and dont injure even well padded opponents. Similar issues with quarterstaff or halberd.
Its not that they hate spears, its because spearhomosexualry in the west was ended by musket usage and Western Martial artists obsessed with swordsmanship forgot about polearms entirely. In the 18th & 19th century there was no living tradition of polearm usage to pass it on to the people who became HEMAgays. Compare it to Japs and Chinks who used polearms well into the 19th century, and thus have a living tradition to draw from.
That and the Spear isn't considered a symbolically romantic & important weapon by Europe's aristocracy & heroic culture, whereas it is in China and Japan.
tbh the scotts btfo the "*nglish" with spear formations.
> an army of pikes and kilts
>all of scandanavia and mainlain europes elites
Guess who won?
Bannockburn was won because of archers, then the English took that exact same tactic and used it at all of their best victories against the French.
swordsmanship >> pussy ass spears
The spear is literally the weapon of the mounted knight.
Plenty of western heroes are depicted with spears like Saint Georges slaying the dragon or Alexander the Great charging the persians.
Not even talking about greek gods like Artemis or Ares almost always being depicted with a spear.
It's just a question of practility, it was easier to carry a sword and a knife around during the renaissance than a spear.
And yet when you look at most Martial/Heroic European statues, they all have swords. Generals wave swords around. Europeans talk of swords poetically & metaphorically to represent martial might.
They're both good. Neither is a sidearm. This is like arguing about whether your hammer or screwdriver is better, you pick the right tool for the right job and you bring both when you can.
Hema is full of the most insufferable, lamest homosexuals. What kind of grown man would actually do this as a hobby.
If you want to learn to fight go do some mma. If you want to learn to use weapons you learn to shoot guns. The concept of hema is moronic to the point of laughable. The funniest part of it all is that when actual armored soldiers fought each other in medieval times it almost always devolved into wrestling and sticking a knife in the visor or armpit after securing a dominant position on the ground. This is widely documented from Europe all the way to japan. All that prancing flashy shit they do isn't even realistic lmao
>t. contrarian with no idea what HEMA is
You absolute fricking moron. All armored fighting in HEMA is mostly grappling and throwing. What kind of strawman are you even arguing against?
Yes, and anyone who actually does a grappling martial art would beat the shit out of a fatass hema larper. I guarantee anyone who wrestled or does bjj would murder them in their own ruleset. So it's a sad, useless activity is my point
>So it's a sad, useless activity is my point
a physical 'sport' where you get to have fun with other people is a useless activity? does everything have to be about preparing for the race war to you?
So you admit you're unprepared? Good. Sit the frick down and stay inside when it happens you useless fatass, you'll be told where you're being sent as slave labor soon enough and your gay toy "swords" will be melted down to make tanks. Russia crushing Ukraine is the death of your kind, of decadent, useless worms and their pointless "hobbies". We're coming for you.
Other types of homosexuals with gay ass useless hobbies that a MMA fighter or wrestler would totally beat the shit out of:
A competition shooter, a baseball player, a recreational fisherman, a hunter, a rock climber, a skater, a mountain biker, a guitarist, a golfer, a triathelete, a motocross rider, any weightlifter who doesn't spar, insert every other physical activity or hobby on earth here.
Please tell me which bjj move will stop a 90mph fastball thrown with pinpoint accuracy at your forehead.
>I guarantee anyone who wrestled or does bjj would murder them in their own rulese
People who have never used swords are literally hopeless against a well trained swordsman.
Would they win in a grapple without weapons? Sure, against fat HEMAists who don't train like they should. Would they get in close? No.
You do realize every martial art has fatasses who do it as a hobby right?
Just wear some armor so the swordgay can't do anything but seethe as you snap crackle and pop his joints.
This is why the mace and warhammer are superior weapons.
Swordgays gotta be seething that their sidearm is at the bottom of the melee weapon tier list.
I've been hit on the head with a solid mace before and you can barely feel it if your helmet and padding are good. Unless you're smacking their fingers you're gonna have a shit time anyway.
That's why knights defaulted to longer 2 handed weapons that give you the leverage to decapitate someone with blunt force alone or tackle & dagger.
lono. warhammers were in use at waterloo and crimea.
Any fighting sport is for dickless homosexuals trying to compensate. Real men dedicate their lives to working. Anything else is a waste of time for losers.
>dedicate your life to working
>Japanese """men"""
Why are you wasting your time here? Get back to work homosexual.
>REAL MEN SUCK A LOT OF wienerS, JUST LIKE ME
there is literally Harnischfechten, moron
>Everyone in the medieval period wore full plate at all times and there was no such thing as unarmored combat. Judicial duels never happened. Masters in the 15th/16th century who taught and used unarmored techniques were larpers.
>If you want to learn to fight go do some mma.
I want to hit other people with sharp sticks as humans have done for most of our existence, and you CANNOT dissuade me from it.
not euro but this thread made me remember that Japan has 3 spears from different legendary warriors / smiths that are collectively called the three great spears of Japan
kind of like the crown israeliteels in the UK
I have never heard of this can you please elaborate?
the place I went to followed Fiore. you would main stuff like a longsword, but other weapons were trained with.
spears are OP
fema is gay
I mean honestly anytime I thought about fighting people with medieval weapons half of my fantasies were about shield bashing people to death. That seems really entertaining what they're doing there. Why do they all have a shitty falchion machete rip off instead of an axe unless it's two handed?
How do you even counter this?
longer spears perhaps?
The same unit but with short thrusting swords or axes.
Horse archers
>Historical European Martial arte
>OP posts a chink spear
I see what you did there motherfricker.
>can be used as a short spear
>massive leverage when swung
>double pay
I know they're popular in pop culture so nobody likes them on the internet, but two-handed swords are rad as frick.
correct
Can always go with the rhomphaia if you want a greatsword obscure enough for internet hipster cred
>not the falx
shit.
I do not hate spears.
I hate speargays.
Because it beats their spazz moronation, no matter how good they are. They can't stand that the simple spear, the most widespread weapon of days past, beats their special snowflake lonsword, not understanding that longsword "fencing" and "dueling" was always done with federschwerts (aka fencing longswords) and was just larping even back then, and that only people in armor trained with "long" swords to kill other people in armor, something they cannot afford to do because they're larping neckbeard poors.
This is true.
They hate hate HATE the fact that any athletic chad with literally six hours of spear training beats their decade+ of training with the longsword.
It's the same in Japan as it is in HEMA. The spear is so effective that it's quite literally considered "unfair" in a 1-on-1 duel.
The Japanese were too stupid to invent shields.
They did, you moron. Hand held, pavise, and shoulder mounted for cavalry
samurai even had giant silk parachutes that would make them immune to arrows
I heard they just cut arrows in half so they didn't need shields.
Yes, and sometimes they used their hat.
True: during archery duels between troop leaders, which is how battles were started during one period of Japan's history, it was extremely shameful to dodge, or deflect the arrow with your sword. You either took it on the armor and fired back, after which the full battle would start, or you were a casualty and your side forfeited the Battle.
>and that only people in armor trained with "long" swords to kill other people in armor
People in armor weren't killed... because of the armor. The guy that could afford a full set was a noble and if you had a full set it just wasn't shitty as it was custom made. A noble was either spared because he was a noble or because he was worth ransom (usually both).
So the idea of dude in armor beating each other with blades is and has always been a LARP.
Melee fight in europe was always meant to capture a maximum of ennemy by using better formations to put litteral pressure and force one side to surrender/flee.
There was very little death in medieval battles when there even was battle (most battles are famous... because of how few there are).
you are so full of shit.
You're right, this guy sounds full of it. All of those women trapped in mens body transexuals were frustrated at being incels and would suicide dive into a wave of shields while screaming and then everyone would get all hyped up and this close up camera view as they attack people that are surrounding them and it's total anarchy instead of any sort of tactics but you look really badass if you're attacking people all over the place because real warriors get over run by people and then the fighting you look cool when you attack people from every direction as if getting flanked wasn't some sort of movie error so all the years spent raising a person common sense goes out the window and they just run into the main character flipping around 360 degrees killing everyone in his path because that's pretty cool looking.
yeah, everything's a larp except for homosexuals with MRSA who "practice" BJJ
This thread is fricking weird.
It's made up entirely of people who don't know the first thing about HEMA (the OP itself is built on a false premise), yet they seethe at it.
much like /k/ in general, its got to be said
Well, of course. /k/ consists purely of noguns arguing which gun or cartridge is best, neverserveds arguing which army is best, and nevertraineds arguing which melee weapon is best.
These threads are the work of one autist who hates swords and loves spears and embarrasses other speargays profoundly. You can tell because he will repeatedly say the exact same moronic thing ("a novice with a spear can beat a master swordsman because they're just that good") with no evidence and reply to himself a bunch when the thread inevitably goes off topic. He cannot help himself.
So he's basically PrepHole's Barry except spears are his Final Fantasy XV and swords are his Final Fantasy XIV?
Sheer anger some people have toward spear is quite funny. I just don't get people
This thread is evidence of the opposite though, it's mostly "speargays"(who unlike your average HEMAist have never held a spear) being upset that somewhere out there, people are having fun with swords.
I'm new to /k/ and I'm laughing that there's speargays vs swordgays arguing online. Fricking losers LMAO
Imagine being a swordgay.
Like... why? There are all sorts of objectively superior weapons.
> t. halberd enthusiast.
Swords will always be kino and the patrician choice forever. Its only just now in modern times that the consoomer neckbeard freaks have learned about swords and turned to shit all they touch.
The most excellent private collections in the world will have some pole weapons but the stars of every single one of them are either armor, antique firearms or swords.
So which end goes up the ass first
Spear autist got triggered by someone mentioning the Romans again, didn't he?
My brother does hema kinda stuff, I have a handful of small amount of bayonet training from military school, I always kick his ass when it come to spear fights. spears are easy to use and super easy to win with if you have alittle training with how to use them, even against other spear users
I assume (knowing nothing) that the strat for a 1v1 spear fight is to wait for a thrust from your opponent and then swat their weapon away and immediatly giving them a stab
do you guys do just spears or spear and shield?
spear vs. spear. there is an easy technique for pushing the enemy bayonet/spear aside and then making your thrust. if youre aware of it, you can counter it but if youre not then it gets you every time.
What is said technique?
holding your spear/bayonet you have you left hand forward and your right hand to the rear, have a solid stance (left foot forward and right foot back) you knock the enemies weapon to side by pushing with your left and pulling with your right, for whatever reason most people seem to only use one arm to move a spear and the other just to stabilize it, then follow us with a quick jab.
and of course move your weapon around and use your range, quick jabs and faints to keep them off balance and on the defensive
It's just using a few basic things together, but it's effective
is the trick to rotate your spear?
that would be my first guess
Because it embarrasses them by making obsolete the fancy little twirls they've been so diligently practicing
>this isn't the first post by this IP
huh
If you practice halfsword against spear you can routinely beat it by deflecting and closing
You can also just point out that if you decide this is a fantasy battlefield scenario and not a matched weapon unarmored duel, that means I'm deciding we're in armor, good luck trying to snipe my armpit before I close
Spears are great for the reasons crossbows are great but worse than longbows, ease of use and quicker training vs skill ceiling and lifetime of practice
Spears are awesome.
The range is a bit op though.
Some say the humble spear was the first weapon ever fashioned with human hands and destined to one day be the last.
>with human hands
Technically even proto-humans used them. Some chimps do.
homosexual heidelbergensis invented the spear head and was hunting fricking elephants with them.
>It seems my superiority has caused some level of controversy