Melee Weapon Appreciation Thread! Options

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

This is a thread for all things melee weapons! Which do you like best? Which are your least favorite? Got some cool pics of melee weapons? Put them here!

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Khajiit thinks it’s telling that just before firearms became the main weapon of soldiers, massed pikes made a comeback as the dominant force on European battlefields. Even after muskets became standard, what did they do? Put a frickin’ metal spike on the end of it!

[SubRosa]

Khajiit thinks it’s telling that just before firearms became the main weapon of soldiers, massed pikes made a comeback as the dominant force on European battlefields. Even after muskets became standard, what did they do? Put a frickin’ metal spike on the end of it!

The pike, and the bayonet, became so prevalent because spears are an effective deterrent to cavalry. Unlike in movies, in real life horses will not impale themselves upon a row of spears. So to defend against cavalry, infantry would simply stand still and put out their spears. In the time of muskets they would fix bayonets and the do the same. They even developed circular formations like the schiltrom and later squares so the cavalry could not ride around them and charge them from behind. The British did this to great effect at Waterloo.

Though it should be noted that once you do this, you are entirely on the defensive. A schiltrom or bayonet square cannot move. The muskets could not even be fired, because the early bayonets were of the plug type. They literally plugged into the end of the barrel. So it basically becomes a standoff. The cavalry cannot get at you because of the spears/bayonets. But you cannot get at the cavalry because you are trapped in a static formation that cannot move (if it tries to move, then gaps will form in the spear hedge. The cavalry will exploit them, charge in, and literally kill everyone).