(11-25-2014, 07:30 PM)Derkylos Wrote: No such thing as "too close" with any melee weapon. Granted, there is an optimum range at which you can employ the intended striking parts, but the haft of the weapon can also be used to inflict damage or push your opponent back to where you can stab them again. As for "cutting a spear pole in half"... have you ever actually tried to do that? Especially against someone who is aware of and opposing you.
"Too close" means it is far less optimal to use a spear than a sword, or a sword than a knife. It means that with a sword in your hand you can die quite easily to a simple knife simply because it's more agile and it's lenght does not pose an obstacle during fight. Same goes for spear and sword. I'd actually like you to see how agile you could be with a spear.
(11-25-2014, 07:30 PM)Derkylos Wrote: Again, you make the mistake of thinking that if you get too close to a spearman, he is helpless. Whilst a common misconception, it is still not true.
He is helpless until he throws the spear away and draws a weapon more appropriate to the actual range. A sword maybe, or a knife should the opponent be even more close.
(11-25-2014, 07:30 PM)Derkylos Wrote: I will grant you that it takes some training and expertise to understand how to use the spear in a duel, but you essentially have a giant lever, which, if employed correctly, can be used to place your opponent wherever you need him.
Polearms (and also longer swords like the montante or the two-handed) are sacrificing agility for range while knives do the opposite. Longswords are some kind of a middle way. Though we can tell of any of these weapons that they can deal serious damage in the right hands, thus cannot really claim any of these were more or less common than the other.
(11-25-2014, 07:30 PM)Derkylos Wrote: Swords were common duelling weapons due to their prevalence and their precision (you'd need spectators to stand well back if a duel were to be conducted with, say, poleaxes). As for status symbols, check out the number of ornate/ceremonial swords that were forged and compare that to the number of ceremonial spears...
Status symbol was a secondary purpose nevertheless, in the first place it was a weapon. Maybe when choosing a weapon kind for ceremonies they were chosen over polearms due to their elegancy or diversity, no clue on that though...
(11-25-2014, 07:30 PM)Derkylos Wrote: Not being an expert at spear duelling, I can't really comment, but I have seen good spearmen hold swordsmen at pole's length and not be in any real danger from receiving a sword stroke. Thanks to the fact that a polearm's grip points extend all the way to the head, you can get surprisingly precise control over it's striking surfaces.
May I ask where exactly you've seen such duels?
(11-25-2014, 07:30 PM)Derkylos Wrote: Also, many polearms have much more versatility than a sword. My favourite, the poleaxe, allows you to stab, swing, grapple, damage on the recovery from a stab, hook, trip and all manner of dirty tricks thanks to it's wide variety of heads as well as it's shaft.
Poleaxe is a quite short and light one of polearms, one of my friends once won an authentic replica of an existing museal piece on an international event, and he has shown how it was used. I can imagine it being on par with longswords, even more agile than two-handed swords. But things like the multi meter pike do not belong into this category, they were simply designed for a purpose other than close combat.
(11-25-2014, 07:30 PM)Derkylos Wrote: Ultimately, however, the efficacy of spear vs sword cannot be compared by examining their performance in a duel, as most battlefields involved the engagement of bodies of men, and this was where the polearm shined. A large formation of men with spears could quite easily hold off soldiers with shorter weapons, as well as stop a cavalry charge dead in it's tracks. This is why the pike became the dominant weapon on the battlefields of Renaissance Europe.
Cavarly I agree with, most polearms were designed against them, but footmen had way more time to react to 3-4 meter pikes held in front of them than horsemen arriving with high speed, one swing and you can do what you want, the head of your pike was already beyond your opponent. At that point your pikement could do nothing else than, as I said earlier, draw an appropriate weapon and fight with it, or flee.