Fascinating and disturbing piece on Medieval warfare

[sepulchre]

Found this particularly instructive for those who lean on tactics and weapon type in the resolution of melee. Further the exposition sheds light on the sense of vulnerability expressed by conventions like armor class. Lastly, morale is well-framed with regard to training, arms and armor. Broadly speaking this observation reinforces of much of what is implied in mass and even man-to-man melee in Chainmail.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGY2OqMXF9w Invasion of Gotland

[ritt]

On a semi-related note:

www.publicmedievalist.com/curious-case-weapon-didnt-exist/

I always thought this weapon's damage kinda got shorted in most RPGs... turns out that wasn't the half of it.

[Deleted]

The University of Minnesota Library rare book collection has the two volume set of books on the Battle of Visby, and I have poured over them extensively.

[sepulchre]

Ritt wrote:

turns out that wasn't the half of it.

It's true, Waysofthearth schooled me on this a few months back.

gronanofsimmerya wrote:

rare book collection has the two volume set...I have poured over them extensively

Huh, fascinating, that's really cool Gronan. Anything, you care to add?

[DungeonDevil]

Wilson Library at the U of MN - Minneapolis is one of the very best Humanities collections I've seen. I practically lived there during my undergrad work.

[Red Baron]

Mar 3, 2017 23:23:51 GMT -6 ritt said:

On a semi-related note:

www.publicmedievalist.com/curious-case-weapon-didnt-exist/

I always thought this weapon's damage kinda got shorted in most RPGs... turns out that wasn't the half of it.

Flails are agricultural implements for separating the wheat from the chaff by beating it... I would have thought that they were historically used as peasant weapons, since they're explicitly designed for the sole purpose of giving things a good smacking.

[ritt]

Mar 10, 2017 20:07:38 GMT -6 Red Baron said:

Mar 3, 2017 23:23:51 GMT -6 ritt said:

On a semi-related note:

www.publicmedievalist.com/curious-case-weapon-didnt-exist/

I always thought this weapon's damage kinda got shorted in most RPGs... turns out that wasn't the half of it.

Flails are agricultural implements for separating the wheat from the chaff by beating it... I would have thought that they were historically used as peasant weapons, since they're explicitly designed for the sole purpose of giving things a good smacking.

If the article is to be believed (And frankly I'm neutral on the subject), the two-handed version of which you speak (Adapted from the harvesting tool, and beloved of dwarf troll-slayers in Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play) was a real weapon that was actually used... but the one-handed version was a fancy created by fabulists and embellishers that never actually split a single skull