So I wanna add camo to the blade of my sword but how should I do that? I have no idea if there is a specific way to do it

Hey! I'm trying to write a fantasy book where the main 7 characters each have a distinct medieval style weapon, but I'm struggling on deciding what type of weapons would work well, can anyone help me? I have decided on 7 weapons, but I'm not happy with how short range most weapons are and I feel like they're maybe all a bit too similar in fighting style. One thing that I do feel is important plot wise is that there's an aspect of the weapon that always stays with the wielder, so like a bow and arrow works, but a spear doesn't really. These are the 7 I have at the moment: a strength focussed sword (was thinking a two handed long sword, but with more research it might be too similar to the rapier), a dexterity focussed sword (was thinking a rapier, but same as before), a bow and arrow, an axe, a chain whip, a slingshot and a mace. I especially would like to have more far range weapons, but I would like them to remain mobile and like I said before, have the characters keep some part of the weapon, any suggestions?

I want a 2-knuck with the sides extended out enough to get a grip with 1st and 4th fingers, and with a fatter rounded part in your palm, like a hotdog, to spread the impact in my palm over a larger area.

Everything I find is as thin in your palm as the protruding knucks.

Below, I've padded the palm.

I've hit trees with this and it would be devastating against someone's face, chest, or back.

https://preview.redd.it/eujwju1lkwpc1.jpg?width=327&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6eb7f277303d9a96b8f080f6a94449d9857a2bb

This vid is what I'm referring to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRzc--zUjsk

Its 6 minutes so if you haven't seen it yet I advise you to do so to get the context of this post.

Now I was dong a friendly sparring with a scutum and rubber foam Gladius with a weight and feel similar to the real thing but designed in a way that it doesn't really send out hard hits when you get whacked by it especially if you wear protective gear which we both were.

Now I'll openly state out I never learned proper sword training before though I have held replicas of real weapons with similar weight and designs tot he real thing. Even wielded actual blades that can cut and stab to cause wounds at Renaissance fares and in dojos. So I'm not the best person to seek advise from.

However in our friendly "light whack" "light stab" play fighting (yes even with foam weapons and authentic protective gear we decided to be safe and just horseplay around), I noticed something. As my friend was whacking my scutum I felt secure enough to push in close enough that my rfoam gladius was close enough that if we were horseplaying with just our fists, I'd be able to do an uppercut to his stomach.

In fact I began to approach my friend with the shield in front of me like I'm an invincible tank and while he's flailing and poking at me I simply do a semi talk to push his weapon away and then rush straight at him like a football player except witha s shield in front of me. He instincitvely backs away and you cans ee panick in his face every time I do this. I don't simply just walk towards him, I speed up for an instant confident my shield is protecting me and close in enough to poke his upper body ranging from chest to down tot he stomach.

Now I noticed during our horseplay if I try to do thrusts faroma far distance, it indeed does feel awkward like Skallagram states and even outright hurts as my wrist gets bent in an in appropriate way while my hand is gripping the hilt but its stuck to grip in a hammer holding manner by default because of the hilt's design. So when I was watching Skallagram's video the first time days ago I immediately recognized what he meant about the wrong grip hurting you and my hand was doing the exact same hing as he was showing as incorrect because I was literally doing that because of the way the gladius forces you to hold a blade........

However I immediately had in my head the moment Skallagram brings up the Gladius specifically the though of "if he had tried using a Gladius with a shield and sparred a few hours, he'd know not only how to stab properly with it but why the Gladius was designed with that kind of grip". I already have an assumed theory that I think is completely correct and answers Skallagram's question at the end of the vid. But as I said I lack actual training with weapons which is why I am posting here because I want input of veterans in this subject. OK here goes.

The Gladius was designed to be at extremely close quarters. To be specific its meant to be used in the same range at which two boxers exchange punches at each other. So there's really no need to learn how to change grip and hold it in more precise manners because its meant to be a close weapon. And as with waht I seen w playing with the scutum, the shield basically protects you from other longer blades and allows you to quickly rush in for the kill with the Gladius. So over-extended thrusts similar to longswords and rapiers isn't really meant to be done with the Gladius because you're meant to close in and the a brute first stabs at exposed areas in the body.

If anything the grip of the Gladius which Skallagram criticizes int he vid and calls it unusual, citing that it prevents safethrusting technique actually was designed for safety! Because as we spared one thing I notice witht he Gladius is that as long as you come close for the stab, it is impossible to lose grip of the sword just by sloppy technique alone. The way the hilt with its large top guard and the ball at the bottom actually is designed to force you to hold it as a hammer grip. So you don't drop it as your fist is tightly clenched on the weapon while you do repeated thrusting. So it actually is a safety measure for the range at which a Gladius is supposed to be used. Not just that it optmizes effective stabbing and thrusting. Because A few times I unintentionally thrusted harder than warranted in friendly playing and while we were wearing full protection, my friend told me a few times He really felt my stabs and if it wasn't for the metals mixed in with softpadding and plastic underneath these replicase, he would have felt like he got punched , probably with a few bruises. The hammer grip the sword's hilt forces really does subconsciously make you stab in such a way that it'll be easy to penetrate someone's muscles possibly bons even if you have no training is what I got from using the foam items similar in feel to a Gladius.

Last but not least and quite heavily related to all that I said earlier.......... Roaen warfare was fought in square rectangular formation in interlocked shields. Just by this fact alone you're not gonna have the chance to really do a long thrust rapier style. In these tight formations you're pretty much gonna be locked ina tight space so pretty much the enemy barbarians who can't kill you because of the scutum's size and in tandem with the rectangular shield wall, will at some point find himself closing in on you..... Well guess who's gonna find himself with holes in his stomach? And quite releated once the Roman legion goes ont he offensive, you're talking about a primitive moving tank. As they start steamrolling over the disorganized barbarians, just like in my horseplaying, it begins to bake sense why you need a hammer grip as you're closing in poking out exits for blood spillage as you get near enough to punch them except you're doing it with a deadly sword.

So it all makes sense and I think this should answer Skallagram's question. If I knew how to make videos I'd even send a response video (unfortunately I don't know anything behind film making).

Just one more note from what I send from authors, sparing sessions between Roman soldiers and known accounts between a Legatus (Roman generals) and barbarian chieftains even a few famous Gladiator events, often the outcome decided by effective use of the shield and getting the enemy into close range. You'll find the winner does moves to knock the shield away and then runs in to get close enough for punching range and kills the opponent. Or lets the opponent attacks nonstop and using the scutum for stonewall defense until the enemy gets fatigued or makes a mistake in his barrage that leaves and opening. To get close in at punching or even clinching range and then do the lethal stabs. Sometimes not even blocking with the shield at all but simply stepping backwards or circling the enemy to get him frustrated until that vulnerable moment where you can get in to send a punch but with a sword that kills him instead of KO. Without a shield? I seen an account of a centurion literally grabbing a barbarian champions arm, pulling him in for a clinch and then stabbing himg.

Well thats my personal hot take based on my horseplaying experience and Wikipedia level reading into the subject. So whats your thoughts? What response do you personally give to Skallagram about his confusion near the end of the vid? Is his question stemming from not understand the nature of the Gladius (which is my presumption right now)?

Intrigued to know if a spesr would be heavier than other melee weaponary in combat

It is basically like a morningstar, but harder to use, messier, more dangerous as you can accidentally hit yourself and slower as you'd have to swing it both to hit it and then wait to pull it until it comes back to you.

Not only does it lose against a morningstar, It also loses against a mace. I assume that the spikes would most likely get stuck in the craneum/wherever you hit, and would be very hard to get the weapon back to hit them again/hit another person. It would be even harder to take it out of someone than the morningwood, as the latter at least has a firm handle which makes pulling it easier.

Maybe I am missing something, but the flair seems utterly ineffective. Tho I have nothing against it, it actually is pretty damn badass looking and scary (and probably you can learn stunning cool tricks) that Im considering building one, but when it comes to effectiveness, doesnt look very promising I think.

Hey all,

I have a few Zombie tools items I would like to sell. Kid going to collage so...

First is the Spit, never used, factory edge. $670.00

Second is the Apokatana also never used or cut with. $565.00

Last but not least is the the Trauma Hawk, $346.00 also unused and factory edge.

Everything includes the Kydex sheath.

Pictures available upon request. Shipping is additional based on your location. Why wait months for your desires when you can have it right away right?

if interested comment on this post.

Thanks all.

Decided to make a bardiche inspired polearm head for the hell of it, and figured this was the best place to share it. Looking for opinions/constructive criticism. I tried to make it look pretty without sacrificing a lot of the structural Ingegrity, but it's mostly just to look pretty and swing around when I'm bored.

Had to read All Quiet On the Western Front for college before the start of this month and there's a chapter where they talk about how you shouldn't hit someone in their upperbody with a bayonet because the blade or stabby thingy will get stuck in their rib s but instead hit them in the stomach where it will be easy to take out immediately afterwards. In lectures in class this was emphasized in esp in sections about military training and we also read first person accounts describing something similar..........

I'm confused why does this only seem to be emphasized in World War 1? As a weapon used for over 200 years, shouldn't we find lots of similar maxims in the American Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, and the American Civil War? More importantly bayonets continued to be used up until the next World War yet we don't hear about Japanese soldiers being taught to stab the stomach in dojos and in bootcamp. Nor do we see accounts of the bayonet getting stuck in the ribs in building to building fighting in the Eastern Front where close quarters combat was a lot more common between German soldiers and the Soviets and communist partisans than it was in the Western Front.

I mean the Human Waves rush by the Chinese after the War and the stealth attacks by the Viet Cong during America's intervention in Vietnam should have led to this "avoid ribs, hit stomach" being repeated no?

Yet all the times I seen this doctrine is almost exclusively to World War 1. So I'm confused. Can anyone clarify about this?

Hello, I'm looking for something to replace the dingy bat I have next to my bed. Please drop links or suggestions if you can.

Prerequisites: Blunt weapon, no blades (points are fine). Ideally large enough to use two handed. Nice to have a good amount of weight behind it.

My two top picks are a flanged mace and a kanabo although I can't find any good looking kanabos.

Probably just going to swing it around in my backyard or crush some fruit. Self defense situation is unlikely where I live but better to have and not need. Thanks!

I was trying to look for a website that would sell halberds. Does anyone know a trusted website for that.

Please can you answer these quick questions about melee weapons. I am a game designs student and need help with what people think on melee weapons and what there favourite ones are. this will only take a couple of minutes. Thank you if you did it!

https://forms.gle/ckeXBgu7hqo2A28X7

Im doing some research on melee weaponary for a college project I am doing (making a game with a custom weapon as the key part of it).
I'm trying to find out what things people do or don't like about melee weapons, there is a survey below that I would really appreciate if people took 10 minutes to fill out :D

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ohTq4FUXmd8SeBhTyvMR2KJ0OXA11W4cIQAzCjyEOKY/edit?pli=1

Hi Guys,

Every year on Halloween I have a pumpkin smashing event were everyone attendings brings various weapons. Last year I made a Korean style war flail with a metal pipe shaft (5ft) and a 1 foot long head with spikes and nails concreted together and held to the staff with a metal chain. I was wondering if there were any articles or papers on the psychological impact of flails? When smashing pumpkins I noticed the people around me were rather afraid of the flail despite it being attached and having marked areas to hold (also everyone was 10 feet away from me) . I am assuming a war flail out of combat probably would be good crow control if swung at a mob, maybe a normal peasant wood thresher would be good for crowd/riot control. Also I feel that people are not aware of the impact and force of a thresher flail until actually swinging one, the force of the flail head moving really makes you have to go in for a full swing due to momentum and need to control the head. Never had a problem of the head coming back at me but people who never used one would be thrown off balance with a few swings. Seeing someone hit with a flail in combat definitely would also scare the shit out of a opponent after seeing someone's chest cave in as opposed to a spear or sword strike. In combat it was fairly effect against armor if the head was metal due to impact. Thoughts, links, articles?

Hey guys! I suddenly comes to my mind that what is the best melee weapon when u have to fight 1vs1? (Like:machete,axe,knuckles,etc)

With all the variety of melee weapons, I'm surprised that no one has done a comprehensive test on different varieties of melee weapons. Even if categorization of certain melee weapons came after their development and common use, you would think something that is symbolically and artistically important to people would have extensive documentation on what excels at what tasks and when.

However, there's nothing. No spreadsheets, no master list, no anything. All talk seems to be anecdotal with no actual research or theory. It's as if by the time scientific theory and extensive weapons testing became a thing firearms were already found to be more useful, so now there are no known facts about the differences between melee weapons. To clarify, I'm ignoring things like common knowledge or conjecture (ie. spears have range compared to clubs and of course that's good if you can keep your enemy at range).

Can anyone point me to a book or a documentary or something where this is investigated, or is there really no weapons-theory testing out there?