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Armor and Weapons

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ArmorProtective Wear

BootsGloves

Helmets

ArmorPadded ArmorLeather Armor

Scale ArmorChain Mail

Plate ArmorFull Plate Mail

ShieldsBuckler

Round ShieldLarge Shield

Pavise

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Protective Wear

BootsGood quality boots are an essential part of equipment of any warrior, even though it is not the most important part, of course. The impor-tance of having good quality boots is higher for the cavalry whose feet are exposed more than the feet of the infantry. Unlike the infantry, the cavalry can afford chainmail or plate mail boots that provide a high degree of protection from injury but are not suitable for walking. A foot soldier must choose between various kinds of mostly leather footwear which can be enhanced with metal scales or lamellas. More expensive boots for the infantry may be supplemented with shin and calf plates.

GlovesGloves are an indispensable part of any protective garment because they (similarly to guards of swords and daggers) protect the wearer‘s hands from harm. Gloves can be made either of leather and covered with metal scales or lamellas, or of metal plates connected by rivets—the choice is usually dependant on the monetary situation of the wearer.

HelmetsEven though helmets are not an integral part of any standard armor, they are a very important element in the protection of any warrior. The pur-pose of a helmet is simple—to protect the warrior‘s head against enemy attacks. Nevertheless, as the craft of war became permeated by the art, helmets gained decorative and ceremonial functions as well—especially in connection with powerful houses of nobles. Special position is reserved for tournament helmets—among other functions they serve as a symbol of stature of their wearer.

It can be deduced from historical sources that many various helmets and other head protective gear were created—but these were quite often discarded (much more often than armor) and became lost in the sands of time. It is typical of each epoch of mankind to have several new helmet types which became obsolete as the epoch slipped to past and became replaced by types better fitting a new era. Among the most common helmets used on battlefields nowadays are spangenhelms, bascinets and armets.

SpangenhelmA typical feature of the spangenhelm are the T-shaped metal strips (spangen) forming the conical frame of the helmet to which metal plates are attached. Most spangenhelms are fitted with cheek flaps and some-times with cavesons which protect the cheeks and the nose of the war-rior respectively. Although spangenhelms were among the first helmets made in the faithful world there are still many of them to be found today, especially among the less wealthy warriors.

BascinetThe bascinet, also bassinet or basinet, is a skull-shaped helmet with a prolonged conical top which replaced obsolete great helmets used by heavily armored warriors of the past. The bascinet had not originally protected the face, only later it was fitted with a hinged visor with two rectangular openings protruding forward and thus creating a cone in front of the user‘s nose resembling a dog‘s muzzle—hence the folk name hounskull.

ArmetThe armet is a helmet that originated from the bascinet which is regard-less of its protective advantages rather heavy and its tip-up visor does not allow the warrior to see well enough and the same goes for the ven-tilation. The armet consists of a spherical skull usually covering the warrior‘s head from the top to the eyebrows in the front, to the ears on the sides and often to the scruff and neck in the back. The lower sides of the head and the cheeks are protected by two lockable cheek pieces and the face by a movable visor which is smaller than at a bascinet.

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Armor

Padded ArmorPadded armor is the cheapest and most accessible protective clothing of the infantry. It is used by the warriors belonging to the least affluent social classes who cannot afford metal protective clothing made from sheets or rings of a higher quality.

Padded armor consists practically of a simple jacket only, padded with tow, horsehair, hemp, hay, wool or other suitable material. Sometimes the jacket is smeared with pitch which makes it almost stone-hard.

Because padded armor protects only the body, warriors wind their legs and sometimes also elbows with dense leather thongs or stripes of thick woolen cloth. Of course, none of these precautions can stop a direct blow dealt with a weapon of quality, which can cut even thick leather jackets. Though, with a bit of luck, these precautions may help to reduce the effects of deflected or indirect hits or diminish the impact of an archery attack.

Leather ArmorLeather armor is another type of protective clothing any poor infan-tryman can afford. However, it protects somewhat better than a pad-ded coat.

Leather armor is made of thick leather which is at its most exposed parts enhanced by another layer of leather, leather straps, hemp ropes, horn or small metal plates. But the leather armor has always had a big disadvan-tage—it restricted movement. Even the thinnest leather looses flexibil-ity when it comes in big pieces, especially when it was hardened for example by cooking to increase its endurance. When thick, hardened leather is used a hard but inflexible crust is obtained, such as the Thorax of the Erebornians that protected only the chest however and stopped to be used at the dawn of the true faith. A thick hardened leather is there-fore nowadays usually being cut in smaller segments (scales or lamellas) that are either sewn together or connected by a leather string, or they are sewn or riveted directly to the coat itself. Nevertheless, in the latter case it is already a scale armor.

Scale ArmorWhere the armorer‘s opportunity to use thick leather ends, starts the manufacture of the scale armor. This is a name for quite a wide variety of protective clothing comprising of a leather or flaxy coat fitted with smaller segments of hard thick leather or metal—scales, lamellas, discs—interconnected by sewing or leather string, or they are sewn or riveted on the leather or flaxy coat itself.

Likewise chain armor, this type of armor is ancient—it was already widely used by the warriors of the ancient world, e.g. the Erebornians called it lorica squamata. The production technology of scale and simi-lar armor (e.g. a lamella armor) survived the decline of the Erebornian Empire and any skillful provincial armorer can hammer small lamellas and cut out scales nowadays. Although the more perfect chain armor and later on the plate armor as well have massively spread during the last millennium, the scale armor remained popular among warriors due to its lower acquisition cost.

Despite its popularity, scale armor has many disadvantages—it‘s usually heavier and compared to a chain armor it allows for a lower level of dexterity. Another disadvantage is the hand protection—if the armor has any sleeves at all, the design of the scales rarely permits them to reach the elbows, so that every warrior has to solve the protection of hands and forearms separately. The layout of the scales also doesn‘t permit to fasten the armor with a belt. Of course it is possible but with tiny scales only. The bigger ones usually get stuck preventing the belt from being tightened and the warrior has then to bear the whole weight of the armor on his shoulders only.

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Chain MailChain mail has been used since the times of the Erebornians but it is supposed that the armorers of Ereborn learned the craft of making chain mails from the pagan dogs of Jad-Habaal. After the downfall of the Empire of Ereborn the craft has nearly been lost, however it has been kept in a few armories from which it has spread to the rest of the faithful world, even though the mass production of chain mails started as late as around the seventh century of the New Era.

The production of chain mail is extremely demanding because the armorer must first forge a wire, then he must run it through a series of loops in a metal board until they have the desired diameter, anneal it, wrap it on the round metal bar, cut up the rings, hammer their endings, cut an opening in them and rivet them. Manufacture of the chain mail is therefore a fine, precise and demanding work and the price corre-sponds to it. Also, the manufacture of this type of armor takes many weeks or months which is one of the reasons they became popular so late—it took many centuries before there were enough armorers skilled in the craft to satisfy the demand.

At the beginning chain mails were very long to protect even the legs of a fighter. As the mail started to be enhanced by the legs and arms pro-tectors it became shorter and shorter. The head of a warrior can be protected by a hood which is a part of the armor—just as the mittens at the end of long sleeves.

Plate ArmorPlate armor is the latest advance in the field of warrior‘s protection—it‘s been in use roughly since the Hundred Years War ended, that is from the eleventh century. It‘s a combination of chain mail and metal plates which protect mostly breast and shoulders. The plates are connected by leather strips or rivets at the joints. Since the advent of plate armor it‘s been possible to literally plate a warrior from top to toe. Metal plates are able to better distribute the energy of a blow, but on the other hand they can be more easily penetrated by a crushing weapon with a sharp point or edge and that‘s why it‘s often combined with other kinds of armor less susceptible to penetrating attacks.

A classical suit of plate armor consists of a cuirass having breast and back plates; a gorget; pauldrons; a tasse; culets; fauld and a chainmail skirt. In other words it protects the entire body with the exception of head, legs and arms.

Full Plate MailFull plate mail is a term for a protective garment covering almost all of the wearer‘s body. It became very popular during the eleventh century with knights, the noble warriors who are even nowadays the armored fist of any army. Full plate mail differs from a standard plate armor in the amount of protection it gives—it completely covers shins, calves and arms. It is also often combined with appropriate types of helmets—usu-ally a great helmet or an armet with visor.

A classical suit of a full plate mail consists of a cuirass having breast and back plates, a gorget, pauldrons, sleeves; vambraces with couters which cover elbows and forearms, a tasse, culets, a fauld, cuisses and of greaves.

Full plate mail is often supplemented by an emblazoned surcoat. This habit was brought by crusaders returning from the Holy Land where the sun kept their metallic armors unbearably hot. An emblazoned surcoat resembles a tunic with or without short sleeves. In the mild climate of most of the countries of the faithful world, with the exception of sunny Calmariland, an emblazoned surcoat lost its protective function. Nevertheless it became not only a fashionable piece of clothing, but it also helped fighters to distinguish friends from foes in the heat of battle.

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BucklerA buckler—or also a punching shield—is the smallest shield in use nowadays. It‘s designed to be used mostly in man-to-man combat and not in larger skirmishes and that is one of the reasons why it is very popular with duelists using mostly light thrusting and slashing weap-ons, such as a dagger, a knife or a short sword. The protection it provides against heavier weapons is insignificant—simply because it is supported only by the wrist and not by the entire forearm as in the case of other shields.

Bucklers are, due to their sizes, usually made of metal—nevertheless, there are rare specimen made of wood and upholstered with cloth or leather. But it‘s obvious that their durability and sturdiness cannot be compared to those made of metal. The inner side of a buckler is fitted with a wooden or metal grip which serves as a handle. The combat use of a buckler consists of holding it in front of the fighter and using it to deflect incoming blows.

Round ShieldThe round shield is a common equipment of both the cavalry and the infantry. It is easier to handle than a large shield but on the other hand it does not protect as much. There are many different variants and qualities of round shields—from simple wooden ones through the leather or canvas coated to the ones combined with metal plates. Most of the shields are hardened by a ferrule at the edge and a buckle in the middle which give them better lifespan. The unferruled shields last shorter than the ferruled ones but in the first phase of battle they can protect the fighter from arrows and sling bullets as well as high quality shields. Such shields can last longer even in a melee fight provided that the fighter uses it actively—he cannot just passively put it into the way of swords, axes and spears, rather he has to try to deflect the attacks. The shield is usually held by a leather or wooden handle, a ferruled shield can be held inside the buckle.

Shields Large ShieldThe large shield is an inherent part of every well-situated armored knight‘s equipment. It protects against the blows of enemy weapons as well as against bow fire. It evolved from the so-called kite shield used approximately up to the tenth century. At that time the shields became smaller, thanks to the improving protection of the warriors with armor, gradually losing the typical rounding of the upper edge.

The large shield is used especially by the heavy cavalry, but it is favored amongst the infantrymen as well because it offers much better protec-tion than smaller round shields. In horseback fighting it is more diffi-cult to handle and usually doesn‘t allow the cavalrymen to ward off blows on both sides, but the knights can compensate this with suitable fighting skills and command of the horse.

The large shield is made of wooden boards or plates so that the typical bulging out is reached. A shield of this construction protects its bearer better than a flat one because hits can slip off it better. When composing a shield, it is necessary to glue the individual boards together and join them with an interlaid wooden rib or ironwork. The thickness of large shields varies, nevertheless (considering their large size), they usually aren‘t too thick because their weight together with the ironwork would then become troublesome even for mounted knights.

The shield is covered with thick leather, usually cow hide—raw or soaked, so that it could better stretch and strain to the wood when it dries out. Instead of a leather, thick canvasses or cloths are sometimes used as well. The leathering of a shield improves its resistance considerably because the wood doesn‘t chop off or crack so easily under the blows.

Edges of a covered shield are further reinforced with leather or metal and its surface is fitted with an umbo or a rib. At the end, the shield is affixed with a sling to hang it on a warrior‘s shoulder and with handles that can be either leather, metal or wooden ones. A wooden horizontal handle is good for handling the shield in man-to-man combat, but it is practically useless when fighting on horseback.

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PaviseThe pavise is the biggest shield available and is used mostly as a passive barrier against arrows and stones; eventually also against heavy cavalry and pikemen when a shield wall is created. One of the disadvantages of a pavise is its clumsiness—nevertheless it can be almost entirely com-pensated by proper training. Considering the size and the weight of a pavise it can be used exclusively by foot soldiers as riders wouldn‘t be able to use it in combat and it would rather hinder them.

The pavise is usually made of several pieces of hard wood which are connected by a metal rimming and upholstered with a cloth or leather. Nevertheless, pavises made of steel or pavises combining wood with metal plates can be occasionally found.

Thanks to its size, a pavise is often decorated with heraldic symbols of its owner—sometimes a pavise can look more like a piece of art than warrior‘s gear.

After some time, the pavise gave birth to a new defensive element—a mantlet. It‘s even larger than a pavise and can completely cover the user. Nevertheless, unlike a pavise it can no longer be considered a shield but rather a mobile fortification with a limited usability—it is mostly used when laying siege to towns or castles.

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Weapons

Short Bladed WeaponsKnife

DaggerStilettoFalchion

Short SwordDouble Blade

Long Bladed WeaponsShort SaberLong SaberBackswordLong Sword

Bastard SwordTwo-Handed Sword

Blunt WeaponsCombat Staff

Great ClubMace

War HammerFlail

Two-Handed Flail

AxesAxe

Great AxeTwo-Handed Axe

Combat AxeDouble-Bladed Axe

Battle Axe

BowsShort BowLong Bow

Composite BowWar BowArrows

PolearmsPike

HalberdPartisanTridentLance

Long Lance

Throwing WeaponsThrowing Daggers

Throwing Axes

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KnifeThe knife is one of the oldest tools of human civilization. It owes its popularity to the fact that it‘s very versatile and can be used even in combat. A high-quality long knife is not a particularly cheap weapon but for a poorer warrior it is certainly much more affordable than a sword. Hermann the chronicler, who described the conflict between Margrave Leopold of Calmariland and Wilhelm II of Ultherst which took place in 508, mentions a writ of Wilhelm II to the country militia where it‘s said that everybody, from a swineherd to a herdsman, armed himself with any piece of iron, ranging from a kitchen knife to a pen-knife, and braced himself for the fight to come. It‘s thus obvious that any knife can be used as a weapon if necessary.

Unlike a dagger, a knife is usually fitted with an asymmetric handle and is not used for thrusting but rather for slashing. Many knife-like weap-ons can be mistaken for a cutlass or a falchion, nevertheless those have longer and heavier blades.

Although a knife is an essential part of the equipment of any warrior it‘s still mostly a secondary weapon used almost exclusively in close quar-ters combat where there‘s not enough space to raise a sword or an axe. All in all the above holds true for any short bladed weapon.

DaggerThe dagger is a short melee weapon which has been used and constantly developed from the Stone Ages until nowadays. The blades are usually adjusted for stabbing and they differ in their shape, cross-section, length and style. The same applies to the hilts. The main difference between a dagger and a knife is in the shape—a dagger has a symmetrical blade made for stabbing, not for cutting. Besides classical combat daggers used both by the poorest warriors and the nobility, there are special stabbing daggers used for stabbing well armored enemies in a closed crowd and of course there are also fine daggers used for hunting or in everyday life.

Although weapons similar to daggers have been used since the dark Stone Ages, iron and steel daggers first appeared in the third and the fourth century of the New Era after the coming of the true faith. It is

supposed that the blades of the oldest daggers were only attached to wooden or bone hilts, much like knives.

Daggers of all kinds and uses can be found mainly in iconographic and written sources. We can find a hand holding a dagger with a marked guard and a pommel on the portorian duke Denmar‘s denarius from the fourth century. It is, however, quite possible that it is a stylized sword. The obvious mentions of daggers can be found in the iconographic sources only since the fifth century. Also Hermann the chronicler prov-ably knew daggers because he differentiates between them and knives in his chronicle when he uses the Old Lateran expression „sica“ instead of „culter“, which he uses for knife.

StilettoThe stiletto is a special kind of a dagger with a narrow blade and smaller weight. The main difference between a knife and a stiletto is in its shape—the blade is usually symmetrical and is used for piercing, not for slashing.

We know from historical sources that the stiletto was invented later than the ordinary dagger with the development of protective clothing of fighters. The stiletto is used mainly for fighting in a tight crowd and it is designed to penetrate through the protective clothing more easily—from a chainmail armor to a plate mail armor. For this reason it is mainly infantry that is equipped with stilettos while the cavalry doesn‘t use them even as a secondary weapon. It is an exceptionally suitable weapon for finishing off wounded knights snatched off their horses.

FalchionThe falchion is a short bladed cutting weapon. The origin of a falchion is unclear; some master armorers suppose it developed from a sax once used in the Erebornian Empire. The blade is shorter than that of a sword or a cutlass, straight or slightly curved and usually single edged, though examples of double-edged falchions are known as well. The falchion can be found in the Realm since the fourth century in the equipment of militia, i.e. the poorest warriors.

The falchion is supposed to have been used as a hunting weapon earlier rather than for military purposes. This is testified among others by Hermann the chronicler who describes the murder of Grand Duke

Short Bladed Weapons

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Brechthold II in the sixth century. The murderous weapon in this act was a falchion which Hermann describes like this: “...and suddenly Lork, ungodly villain sent by Satan, jumped out of his hideout with a sword at his side and with all his strength he stabbed the Grand Duke directly into his entrails with a falchion...”

However, it was probably a special case and the falchion wasn‘t com-monly used on the sixth century battlefields. Not even Hermann describes the weapon more carefully. On the other hand, he mentions another kill with a falchion in similar circumstances, when King Varthold‘s retinue member “...thrust a wide falchion into Beneda as if he was a boar dashing against him...”

Short SwordThe short sword is considered a short bladed weapon even though its length is close to the length of a standard sword. It is likely an heir of the Erebornian swords which were shorter and were used by the infantry for fighting in melee where a pike or other polearm could not have been used. After the downfall of the Erebornian Empire and the rise of the true faith the war tactics changed radically as well as the equipment of warriors. A long sword and a pike became more common but the short sword continued to be used by poorer fighters as a substitute for the more expensive long sword. Also, richer members of the infantry have used it ever since together with a dagger or a knife for fighting in close quarters combat where there is no room for swinging a bigger weapon.

Double BladeThe double blade is a curious weapon which is not well known or fre-quently used in the faithful world. It originated from the desert empire of Jad-Habaal which is completely different from the rest of the Old World not just in its religion, but in warcraft as well. As its name sug-gests it has two blades which stick out from both sides of the grip. The length of the blades varies from a few inches to two feet even though these two extreme cases are not very common.

The double blade was brought to the faithful world during the crusades which suggests that it became widely used in Jad-Habaal some time dur-ing the ninth or tenth century. Of the faithful warriors the double blade became popular among adventurers, travelers and landsknechts who have come in contact with the culture of Jad-Habaal and also among the paladins of the mighty Order of the Holy Cross who protect the Divine Grave from the pagan dogs. Their everyday contact with the civilization of Jad-Habaal caused them to accept many of their customs including the way of fighting.

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Long Bladed Weapons

Backsword The backsword is a stabbing—and partially cutting—weapon with a single long straight blade. Together with sabers the backsword is one of the principal weapons of the cavalry, especially the heavy cavalry. A backsword is a bit heavier than a saber and it‘s meant especially for stab-bing. From the very beginning of backsword usage it has been a weapon used when attacking the enemy face to face. The cavalry hurtling over the enemy in sufficient numbers of people, horses and swords used to be very powerful indeed—and it still is. One of the cavalry commanders of King Jonathann III, the renowned Grand Duke Horst van den Brecht was supposed to mention that the lethal hits are the hits of stabbing weapons—the others cannot but injure. That is why he trained his famous heavy cavalry in backsword fighting at the expense of fighting with spears or with standard swords. Despite the significant prevalence of bows, especially the backswords and sabers represent the major weap-ons in cavalry attacks of these times.

Long SwordThe long sword is nowadays the most widespread and the most popular piercing and slashing weapon of both the infantry and the cavalry. Besides that it has become a symbol of the true faith, or better to say of the defense of the true faith—mainly thanks to its shape which resembles a cross the First Prophet was crucified on. At the same time it is a typical weapon of an aris-tocrat and of his most important comrades. Most families of the faithful world have their family swords which have been passed from one generation to another and are a symbol of their affiliation with the family.

A sword is a basic weapon of those who can afford it thanks to their social position and financial standing. Even though the growing production of mainly royal and imperial armories can nowadays satisfy the demand for swords of major part of the faithful world it is still a rather expensive weapon.

The long sword consists of a few parts connected together—a blade and a hilt. The hilt is made of the guard, the grip and the pommel. As far as the blade is concerned, the wealthier warriors can have it custom made accord-ing to their demands. The less affluent must settle for a ready made sword. The total length of the blades varies but is usually around three feet.

Short SaberThe saber is a weapon that originated in the desert realm of Jad-Habaal and it was introduced into the faithful world by the crusaders returning from the First Crusade declared by the Pope against Jad-Habaal. Its most characteristic feature is a curved blade. Former types of sabers had only slightly curved blades and short guards with downwards bent ends fitted with small balls.

Generally there are two types of sabers—short and long. Short sabers quickly became very popular with light cavalry as primary weapons. In comparison to swords or long sabers they were not that clumsy and allowed a rider to keep slashing all around him. In some regular armies, a short saber became an insignia of higher ranking officers. At the begin-ning of the thirteenth century short sabers became popular with infantry as well, replacing short swords and axes. In a close combat skirmish, a short saber can be used to launch both slashing and stabbing attacks.

Long SaberAs mentioned above, there are two types of sabers—short and long. And while short sabers were first used by light cavalry and later also by the infantry, long sabers soon became very popular with heavy cavalry. A rider can use his long saber either as a secondary weapon after his lance is discarded or as a primary weapon if he prefers mobility and quantity of attacks to a more powerful, but also more clumsy polearm.

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As regards both construction and usability the bastard sword is very similar to a two-handed sword. The difference is in the size and overall shape and also in the important fact that the bastard sword can be held in either one or two hands, while the two-handed sword must be held in both.

Two-Handed SwordThe two-handed sword is a long bladed weapon used for both slashing and thrusting which is usually wielded in both hands, as its name sug-gests. It is exclusively an infantry weapon because the necessity to use both hands to wield it does not allow simultaneous steering of a horse. A two-handed sword consists of a straight double-edged blade, which is usually fitted with so called quillons or f lukes; a guard; a grip; and of a pommel. Such a sword can be almost five feet long—the exact length depending on the height of its wielder. There are thus rare cases of two-handed swords almost seven feet long. A two-handed sword is carried without a scabbard either on the back with the hilt above the shoulder or with the blade rested on the arm with the point protruding above the shoulder.

The two-handed sword is a relatively recent invention when compared to an ordinary long sword which has been in use by knights for several centuries. It was first used in the eleventh and twelfth century by infan-try against formations of pikemen or to counter breaches in defensive walls. In other words it was used in situations requiring significant concentration of either offensive or defensive power. Soldiers wielding two-handed swords are usually deployed at extremely exposed sections of battlefields and thus their lifespan tends to be rather short—on the other hand, their pay is several times higher than the pay of a common soldier.

The guard is a part of the hilt. It is the part which separates the blade from the hilt and helps to create the shape of the cross. The basic function of the guard is to protect the hand and the forearm when the enemy‘s blade has slid on the warrior‘s blade to his hand.

The last two parts of a sword are the grip and the pommel. The hilt is made by a tang which is pulled out of the blade through the guard to the pommel. The grip can have different shapes, most often with a cylindrical or elliptical profile. The hilt and actually the whole sword is ended by the pommel which the warrior leans his hand against and which being placed behind the grip balances the sword. Some warriors tie the pommel to their hand by a leather tether to prevent losing the sword when it is knocked from their hand. That is an important function because otherwise a rider would not be able to take the sword when it is knocked out of his hand and could not use it in the battle further.

Bastard SwordThe entire faithful world adopted this term for a hand-and-a-half sword in between the eleventh and twelfth century. The term is rather pejora-tive although swords are commonly considered to be a symbol of chiv-alry and true faith. The pejorative term was adopted due to the fact that it has been a weapon of choice of many foot soldiers, i.e. poor lowborn peasants who didn‘t follow the knightly rules of battle, but rather sought to exploit them. Foot soldiers used to attack in such a way that they prevented knights from using their advantage of being mounted. Therefore they used swords to attack legs of the animals and tried to snatch off knights from their horses to finish them on the ground. Unlike knights, foot soldiers fight unpredictably—standing firmly on the ground they can hold their swords in both hands.

The hand-and-a-half sword soon became a pain in the neck of the nobil-ity of those times, nevertheless it was an important landmark in the weaponry development. The blade is shorter than the blade of a long sword, while the cross-section generally remains the same, i.e. diamond or lenticular, and it can also be fitted with a fuller. The pommel is a part of the grip and it can be occasionally used as a grip for the secondary hand. As it‘s no longer used solely as a counterweight of the blade its shape is more suitable for gripping—the most common became pear and scent stopper types and their slight, mostly aesthetic, modifications.

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Blunt Weapons

Combat StaffThe combat staff is mostly used for training rather than for fighting itself. It can be used to support one on his travels and in the case of necessity it can be used as a weapon. Therefore the combat staff is not a traditional weapon of warriors going to battle. Instead of that it became the favorite weapon of clergy and other social classes. Some staffs have a hollow inside of them used for hiding secret documents and valuables.

The combat staff must be made of hard, well dried wood such as walnut or cherry to function properly. It should also be fitted with metal plates to prevent it from breaking and to make attacks against an enemy more efficient.

Great ClubThe great club is an ancient weapon which is, similar to an ordinary club or a cudgel, known already from prehistoric cave paintings. It may be the oldest weapon known at all. At the same time this weapon is very cheap and in its most primitive version easily affordable even for the least wealthy fighters. For this reason clubs have never vanished from the warriors‘ inventory, although they are by far not as effective as cut-ting and stabbing weapons.

Use of clubs is recorded in the historic documents throughout the his-tory of mankind. Clubs are mentioned in the legend of St. Dasmail from the first century of the New Era, but we also know the wooden, iron- and lead-reinforced clubs of the Dharms in the fourth century of the Old Era. Though such a weapon looks very archaic and primitive compared to the contemporary equipment, a fierce blow with a club or a hammer may easily knock an opponent out or even kill him outright. Even a common infantryman can clobber a careless knight in armor with it. The required force comes from its abnormally diverted center of gravity, not from its weight—which is a common fallacy. That‘s why clubs allow a specific fighting technique similar to the technique of a two-handed axe.

MaceThe mace is a one-handed weapon consisting of a short shaft and a head attached to it. The head can be fitted with geometrically organized flanges, pointed spikes or it can also be completely plain. The mace is first to be found in the fifth century as a modern form of a club or a cudgel fitted with a metal band. The helve is often fitted with leather straps ensuring not only that the weapon cannot be dropped, but also its easy transportation at the side of a saddle—this feature is also to be found at combat axes and swords.

The importance and the popularity of a mace with both common people and nobility started to rise in the ninth century along with the increasing protective quality of contemporary armors. A well crafted heavy armor is able to easily withstand slashing attacks of any blade—with the exception of thrusting attacks of e.g. stilettos—but the injuries to the wearer are caused indirectly by the crushing power of the blows. Primarily crushing weapons are not usually able to pierce a heavy armor, nevertheless heavy blows cannot be entirely absorbed by padded or leather gambesons worn underneath the plating and thus the warrior can suffer fractures or even serious internal injuries. A direct hit on a helmet can cause its deformation and concussion to the wearer.

Maces became popular not only with the infantry, but also with the heavy cavalry which was first documented in the sources from the tenth century.

War HammerThe war hammer is one of the weapons developed not very long ago in response to the massive spread of a high-quality protective clothing for warriors during the ninth century. The war hammer belongs to second-ary weapons used by armored cavalry after the first crush when they throw away their already useless lances. Then there‘s the time for heavy weapons on a short haft that can be held in one hand and effectively crush bodies of enemies forged up in steel armor. Thus the war hammer belongs to the same group of weapons as maces and clubs.

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Axes

AxeThe axe is well known to both human and nonhuman civilizations from their early days on as a tool of everyday life and its combat variant is not significantly different. Sometimes it is not even possible to tell civilian and combat variant apart. Therefore the availability and the controllabil-ity of the weapon has never been a problem for the majority of common folk fighters. Unlike swords, the manufacturing of axes does not require highly specialized craftsmen and they can thus be made, just as other tools (e.g. carpenter‘s or woodcutter‘s axes), by any at least a bit experi-enced blacksmith.

The axe consists of a helve topped with a metal head with a single blade—nowadays steel is usually the material used, though in the past it was also bronze and later on iron as well. In the course of history there have been many types of axes in use. Till the end of the fifth century the majority of axes in the faithful world were massive, so called bearded axes, neverthe-less from the sixth century on the majority of the axes have been less massive and the shape of the blade more varied: curved, straight, broad, narrow, symmetric or asymmetric, etc. The butt of an axe can be narrow or it can be fitted with a small hammer or a pick, thus combining more weapons into one.

Great AxeThe great axe is a larger version of the classical axe familiar to every com-mon person. The great axe consists of a longer helve and the bladed axe itself. Considering the helve length, the great axe may be used as a two-handed weapon, though the combination of a great axe with a shield is much more common.

One can say that a cavalry war hammer is a successor to the so-called Ulfmar‘s mace. This was a hammer-like weapon which enabled Grand Duke Ulfmar to defeat the army of King Philip Gaspar I in 1001. A clas-sical war hammer is completely made of steel with roundels protecting and reinforcing the haft. Roundels are small, often decoratively formed, metal rings. The haft is approximately half a meter long.

FlailThe flail consists of a weight attached by a chain to a pole. The weight is usually a metal ball with sharp spikes. Sometimes there can be several iron weights attached with several chains. Flail weapons were developed relatively recently, probably as a modification of maces and clubs—being a response of master weaponsmiths to the spreading of quality protective armor. Abnormal weight distribution gives a flail enough kinetic energy to cause terrible damage even to a heavily armored oppo-nent. One-handed flails became rather popular with both heavy cavalry and infantry.

Two-Handed FlailUnlike standard flails the two-handed version has a longer pole to which a weight is attached by a chain. As such they are much more efficient against heavy cavalry and that is why the infantry started to prefer them to one-handed flails soon.

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Battle AxeThe battle axe is a special kind of a double-bladed axe and its origin is also attributed to the nonhuman Thron race from the Moonshine Mountains. In contrast to the standard double-bladed axe there is often a bayonet in the middle of the battle axe in the axis of the helve that is used for piercing attacks although this style of fighting is not very typi-cal for this weapon.

Two-Handed AxeThe two-handed axe is, similarly to its one-handed cousin, well known to both human and nonhuman civilizations from their early days on. A two-handed axe consists of a several feet long helve topped with a heavy metal head with a single blade. Even though it is rather a clumsy weapon, a skilled warrior can use it to land devastating blows. Nevertheless fight-ing with a two-handed axe requires slightly more space than fighting with a normal one.

Combat AxeThe combat axe is a general name for all kinds of axes used primarily for fighting. While ordinary axes have always been rather a weapon of infantry and poor fighters, the nobles prefer to use bigger and more magnificent axes made especially for fighting. Many written and icono-graphic sources prove that the nobility often preferred axes to long swords in the past.

Combat axes have an invaluable ability to launch both crushing and slashing attacks. A hit by an axe (with both ends) can not only break and crush bones as a club but the sharp edge can also seriously damage even a high quality heavy armor or a helmet. That is because the edge is much shorter than the edge of a sword and the center of gravity is shifted towards the end of the weapon; that gives the strike significant force and the force is concentrated in a narrow place.

Because of its center of gravity it is however more difficile than a sword and it is difficult to defend with it against opponent’s blows. This prob-lem can be solved with a shield though.

Double-Bladed AxeThe double-bladed axe is a rather rare weapon supposed to have been invented by the nonhuman race of Thron that lived across the Moonshine Mountains in the depths of ancient times. It consists of a five foot long helve and a blade with two, usually symmetrical, edges. However, there are some axes known with asymmetrical edges of vari-ous shapes and sizes.

The double-bladed axe has never become a standard piece of equipment in regular armies, mainly because fighting with it requires much more space and therefore it is unsuitable for the infantry which attacks in a close formation. From time to time it is used instead of a two-handed sword which is used in a similar way.

Bows

Bows—no matter which of the many kinds we take—have always played an

important role in the art of war. There has been evidence of the usage of bows in batt-les since the very beginning of the Republic of Ereborn, i.e. from a distant past. The Erebornians developed the technique of making and using standard bows while the nonhuman race of the Elenians developed reflex, or composite bows. The warriors of the desert empire of Jad-Habaal on the other hand have always preferred to use extremely short bows suitable mainly for the cavalry. Therefore there are many kinds of bows that differ not only in their construction but also in the way of usage.

Archers have always been utilized in many ways—ranging from field battles to laying siege to fortifications of ene-mies to the defense of their own for-tresses. With the exception of mounted warriors of the desert realm of Jad-Habaal archers are usually part of the

infantry and they generally start battles by launching volleys of arrows at the enemy. Then they retreat from the fight or they fight behind the armored infan-try or pikemen as a regular infantry. Their biggest disadvantage is their light armor and the inability to protect them-selves from direct attacks of the enemy.

Bows are made of hard, flexible wood such as yew, elm, ash or rowan. Sometimes they are made of other kinds of wood as well but such bows are considered to be of a worse quality. The cross-section of the wood is usually round, oval or D-shaped with the straight side away from the archer. A well-made bow bends at its full length including the grip when drawn, creating a segment of a circle. A badly made bow does not bend at arms or it bends excessively at the grip which causes a big recoil, moving the hand of an archer, which has a bad influence on the accuracy and the range of the shot.

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Composite BowThe ref lex, or composite bow has been known since the times of the nonhuman pagan realm of Endarion. It came to the lands of man during the Ereborn-Endarion wars which raged between the fifth and the third century of the Ancient Era. The composite bow consists of a wooden core, a layer of horn on the belly and of multiple (sometimes as much as eight) layers of sinews on the back; every-thing is held together by sin-ews and bone glue. Composite bows are shorter than normal bows while their range is longer, never-theless manufacturing of these bows is much more demanding.

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War BowThe war bow was intro-duced to the common equipment of marksmen around the half of the tenth century when the manufac-ture of this high-quality bow was started in Brettonia, one of the coun-tries in the Calmariland Kingdom. The war bow isn‘t made of one piece of wood like a common long bow, but of more layers of various kinds of wood of different thickness, which improves the range as well as the impact of the fired arrow. In its construction a war bow is rather similar to a reflex bow as it was acquired by men from the nonhuman race of the Elenians.

Short BowThe short bow nowadays is being used mainly by light cavalry. It is unsuitable for the infantry because of its short range of fire. The way of using the short bow while riding a horse was taken over from the riders of the desert empire of Jad-Habaal, but it has never been widely used in the faith-ful world mainly because the training is extremely demanding.

Long BowThe long bow was being used through the whole first millennium of the New Era until the half of the tenth century when it was replaced by a sturdier war bow with a greater range and penetration. Yet the long bow is still being used both for hunting and for war purposes because its price is much lower than that of a war bow.

the short bow while riding a horse was taken over from the riders of the desert empire of Jad-Habaal, but it has never

Long BowThe long bow was being used through the whole

ArrowsArrows can be made either directly from young twigs or withy, or from long splinters acquired by chopping logs which must then be treated thoroughly. Military arrows that require higher durabil-ity and weight are usually made of hardwoods, such as ash, oak or hornbeam. To ensure an arrow does not deviate from its trajectory it is fitted with fletching usu-ally consisting of three feathers glued to the shaft and secured by a firm thread at the beginnings and ends of the feathers, but the thread is sometimes used to secure them all over their length. The glue used is usu-ally resin, bone glue, hide glue or a mixture of water and flour.

Arrowheads are usually forged from iron and can be divided into two basic cate-gories. The first category are bodkin arrowheads that can be either square, coni-cal or sometimes even tri-angular—these arrowheads are designed to penetrate armor. The second category are broadhead arrows with cutting edges that are designed to damage unar-mored targets. Sometimes there are also serrated arrowheads used which are designed to cause maxi-mum damage—those are usually used in hunting. Besides the above men-tioned there are also special incendiary arrowheads or forker arrowheads designed to cause unbearable pain to enemy horses.

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Polearms

PikeThe pike is a long thrusting polearm that was introduced into the arma-ment of the faithful armies in the eleventh century after Erstwick land-sknechts had successfully used it in three consecutive crusades to deci-sively crush the elite knights of all the faithful world. A wooden shaft, which can be well over fifteen feet long, is fitted with a spearhead with a massive socket and sometimes with lugs. A prickly wall of pikes in the hands of skilled infantrymen is a very efficient weapon against both briskly attacking heavily armored knights and foot soldiers slowly advancing in serried formation. Pikemen mostly have a defensive role in battles—they usually protect bowmen against the attack of heavy cav-alry. Nevertheless there are known cases in which pikes were used also offensively.

HalberdThe halberd is another rather new weapon which was first introduced to the regular armies at the end of the Hundred Years War when the new war technology was undergoing a great development. The halberd is a piercing and slashing polearm weapon—its name being derived from the Erstwick words „halm“—meaning a pole; and „barte“—meaning an axe. At the end of a long pole there is a blade of an axe, in the axis of the pole there is a spike and another spike or hook comes out of the socket on the opposite side. The halberd is used by the infantry against the armored cavalry similar to pikes, but while pikes are clumsy and used mainly for defense, halberd can be used for attack as well.

PartisanThe partisan is a general name for various stabbing and cutting pole-arms that spread during the eleventh century along with pikes and halberds—weapons famous especially thanks to the Erstwick land-sknechts and their victorious battles during the three crusades declared by the Pope against the reformist Erstwick. Partisans differ in the length of the pole as well as in the blade, spike and socket design both in the course of the period and according to the place of manufacture.

It is a typical infantry weapon because a partisan is too long for caval-ry—its pole commonly exceeds twelve feet. A typical weapon used in the Empire in the popular uprising in the twelfth century is a so-called big-eared partisan, the blade of which was combined with two side spikes—ears.

TridentThe trident is a weapon still preserved here and there from the deeply pagan times of the Erebornian Empire. It‘s a variant of a shorter infantry pike set not only with a single spike, but with three of them lined up on one socket only.

Historical sources regard it as a weapon of the gladiators, the famous slave warriors fighting fiercely in the arenas of the Erebornian cities for life and glory. It means that not even in the Erebornian history can we find the trident as a regular army weapon, let alone now in the faithful times. Although now and then you can meet a warrior equipped with this weapon and if he can handle it properly indeed it can become a lethal tool in his hands.

LanceThe lance is a popular weapon used both by the infantry and the heavy cavalry mainly because of its low cost and relatively simple handling. The infantry lances are usually shorter than those of the cavalry—they are about seven feet long or a bit more. Even though a hit by a lance of an infantryman is less penetrative than that of a rider it is still a powerful weapon which can penetrate a chainmail armor or pierce between the plates of an ironclad enemy. Moreover, an infantryman can attack a rider sitting high in the saddle of a horse with his lance. When the infantrymen had to face the attack of a cavalry they would lean their lances against the ground between the shields, although they would not protect them as well as the later invented pikes, partisans and halberds.

Spearheads of lances differ in their sizes and shapes. Because it is not easy to pull the lance out of the body once it has penetrated inside it is obvi-ously an expandable weapon. They are used mainly in the opening part of the battle because once the men get close together facing each other there is no room left for them.

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Long LanceThe long lance as it is used nowadays is a wooden weapon with a metal tip and it‘s a typical weapon of the heavy cavalry. There are frequent references about using a lance in the written sources—we find them even in the oldest pagan legends of the Erebornian Empire.

The lance always had a distinct place in both the pagan and faithful symbolism. It was an attribute of ancient gods and rulers and later of the faithful dukes and kings. Even though a sword took over this role in the early faithful period, this weapon has kept its exclusive position until nowadays despite being much cheaper.

The way of fighting with a lance has changed greatly throughout the centuries—the original riders‘ lances were either thrown by the rider or he would hold them and stab the enemies with them. Since the third century on long lances used during the attack of the heavy cavalry have not usually been thrown but the warriors held them under their arms and attacked by charging their enemies with them. The reason for using this new technique is obvious—this way it was possible to strike with much bigger force using the weight and the speed of one‘s horse. The beginning of a battle with a lance attack is described in the Hermann‘s Chronicle from the sixth century: “...a wild battle comes, the rattle of the arms and the holler of the men raises up to the sky, the lances break at the first impact and men go on fighting with their swords and axes...”

Riders‘ lances are usually more than eight feet long and they are very efficient weapons because if the spike doesn‘t slide on the armor and is not broken, the rider will strike with full force and no existing armor can protect against such an impact. The spikes may have different length and shape as well as the length of the socket which holds the spike on the pole that must be made of a good quality wood—usually an oak or an ash-tree. The socket is usually simple or it can be enhanced by a small cross-piece called the wings which prevents the spike from diving too deep into the body and getting stuck in it.

Throwing Weapons

Throwing DaggersFrom classical melee daggers used in face-to-face combat and classified as stabbing weapons, special types of throwing daggers evolved in time to be used in ranged combat. Throwing daggers are lighter than normal daggers and their center of gravity is moved to the upper part of the blade so that the weapon could rotate well and thrust better.

Unlike standard daggers the throwing daggers usually lack the guard that is quite useless for throwing because its function is to protect the warrior‘s hand in melee combat. In other aspects the design of a throw-ing dagger corresponds to that of a classical one. Now and then double-bladed throwing daggers show up where the chance of hitting an oppo-nent is increased, and thus they are meant for fighters less skilled in throwing weapons.

Throwing AxesJust as with throwing daggers, throwing axes also evolved from their classical hand version used in face-to-face combat. They are lighter than the common variant as well with their center of gravity moved so that they could rotate well and thrust better.

Throwing battle axes are usually all-metal; the classical wooden helve is missing and is replaced with a metal handle furnished with spikes on each side. The axe itself has either only one blade with a counter-spike on the other side, or two blades. Thus the axe is conformed to the aim to hit the opponent almost every time with a blade or a spike, even when handled by a warrior unskilled in this type of combat.

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