Other Best looking melee weapon in your opinion?

[Warrior Spirit]

Something that's not from a video game...

I don't know man. Some of those middle eastern swords and daggers look so sexy.

I guess I also love the "bollocks dagger" because it looks like male genitals. That's why they called it "bollocks". lol.

 

[Jannah]

Zulfiqar, no contest. It's even cooler when one knows the lore behind it. If you're into the Middle Eastern weaponry then look it up.

 

[Warrior Spirit]

Zulfiqar, no contest. It's even cooler when one knows the lore behind it. If you're into the Middle Eastern weaponry then look it up.

View attachment 1190662

What a beauty. Are you sure that's from real life history and not from a game? What a beauty.

 

[Maverick Six]

May i present to you the humble halberd. Coming in both ornate and brutalist fashion.

Another Shoutout to the Indian Tulwar

I'm probably a little biased because they were both really deadly weapons in addition to being able to be very nicely decorated. Halberd could deal some nasty blows to armor and stab into it well. Talwar would make a Katana blush with how casually it could remove unarmored limbs and take off heads. British feared the hell out of it and rightly so. There are actually a lot of very nasty and neat looking weapons which come out of India.

Could use Halberd for Bodyguard and Mercenary type characters. Can use the Tulwar for Swashbuckler type of character of various historical flavors.

I'll be honest and say a million different weapons that could come to my mind at any given moment, but these were two that came to me in the moment.

 

[Warrior Spirit]

May i present to you the humble halberd. Coming in both ornate and brutalist fashion.

Another Shoutout to the Indian Tulwar

I'm probably a little biased because they were both really deadly weapons in addition to being able to be very nicely decorated. Halberd could deal some nasty blows to armor and stab into it well. Talwar would make a Katana blush with how casually it could remove unarmored limbs and take off heads. British feared the hell out of it and rightly so. There are actually a lot of very nasty and neat looking weapons which come out of India.

Could use Halberd for Bodyguard and Mercenary type characters. Can use the Tulwar for Swashbuckler type of character of various historical flavors.

I'll be honest and say a million different weapons that could come to my mind at any given moment, but these were two that came to me in the moment.

Polearm weapons are so powerful it should have been criminal to wield them, man. Of course they become useless if the enemy gets into dagger range, but imagine fighting a trained soldier swinging that thing with grace. It's like a giant swinging a bladed-ass tree. lmao

 

[AaronMk]

I'm gonna have to give it up to the 1913 Patton sabre for being the one of the very absolute tail end of standard issue melee weapons. Following, everything else entered into a utility phase. Knives and bayonets weren't really considered a viable weapon in war but something you use to open packages, can, paper, branches, earth, etc




Besides of course whatever was happening in Asia. The Chinese Republican forces were still using traditional Dao into the thirties and the Battle at the Great Wall is noted for when units in NRA fought the Japanese with swords. Granted: they had also ran out of ammo and they were simply trying to delay the IJA for as long as possible so an actual tactical victory wasn't in mind. Just that the Japanese advance was stalled.

 

[AaronMk]

Polearm weapons are so powerful it should have been criminal to wield them, man. Of course they become useless if the enemy gets into dagger range, but imagine fighting a trained soldier swinging that thing with grace. It's like a giant swinging a bladed-ass tree. lmao

The halberd was developed primarily as a support weapon and wouldn't be the only weapon a man would have in formation, not the only one. Its place as a primary weapon in formation was replaced by Europe moving back into pike warfare in the 16th century. As such the halberd took on a role in two fields:

On the defensive to guard vulnerable support detachments like arqabusiers with the intent to mostly protect them from any cavalry charges. This is especially important as the Swiss Pike Square that came to dominate the field in the 16th century was quickly replaced by the Spanish Square which had its strength in a combination of complimentary weapons (pike-shot/crossbow-sword) and to a limited extent the dudes in the shot/crossbow aspect would need to be defended.

On the offensive the halberd, like the Great Sword was used to break holes in pike walls when two pike companies (because most European infantry was built around the pike) met. Weapons needed to be developed or deployed with some reach for the user but could also break or manage the opponents pointy sticks to create a situation that could be exploited. Otherwise, the other option was to quiet literally have a pike even slightly longer than the pikes of the other guys.

All this became moot when firearms manufacturing caught up and they could be produced more reliably as well as canon manufacturing allowing European kings to manufacture and deploy more canon more reliably and the Spanish Square could be broken up at a distance. (As a fun aside, European armies always had a canon deficit until the 19th century)

 

[Hyde.]

I'm really fond of katars, personally. I just think they're neat.