Delineation of Martial Arms Part II: Axes

 Preamble

    I realized shortly after I posted part I that I had gotten something wrong: the broad sword and arming sword are the same thing (as far as I can tell).  Now, of course, this series comes from a very game-focused perspective, and while I'm still trying to enhance the realism of the game I run, including classics like the broad sword seemed like a good idea at the time.  My idea for this was a late addition, and came when I was looking at the AD&D rules and saw the entry there, and decided to add it to the list.  After, I looked again and saw no entry for arming sword on the AD&D list, and realized my mistake.

    For, you see: in the AD&D Player's Handbook, the order of swords, from small to large is as follows: short, broad, long, bastard and two-handed.  Which creates an interesting distinction, as in comparison to my own list of: short, arming, bastard, long, and great, the arming sword and the broad sword appear to be the same thing, the great sword has been omitted, and the longsword has been relegated to a position in-between the arming and bastard swords.

    Although, sitting here, what I think has happened is actually that the broad sword is meant to represent something like a gladius, a shorter and fatter, "broad" one-handed sword, whereas the long sword is here as an arming sword, which is not technically inaccurate, because, as far as one-handed swords are concerned (excepting dueling swords such as the rapier), the arming sword is the longest.  However, this kind of classification ignores the fact that the long-sword is a term used to denote a type of historical two-handed sword.  

    Long story short: Updated list:


Axes

    The axes on the list are: Hatchet, Hand-axe, Battle-axe, and Great-axe.  Why these?

    Specifically comparing them to AD&D, them hatchet and hand-axe separate out the "Axe, hand or throwing" entry into two, the hatchet, which though not built for throwing, can be thrown with ease, and the hand-axe, which I liken to a woodcutting axe, something with a bit of heft to it.  The battle-axe remains the same, though the great-axe here replaces the bardiche, which, for all intents and purposes are the same weapon.

    The minutiae here are that the image that comes to mind when I think of a great-axe is of an axe with two heads, which never existed.  The bardiche, however, does exist, but my rationale for not using the term is because it makes people think of a polearm, which it really isn't, as it doesn't benefit from the longer pole because it lacks a spear point.  Flimsy, I know, and I may change my mind on whether or not to use bardiche.

Post-script

    I may be re-treading ground already covered in part I, or not covering much on the actual topic, but if I don't write something, then I won't write anything

     Although I suppose I could provide some other bits and pieces:

    A short list of some weapons specific to a Mediterranean setting (specifically Roman/Greek).  This is where I pulled the stats for the Broad Sword (Gladius), since I already had it made.  The Portable ballista is somewhat fictional, though it is a more plausible thing to exist than a great bow, so I figured this was the best replacement, that is, a non-fantasy replacement.

    The lists are short, very short, and are meant more as a supplement to the original list than as a replacement, so if you have any ideas for additions, then feel free to share.

"I'm not dead yet!"








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