Medieval Weapons and Other Stuff Thread

Sigh no Seleucid after all

Thought this might interest some of you. Focus on the sword part, obviously. Additional information from a japanese swords maniac friend of mine: you could actually break one by simply twisting the blade with your hands.


http://www.cracked.com/article_20052_5-weapon-myths-you-probably-believe-thanks-to-movies.html

Its not unreasonable seeing as how japnese swords are constructed,

The brittle edge is brittle (duh) and the soft core is flexible. Their thin blades don't help either in this regard but my goodness they are some fine sowrd when made correctly.

It's right in some ways - Viking blades did blunt very easily, and most combat was blade to shield (Viking shields had leather rims, because a sword bouncing off them is entirely random and could injure either combatant). Additionally Viking shields were painted, not for heraldry but because it hid the grain of the wood. A strike along the grain could well shatter the shield, even with a sword. A bigger problem was a sword getting stuck in a shield, because it would virtually always snap. 

The medieval battle however, I have to call BS. Swords of that era WERE basically sledge hammers, and damage was done more through a big rod of iron hitting something really hard. Although highly unrealistic that neither man was wearing gauntlets, it would have been feasable for them to grip blades like that - they were blunt, and meant for bludgeoning. They likely wouldnt have gone for active blocks, true, but that would be more because of how good their armour was, it paid off better to use the weapon offensively to disarm your enemy, knock them prone, or strike through a vulnerability (arm pits, groin, neck, face).

Also the Princess Bride analogy is entirely wrong too, as fencers we actually consider that scene one of the most realistic of all hollywood movies. Parries are not hard, you hare not trying to bash the enemy into submission. A proper fencing parry simply disrupts the accuracy of the opponent, and knocks the blade off target. Also, rapiers are primarily pointed weapons, the blades themselves are not sharpened and are built to parry (hence the fancy cross and basket hilts).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4uDFX07n34

See 1:48.

I remember watching a movie called "The duelists", from 197X. They showed duels as brutal and short, without people hacking around. Seemed very real.

And remember that Cracked.com gets things very wrong sometimes. But it does make you think.

Wasn't bad except Forel's footwork is atrocious

I thought the guy that played Syrio was spot on. Exactly as I imagined him in the books. Just wish he wasnt killed off so early

Edit: I just rewatched the scene where he fights the Lannisters, and as the top comment pointed out, the grunt of the defeated man was followed by the sound of a metallic blade falling to the ground. Syrio's blade was wooden!

This is one of my favourite swordfighting scenes for its utter insanity (although oldly the first sword they fight with was fairly accurate, except for the running and jumping around, 0:11 to 0:17 is actually spot on... that's 6 seconds more than most Hollywood fights);
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQbu8fyTLQ0

... does remind me of some of the more... energetic university fights we had. I recall one session where we used duel wield sabres, that was fun

Not killed! The first sword of Braavos does not die! Let me believe in that please.

I did not fare well in university fencing because I unconsciously used kenjustu moves, like bashing the opponent with my body or striking him from his flank. Got many faults until I gave up caring.

Oh I did that anyway, I was the captain so could get away with blue murder  

Why else do you think we got to do the dual wield sabre matches?

The movie Alatriste and the Duellists are pretty well done actually. The actors aren't fencers, but the moves they did are roughly correct.

Scaramouche (1952) tops everything!

Interesting facts:

I live in a demilitarized country. So I was surprised when I found out we have an army specialization called Master-of-Arms, which is basically a course to become a swordsman, and that it's open to civilians as well. Yes, I tried to apply, but the bureocracy is immense.

And Uruguay, the most progressive and liberal country in South America, had duelling laws until 1992, which is quite a contrast for me. They could be fought until death, but had several rules, such as only dueling at the dawn of the day following the offense (so as to give both parties time to think about what they are doing).

Where you from Jing Ming?

Brazil is where I was born. By the way, I didn't mean fully demilitarized, but rather anti-militaristic.

I wikipedia'ed Uruguay and found out that one of their presidents fought a duel against a press officer over some offence.
@Isabel *coughcoughalfredocough*

A crossbow that shoots chainsaws.

http://www.spiegel.de/video/armbrustbauer-joerg-sprave-mit-waffenbau-zum-youtube-star-video-1278082.html

See, THAT is what the Academy of Siege Warfare was for!

Well, the Griffons -did- make Kamos Batteries...

Someone is rebuilding a medieval town with 9th century tools. See the pictures: http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/neue-mittelalter-stadt-bauen-wie-im-neunten-jahrhundert-fotostrecke-98329.html

There was a similar project in France as well.

What do you think is the most overrated medieval weapon of all time? Melee, ranging from east to west.

Katana.

War Elephants

No idea.


But the most underrated? The fist.

Musashi wrote that swordsmen never expect a fist to the nose (or, by extension, a kick to the groin).

Katana. Obviously too much fictions about it.

The most underrated weapon in M&B is dagger. Seriously PoP should have a runed dagger just for the sake of pure awesomeness.

I never really notice, but this is very interesting indeed.

Apparently, the legend about Excalibur matched the legend about a Vietnamese legendary sword "Thuận Thiên", both are swords given to a man who soon after became king from the water, and returned to water when its job is done.

I don't know much about the legend of king Arthur, there are many version of it and I don't know what is certain, but I will summarize the story about "Thuận Thiên".

In the time of 1400+, the Ming Dynasty invaded "Đại Ngu", which was the Vietnamese Dynasty of the time. They enslaved and made it a part of the Ming Dynasty itself.

There were many rebellion attempts which mostly failed. There was one rebellion going on, at the year of 1417-1418, which the leader was "Lê Lợi". One of his comrade at the time was also a fisherman, usually fishing at the river near their stronghold. One night, the fisherman saw a glowing light, deep beneath the water of the river, so he tried to net it. He netted a whole night, and not able to catch a single fish, only an iron bar. Not giving a second thought a about it, the fisherman threw the iron bar into a dark corner.

One day, at the ceremony of his parent, "Lê Lợi" came to his house, and saw a glowing object in the corner and took it. He washed it himself, and when all the mud and rust came off, it is a blade, printed the word "Thuận Thiên" and "Lợi"(which is his name). The next morning, at his doorstep lied a poignée. He then picked it up, held the blade and poingée in both hands, bent on his knee face to the sky and prayed:"If this is the sword given by gods, let the two combine to one!". And then he put 2 pieces together, they matched and sealed miraculously and became a true sword. The sword was named "Thuận Thiên" just like what is printed on the blade. ("Thuận Thiên" roughly means the heaven's will).

The next day, while doing the garden works, the "queen" saw 4 very big footprint in the garden, she called Lê Lợi. He then
found a Seal with the word "Thuận Thiên" printed on it.

Lê Lợi then, fought the rebel war and won against the Ming Dynasty, took back independent and become the king of the Lê Dynasty at the year 1428. He named his first year, Thuận Thiên year 1 and so forth, capital is Thăng Long, which is Hanoi nowadays. In the same year, while on a boat trip in the Tả Vọng lake, a big golden turtle appeared on the surface of the lake, told the king to give back the sword then grabbed it with its mouth and disappeared into water. The king then named the lake Hoàn Kiếm Lake, which means "returned sword".


And so that's the legend. Can anyone enlighten me with legend from other part of the world that is similar? I find it amusing that even though England and Vietnam is almost half way around the earth, there is a legend in common. Also I find it amusing that sometimes, similarity between ancient myths and legends of different cultures resembles one another so much that makes me think, what if, there is something else, superior in the ancient time, that interfered with us in a similar way across the earth to the point that similarities between legends are strikingly close.