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Message: <blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 5901301" data-attributes="member: 463">Slashing weapons tend to cause injuries that maim or disfigure but are often survivable. In typical dark ages combat with slashing weapons (axes, broadswords), an initial blow to the legs drops the target, followed by a killing blow to the head or neck.Penetrating wounds to the gut are used to maximise fatalities.  Roman military doctrine emphasised stabbing wounds to the gut, the gladius was broad-bladed enough for the wound to be disabling, and almost always fatal either from loss of blood or later from infection. It also takes a lot less effort to stab an unarmoured man in the gut than hacking at him with a slashing weapon, important when the legionaries were each expected to kill many foes in a battle - the doctrine was aimed at butchering the enemy with maximum efficiency.Looking at historical records of battlefield losses, typically the winning side suffers around five-six times as many non-fatal wounds as deaths.  Wounded on the losing side who cannot flee are killed by the victorious side. So in an evenly matched battle, both sides may suffer quite similar numbers of total casualties, but the losers will suffer at least six times as many deaths as most of their wounded are then killed.Pitched battles are rare in inter-clan warfare, ambushes and pre-dawn raids are far more common and if successful give very lopsided casualty totals.  A more common form of warfare is the 'show' battle where the two sides stand off at a distance, throwing missile weapons from extreme range, rarely inflicting casualties.  Sometimes two champions from the opposing sides may advance to melee each other, with the victor's side being acknowledged the winner of the 'battle'.Where pitched battles do occur, unless constrained by terrain the losing side almost always flees while a majority of its warriors are still standing/combatant. Flight may be prompted by defeat of a single champion, by the defeat of an elite warband within the larger mass, by a perception of overwhelming enemy numbers, by being pushed back, or by other factors. The more evenly matched the sides appear to be, the higher the likely casualties before either side flees. Total casualties very rarely exceed 30%, with most of those suffered during flight. Exceptions can occur in case of envelopment, but that seems rare in pre-State warfare.</blockquote>

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