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Rejiggering armour for a late darkage tech level. (2nd ed)
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<blockquote data-quote="Imperialus" data-source="post: 5320498" data-attributes="member: 893"><p>I'm not really sure what you mean by 'backup' weapon. It is true that anyone who could afford a sword pretty much throughout the middle ages would also typically equip themselves with a spear, or axe, or javelin, or lance, or dagger but that hardly relegates the sword to the status of 'backup' weapon. A sword of the period was an amazingly versatile weapon, capable inflicting devastating injuries on an unarmored or lightly armoured enemy. Swords were even capable of dealing with mail, though the armour did offer considerable protection. The links might burst or tear under a blow but the wearer would not likely be injured.</p><p></p><p>Don't forget either that swords have throughout history and cultures had a huge cultural significance. There are exactly two different types of weapons described in Beowulf for example, spears, and swords. Spears are mentioned more often, but they're typically just described as 'being there'. Swords on the other hand get a lot more attention. Beowulf's reward for the killing of Grendal is a sword, an armoured coat, a a helmet and 8 horses. During the middle section of the poem as the different houses go to war with each other there is another mention of swords being given to valuable retainers in line 1143-44. More particularly the poem also talks about Hrunting. A 'magic' sword given to Beowulf that is described around line 1455</p><p></p><p></p><p>No other weapon, with the possible exception of atomic weapons has ever, in the history of human kind has as much special significance attached to it as the sword. You never hear of Viking Saga's spending lines and lines describing the attributes of an axe, or Japanese poetry describing the beauty of a Yari despite both weapons being more 'practical'. Indeed the sword was one of the very last melee weapons to leave service in modern armies during WWI (along with the lance) and it is <strong>still</strong> and important part of many ceremonial uniforms.</p><p></p><p>So clearly the sword was a hugely important weapon at the time. Much of this was likely due to the difficulty in the manufacture of a sword. Until around the middle of the 11th century sword construction was a massively difficult undertaking that even modern smiths have difficulty replicating using the same techniques as ancient smiths. A sword needed to be both flexible and capable of holding an edge, something that was very difficult to do with the metallurgy of the time. </p><p></p><p>Temperature had to be carefully controlled, special kinds of charcoal and coke needed to be used to imbue the base iron with just the right carbon content to create a weapon that would hold an edge well, and the sword itself was constructed out of a combination of high and low carbon steel in a combination known as pattern welding where the different types of steel would be twisted together before having a high carbon cutting edge welded on. It was a technique similar to the construction of the Japanese Katana (though the Europeans the technique it almost 400 years before its arrival in Japan) and took years of practice to get done properly. This would result in a pattern on the blade, described on Hrunting above as being of the 'poison-twigs' variety.</p><p></p><p>Swords also required a large amount of raw iron. If you've ever seen a metalworker extracting pig iron from iron ore using a traditional technique you'll understand how difficult it is. Iron itself was valuable, and a spearhead or even an axe or mace required far less of it than a sword or mail coat.</p><p></p><p>Last but not least a 'cheap iron' sword would be absolutely useless as a weapon. You would be physically incapable of sharpening it and it would literally bend if struck to hard.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Imperialus, post: 5320498, member: 893"] I'm not really sure what you mean by 'backup' weapon. It is true that anyone who could afford a sword pretty much throughout the middle ages would also typically equip themselves with a spear, or axe, or javelin, or lance, or dagger but that hardly relegates the sword to the status of 'backup' weapon. A sword of the period was an amazingly versatile weapon, capable inflicting devastating injuries on an unarmored or lightly armoured enemy. Swords were even capable of dealing with mail, though the armour did offer considerable protection. The links might burst or tear under a blow but the wearer would not likely be injured. Don't forget either that swords have throughout history and cultures had a huge cultural significance. There are exactly two different types of weapons described in Beowulf for example, spears, and swords. Spears are mentioned more often, but they're typically just described as 'being there'. Swords on the other hand get a lot more attention. Beowulf's reward for the killing of Grendal is a sword, an armoured coat, a a helmet and 8 horses. During the middle section of the poem as the different houses go to war with each other there is another mention of swords being given to valuable retainers in line 1143-44. More particularly the poem also talks about Hrunting. A 'magic' sword given to Beowulf that is described around line 1455 No other weapon, with the possible exception of atomic weapons has ever, in the history of human kind has as much special significance attached to it as the sword. You never hear of Viking Saga's spending lines and lines describing the attributes of an axe, or Japanese poetry describing the beauty of a Yari despite both weapons being more 'practical'. Indeed the sword was one of the very last melee weapons to leave service in modern armies during WWI (along with the lance) and it is [b]still[/b] and important part of many ceremonial uniforms. So clearly the sword was a hugely important weapon at the time. Much of this was likely due to the difficulty in the manufacture of a sword. Until around the middle of the 11th century sword construction was a massively difficult undertaking that even modern smiths have difficulty replicating using the same techniques as ancient smiths. A sword needed to be both flexible and capable of holding an edge, something that was very difficult to do with the metallurgy of the time. Temperature had to be carefully controlled, special kinds of charcoal and coke needed to be used to imbue the base iron with just the right carbon content to create a weapon that would hold an edge well, and the sword itself was constructed out of a combination of high and low carbon steel in a combination known as pattern welding where the different types of steel would be twisted together before having a high carbon cutting edge welded on. It was a technique similar to the construction of the Japanese Katana (though the Europeans the technique it almost 400 years before its arrival in Japan) and took years of practice to get done properly. This would result in a pattern on the blade, described on Hrunting above as being of the 'poison-twigs' variety. Swords also required a large amount of raw iron. If you've ever seen a metalworker extracting pig iron from iron ore using a traditional technique you'll understand how difficult it is. Iron itself was valuable, and a spearhead or even an axe or mace required far less of it than a sword or mail coat. Last but not least a 'cheap iron' sword would be absolutely useless as a weapon. You would be physically incapable of sharpening it and it would literally bend if struck to hard. [/QUOTE]
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