wackiest historical weapons?

[s/LaSH]

Well, Dirigible's already mentioned the philippino fighting yoyo - a big stone thing on a string, normally used for hunting I believe. Ironic that they're now a children's toy. I wonder if you could get yoyos banned from air travel?

OK, how about this classic from Ancient Greece: the Giant Parabolic Mirror! See, a parabolic mirror reflects anything that shines into it through one point. A big mirror can pack a LOT of solar energy into that single point.

They sank ships with them.

Roman ships.

Sure, the Romans conquered them in the end, but the giant parabolic mirrors are probably the first energy weapon in history. They're not as old as the Egyptian power cells, but the Egyptians simply used them for electroplating things in gold. I don't believe they were powerful enough for use in combat.

But...

 

[Mercule]

OK, how about this classic from Ancient Greece: the Giant Parabolic Mirror! See, a parabolic mirror reflects anything that shines into it through one point. A big mirror can pack a LOT of solar energy into that single point.

They sank ships with them.

Roman ships.

And the best part is that they don't radiate magic.

 

[Kamard]

Egyptian power cells

Sumerian, I thought.

 

[s/LaSH]

Egyptian power cells

Sumerian, I thought.

Maybe the Egyptians conquered the Sumerians or just nicked the battery idea. After all, it wasn't the Chinese who made gunpowder world famous (although their use of battle rockets was interesting).

I'm no expert...

 

[Dirigible]

The Mechalus, from Alternity used battery-enhanced weapons during their ealy history, as I recall.

Don;t the French have a giant solar powerstation that, if the mirrors are turned correctly, can vapourise stone?

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

The Le Mat Revolver.
A Civil War era revolver that could fire nine shots AND had a smoothbore barrel underneath the regular barrel. This second barrel was loaded with grapeshot and served as a shotgun.

Maybe it's not that weird, but not many people know about it. It's interesting at the very least.

http://home.hiwaay.net/~stargate/lemat.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/ar/classicfirearms/LeMatpr.html
http://johno.myiglou.com/lemat.htm

 

[Wombat]

The Le Mat Revolver.
A Civil War era revolver that could fire nine shots AND had a smoothbore barrel underneath the regular barrel. This second barrel was loaded with grapeshot and served as a shotgun.

Maybe it's not that weird, but not many people know about it. It's interesting at the very least.

Ah, the much fabled LeMat -- grossly expensive, break down at the drop of a hat, could only really be serviced by experts, but not excruciatingly popular with people who want to turn Wild West games into Cyberpunk adventures

They came in both pistol & carbine versions, if I remember correctly. They were favoured by a few gunslingers and hated by most.

 

[NiTessine]

Ah, the much fabled LeMat -- grossly expensive, break down at the drop of a hat, could only really be serviced by experts, but not excruciatingly popular with people who want to turn Wild West games into Cyberpunk adventures

They came in both pistol & carbine versions, if I remember correctly. They were favoured by a few gunslingers and hated by most.

Someone once said that Allan Quatermain's pistol in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic book is a LeMat...

 

[Oni]

Ah, the much fabled LeMat -- grossly expensive, break down at the drop of a hat, could only really be serviced by experts, but not excruciatingly popular with people who want to turn Wild West games into Cyberpunk adventures

They came in both pistol & carbine versions, if I remember correctly. They were favoured by a few gunslingers and hated by most.

I understand they were popular with a few confederate officers. Also the ones that were first made in Louisianna were of a much higher quality and reliability than the ones that were later produced at the french factory.

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

Well, as we can see, wacky and functional are two different things entirely.

How about the chakram? I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet.