I still like swords
 

Continue where ye left off, swordophiles.

Swordophile?

Ow.

Ow indeed.

I forget what we were discussing, but I'll interject some random sword stuff to get us started.

European swords are SOO much cooler than Japanese ones cuz they're bigger. But ninjas and samurai are better than knights.

Ok go.

Bigger isn't always better... like priest said, a smallsword was actually better for close-in fighting, even on a battlefield, because once you close in, the other guy is going to have trouble maneuvering his larger weapon to strike you effectively.

In any case, does anybody support the idea of being able to strike at an armor's weak spots as a viable tactic? I.e is it really possible to down a Teutonic knight in armor with a shortsword?

Depends, is the Teutonic knight in full plate first going to say something foolish like, "No man can slay me"?

'cause if so, I believe yes, a Hobbit can sneak up behind him and stab him in the kneecap, killing him instantly.

Unless some miserable feminist wench comes along and tries to take credit for the Hobbit's hard work by stabbin' the dead knight in the face, saying mindless feminist things.

You should remember that this is Joe Teutonic Knight, who remembers to put on more armor than a helmet and vambraces. Plus, his helmet is full-faced.

Joe is smarter than the Witchking.

I suppose it would be possible for a shortsword wielder to down a full plate wearing knight, but those knights were pretty damned strong. They wielded a 50 pound sword with the ease most of us modern weaklings wield a butterknife.

Another thing, a lot of people have become Drizzt fanboys because of his two-weapon fighting style. Is that even remotely realistic? if it were me, I'd rather smack him down with WKoA's mega morningstar than play dancing games with him.

That reminds me of the old debate I always get into with whoever's around when I watch Cowboy Bebop.

Spike uses guns, see? His rival, Vicious (gayest name ever) uses a sword, see?

Now here's the thing, apparently, Spike can't just shoot him. That's what I can never figure out.

Watch Hellsing. Watch Alucard take on Paladin anderson, the first time. Then the second time. You'll understand after that...

Ok, for reference, this is a smallsword:
http://www.armor.com/2000/catalog/images/069.jpg

As you can see a smallsword is not a short sword by any stretch. Rather it's like a foil that's meant for actual fighting. At any rate, I just wanted to clear that up first.

One odd thing is back in the day, like the 1500's, what they called short swords had blades 30"+ in length, so obviously we aren't talking a gladius here. However, there were some shorter weapons. For example, the Landsknecht had a side arm called the Katzbalger. It was a short weapon with a blade about 20" long, and was meant for infighting. Here's a pic of the weapon:
http://www.armor.com/2000/catalog/images/149.jpg

Now, against full plate armor no sword was really very effective. That armor was near impervious to anything. The best weapons against such armor were weapons like the battle axe, mace, and war hammer.

And yeah, those professional warriors such as the elite knights and mercenaries (like the Landsknecht) were very strong and very athletic. Remember, these were professional martial artists whose life depended on their skill and physical prowess. They practiced daily and were committed far beyond what most martial artists are today.

Hmm, there are a number of 2 weapon styles in existance. Usually they are down the vein of sword and dagger, sword and weapon breaker, or sword and small axe. However, the weapons master Talhoffer does cover sword and spear fighting. As well, Musashi's school of sword fighting uses 2 swords, though a long and a short sword of course.

Styles that use 2 equal sized weapons seem to be limited to just short weapons, and I can only think of one European style that uses a pair of weapons off hand. That would be the petite batons. Though I imagine paired daggers were also common. On the whole with swords a shield is really the best possible offhand item. It's far easier to block with a shield than parry with a sword, and a shield has many other uses as well. In combat, on the field of battle, a shield is really far superior to anything else.

Oh, and just a minor correction, but what the Witch King had is called a flail. A morningstar is actually just a club with spikes on it. If it's got a chain it's a flail. While the flail is a fearsome weapon and was used somewhat in battle, it was never very popular. They had to be heavy to be of use, and then they were too hard to control. Unlike an axe where you can slide your hand down the shaft and keep your swings under control a flail is really an all or nothing weapon.

The only flail that's really possible to control properly is the nunchaku. However, that paticular weapon is too light to use against armor and too short to be an effective combat weapon.