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pehlivanx · 2 months

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#military #close combat

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mirkokosmos · 13 days

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by Mirko Lalit Egger

#tactical gear #close combat #cyberpunk

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each-dustbin1 · 7 months

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El miscellaneous

#fgc #fighting games #mizuumi #pokemon: close combat #pokemon #close combat #falinks #great tusk #mienshao #galarian zapdos #akatsuki blitzkampf #battle craze

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alpaca-clouds · 1 year

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Let's Talk Combat: Medieval European Swords

Alright. Let me try something.

As a writer - and a person - am a huge combat nerd. That is: Historical combat. I don't care much for modern guns. As such it is one of my personal hobbies, to watch movies and series featuring historical fights and battles and get annoyed about everything they get wrong.

So, let me have this. A little overview of Medieval European swords - and what they were used for.

Now, this is going to be mostly about just the swords and what they were used for. If you like this kind of stuff, I might go into other historical weapons or fighting styles.

One thing to start with: If you think that swords were super heavy and that a woman could not lift them, you are wrong. Most swords weighted between 800 grams and 2kg (which is 1.7 to 4.4 pounds). You have to see that people early on found ways to make swords lighter, because otherwise the arms would tire rather quickly, no matter your gender.

I also want to remind you of another thing: Swords where for most of history not the combat weapon of choice. In Europe it was the spear, pike and other kinds of polearms as they kept some distance between you and an enemy combatant. Swords were mostly carried as a sidearm. (And I just want to see one medieval fantasy, where it is displayed like this.)

So, let's start with the basic anatomy of a sword, shall we?

Most medieval swords were structired in this way, though there might be little differences. For example not all swords had a point and not all swords had two sharp edges.

Now, to explain some of the parts. I am rather sure the place, the point and the edge are fairly self-explanatory. The fuller was a little trick weapon smiths had found for themselves. It took care of two things: For one it took away material, making the sword considerably lighter. But also it added structure and made the sword more rigorous than it otherwise mght have been. The ricasso was the area of the sword, where you might put your index finger while fighting. The cross-guard was used to parry other swords. For once it protected your hand, when you caught your opponents sword with your own blade, but you could also use it as a lever and try to disarm your enemy. Now when it comes to the rain-guard there is this thing: Historians are not 100% certain, what it did. It was made of leather. One common assumption is, that it did not serve combat, but instead was used to help the sword lock into the scabbard.

Now let's get to the most underrated part of the sword in fantasy combat: The heft and the pommel. The grip/heft was, of course, where your hand would've been. It also helped you to have a lever in combat. Often times leather was used on it to give you a better hold. (Try holding a metal heft when it is wet. And I do have to asume it would only be worse if it was wet with blood.) The pommel served two functions: For once it was a counter weight to the blade, but also it could be used as a blunt weapon.

Let's start with the sword that was apparently the most common at the time. Not only is it the sword we see most often depicted in medieval art, but it is also the sword we found most often. It tends to be just called a "Knight's Sword".

It's a one handed weapon, that tended to be 70 to 80cm in length (about 28 to 31 inches) and would typically weight about 1kg (give or take 100 grams). It would generally have two sharp edges and a somewhat sharp point. It is what people would've thought of, if you said "sword" in the times. The cross guard in this was often in a slight crescent shape, as you see above, but there were those with straight cross-guards as well. In general they came with a point - but they were slashing weapons first and foremost. Knights might actually have engravings in the fuller. Rarely their own name, rather names of saints or the like.

This is a longsword. As you can see by the elongated grip, it was in general used as a two-handed weapon. Other than popular belief they were not super heavy - in general 1.1-1.8kg (2.4-4lb) to a blade length of 1 meter, give or take, giving it a total length to about 1.2~1.3m. I first hold one of those when I was about 13 and was perfectly able to use it. The French name for this type of weapon is épée bâtarde, which is where we get the term bastard sword from. This weapon, too, had two sharp edges. In general these had a sharp point, not only for attack, but also to balance the blade better.

Now one that might surprise you. This is a backsword, also called broadsword. No, it does not look anything like fantasy broadswords, because those would actually have been too heavy to fight with. It had a broader lower blade compared with a knight's sword, but it's most noticable difference to other sword types was the protective guard that secured the hand of the wielder. It was a one-handed weapon. It had at times two sharp edges, but often only one. For the most part it was a thrusting weapon though, so it had a rather sharp tip. Near the tip both edges were sharpened.

Let's get to one of the most overrated blades in fantasy. The Falchion. It had a curved blade and only one sharp edge. We often see them depicted with a knuckle-guard, but they were not always made with those. Why do I call this weapon overrated? Because it was the poor man's sword. It was often rather simply made, for example not using a fuller, making it less balanced. Mostly it was used by foot-soldiers. Only few of those weapons survived. Yes, it looks fancy thanks to the curved blade, but in general your knight's sword was just a better blade.

The estoc is another sword with a real fancy name. But other than the Falchion it had a rather prominent use. As you can see it has a rather long and rather thin blade and a really sharp point. We have found estocs with a large range of blade lengths though, ranging from 90cm (36 inches) to 1.30 (50 inches). This weapon was made for a very special usecase: It was a weapon designed to be effective against chainmail, made to pierce the chainmail especially. As such it was mostly a thrusting weapon.

Okay, we are nearing the end. The Zweihänder (German for Two-Handed) is a sword that came up very late in the medieval period. As the name suggests: It was wielded with two hands. They are the most heavy and one of the longest weapons on this list: Often they had a total length of about 2 meters (80+ inches) and weighted from 2 to 4kgs (4.4 to 8.8 pounds). Now, they were in general not a weapon used by armies, but rather by merchenaries of Southern Germany and Switzerland. In general they had two sharp edges, a really broad cross-guard and often times an second guard - though this one had sharp edges. In some cases they also had a seraded blade on one or both side (as seen in the picture above). Now, what was the purpose of all that? Well, rather simple. As I mentioned above: pole weapons like spears and pikes were more common in the period than swords. So Zweihander were specifically created to counter pikes and other pole weapons.

Now, at the very end I want to speak about this "weapon", the Curtana (Curtana, not Katana), which I came across being used as an actual weapon in video games - especially JRPG. Now, let's just make this clear: The curtana was not a weapon. Rather it was a sword used for ceremonial purposes and ceremonial purposes only. They often had decorated blades and were not balanced at all. Because they were created to look fancy, not to be wielded in combat.

Alright, that's it for today.

As I said: If interest is there, I will absolutely write more about swords, combat and such things. Also about pole weapons, because we need more love for pole weapons!

Till then!

#sword #medieval #middle ages #combat #close combat #weapons #blades #historical #fantasy #high fantasy #lord of the rings #the witcher #castlevania #excalibur

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blueiskewl · 22 days

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Close Call

A Ukrainian FPV suicide drone strikes a Chinese all-terrain vehicle Desertcross 1000-3 used by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

#ukraine #russia #russian war on ukraine #drone #Ukrainian FPV suicide drone #kamikaze drones #war #world at war #weapons #battle #fighting #combat #close combat #close call

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retrocgads · 6 months

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USA 1997

#USA1997 #MICROSOFT #BOOKS #STRATEGY #SIMULATION #IBM #CLOSE COMBAT #MONSTER TRUCK MADNESS #HELLBENDER #DEADLY TIDE #MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR FOR WINDOWS 95 #INSIDE MOVES

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ageofpiracyrp · 3 months

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Zion Slater

Pronouns: he/him/they/them

Role: Close Combat

Age: 25

Romantic and/or Sexual Preference: Zion doesn't care about gender

Species: Umbra

Home Planet: Kor’Sel’Koo

Faceclaim/Humanoid Appearance: Bang Chan

True Appearance: Like many Umbra, Zion has gold eyes, which allow him to pass easily as an erkuss.

Backstory:

[TW: Mentions of violence, death, a very bad childhood, and murder]

Zion currently lives with the small sept of Umbra that lived largely underneath the canal city of Dvun. It was a beautiful, old-fashioned city that has quietly accepted its community of Umbra. The Umbra of Dvun are not fully integrated (apparently by choice) into the society, and largely stay in their subterranean homes, but they coexist peacefully with their carreki neighbors.

Zion was not born on Sturn, however. Twarvu was Zion’s original home, and he lived under the leadership of Benvolio. It was a brutal existence, “nobly” killing the criminals that the leader deemed despicable. From a very young age, Zion was good at killing- brutal but efficient- and earned a great deal of praise from Benvolio. Eventually, Zion decided to venture out (as young people so often do) to find themselves.

While Zion had never cared to listen to what the other (more merciful) faction of umbra in Twarvu had to say, a trip to Sturn brought some new discoveries. Zion had heard rumblings that there was a sept on this carreki planet, but hadn’t expected them to be so kind. For the first time, Zion tried synthetic blood and learned to see non-Umbra as people. People that were different than Zion, of course, but still people.

Skills: The trouble was that the only thing that Zion really knew how to do was fight. Not a whole lot of other skills were taught to promising young assassins like Zion. And so, when a passing couple of pirate ships stopped in Dvun, Zion inquired about a job. It wouldn’t be about killing, but it would be a way to make all of those skills useful- and maybe continue to see the galaxy

He's good with multiple forms of close combat including the usage of daggers.

Played by Bree; 24; she/her/they/them; eastern time

#umbra #close combat #character: zion slater

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pokemoninaction · 1 year

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Registeel used Zap Cannon!

Urshifu used Close Combat!

~ Ultimate Journeys Ep. 23

#registeel #zap cannon #urshifu #close combat #ultimate journeys #urshifu single strike

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academicelephant · 1 year

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No, I’m definitely not searching for hand to hand combat tutorials from YouTube in the middle of the night 🙄 The best ones I couldn’t find though, I guess they have been deleted, but thankfully I have downloaded them somewhere in my computer

#hand to hand combat #close combat #military #self defense #honestly i'm in love with this stuff #simon ghost riley #he's the one to blame right now

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fieriframes · 4 days

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[It's the method in which you do it. You mix that blue cheese into the mayo and throw their spears without effect and then join in close combat so you don't lose them. The wings are straightforward. I like that you put a little pre-cook on them]

#s36e01 takeout - bold bites #guy fieri #guyfieri #diners drive-ins and dives #blue cheese #close combat #little pre #method #mayo #spears #effect #wings #cook

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pehlivanx · 2 months

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