#polearms

[prokopetz]

Do not under any circumstances attempt to explain to me what a guisarme-voulge is.

[memories-of-ancients]

Halberd, Dutch Flemish or Luxembourg, circa 1580-1600

from The Philadelphia Museum of Art

[m3dieval]

[Video - Norwich HEMA Society]

[oldschoolfrp]

"The Nomenclature of Pole Arms" by Gary Gygax explained exactly what all those obscure names in the AD&D Players Handbook meant (article in Dragon magazine 22, February 1979). This expanded on a pair of articles that originally appeared in the first two issues of The Strategic Review in 1975. Unfortunately these issues came and went, leaving most AD&D players confused about many of these terms for another decade.

Note the heading for the "Partisans" section is missing, following the "Ranseur" paragraph. There the infamous "Bohemian ear spoon" finally is revealed to be a variant partisan with spikes instead of small side blades. Later the "Lucern hammer" (or "Lucerne") is illustrated and described as a very pointy piercing weapon with extra prongs, not the blunt bludgeoning weapon many cleric players assumed.

Gygax was a good researcher and synthesizer of secondary sources. He was dedicated to crafting diverse material into a single coherent rules system. Game rules generally are improved when terms are defined precisely and consistently.

But that goal sometimes made him prone to nerd rage when critiquing some else's different use of terminology. In reality these old names did not have precise meanings across all time and space. Given that "medieval" spans at least 500 years by some definitions, and Europe alone had many different nations, cultures, and languages, there's room to accept that primary sources didn't agree about all of these names.

(For that Will McLean comic, see previously)

[cultofthewyrm]

Golden archmage by Yelli

[we-are-knight]

The main differences between a halberd and poleaxe.

[hanbango]

No honestly, suggestions in the comments, please.

[illustratus]

The Dukes of Berry and Burgundy Departing from Paris to Meet with the Duke of Bretagne — Froissart's Chronicles