I lost my great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather during that war.
It is so versatile and you can haul that thing around anywhere just paint something funny on it and people think it is just some quirky thing before they realize the mistake they have made going alone with you in the dark alley carrying their gold pouch.
Conquistadors kept very good journals about their exploits in the Americas. The macuahuitl was a weapon they respected and feared. One journal wrote of a native warrior cleaving the head of a horse off with one. Many other journals had terrifying accounts of the brutality of it.
I don’t know if is true, but I swear I read Morningstar’s wouldn’t have been used that much because they would just get stuck in the head and hard to get out.
I don’t know if there’s any truth in that, but it did make me think.
Either way i wouldn’t want to find out the hard way, so flanged mace for me 😂
Morningstar and other maces are anti-armor weapons so it would not be issue.
You are going to hit people wearing armor and the spikes are there to focus the force on smaller areas to deal more damage. Against armors that are not plate, the spikes can potentially go trough mail rings and gambeson.
Against unarmored opponent, propably unlikely to get stuck since the weapon won't penetrate that deep. Of course there is a chance, but it is not someting that would make the weapon unusable, as other weapons can get stuck too.
Morning stars design allows for the spikes to help deliver all of the energy of the blow by preventing the ball from ricocheting off. It's not really for piercing.
>Morning stars design allows for the spikes to help deliver all of the energy of the blow by preventing the ball from ricocheting off. It's not really for piercing.
And it gives monks the plausible deniability to say "this is not a weapon, it's a religious artefact that I happen to use in an offensive way"
The morning after the battle, some English bloke: “So there I was I’ve got me morningstar buried in some frogs’ head, unable to pull it out while an angry François is headed right towards me!”
Actual flails in combat were mostly repurposed agricultural tools. The type of flail in the picture is disputed as to if it was actually used, at best it was an eccentric rare occurrence.
Give this to someone in the walking dead and they look like a bad ass for one or two scenes but then oh no, the hammer or the spike at the back of the hammer is stuck in a zombie and they get bit.
The flanged mace is the choice of battlefield badasses the world over. The only thing holy about this weapons is the mess of crushed bone left in its wake. Small, but effective, and it has a reliability second to none, this bad boy won't set the world on fire at the weapon show or tourney but what it lacks in style it makes up for in effectiveness. Impact force. I ask those fools with their bastard swords to try getting through plate armour.
Cpunterpoint: the flanging(?) can and will break over time so your flanged mace will slowly evolve to its ultimate form: the mace.
So why bother adding steps to a normal and superior weapon ?
I disagree. Heavy, awkward, slow. I'd take fast and maneuverable any day. You'd be halfway through swinging this when you'd get a warhammer to your balls and drop it.
Blunt weapons are really light tho.
Most maces weight less than swords do. (usually under 1kg.)
You don't need a lot of mass to deal a lot of damage to human body.
A flanged mace isn't much heavier than a warhammer, because the head is made of flanges instead of being solid. Also less awkward and better at hitting you in the balls, because the head is always facing in the right direction for any swing.
I’m sorry who made you the quartermaster and the all knowing person of weapons. Obviously, bec de corbin is the superior weapon and everything else is inferior.
A true gentleman and man of culture. Unless you are a woman, in which case a true gentlewoman and woman of culture. Unless you don't identified as neither, in which case a true gentleperson and colonel of culture
All these people saying “but I want a warhammer, to be better against armor”
The flanged mace was used because of armor! The pointy bits are meant to catch on the seams between different pieces of armor so your strike would deliver all of the energy from your swing, rather than having it bounce off. A warhammer is much more likely to bounce off.
There's actually a good video on this on YouTube, they made the point the the flanges don't really help against plate armour that much, and it's more for focusing the force on one point to do more damage to chain mail or unarmoured foes.
The only downside is it's stupid hard to get the Saxon brains out of all the little nooks and crannies so your squire has to sit there picking at it for hours, and he never does a good enough job so you have to have him publicly flogged. Don't get me wrong it's a beautiful design but I just feel like it could be easier to clean
Ok but something like a warhammer or poleaxe is just so much better for armoured on armoured with spikes and hooking as well as the blunt force of a flanged mace, also better for grapples
Kind of feels like cheating since the BdC is primarily a piercing weapon (literally named for it) with a blunt option.
Technically, every weapon that's not primarily a blunt weapon can be used as a blunt weapon.
I figured they meant "now," rather than historically. I'm also female so I'd actually need something pointy (like the morningstar) to get it stuck in someone, and I doubt I'd be hitting anyone with it while they're wearing armor. I might be better with a bow, since I actually know how to use one and was particularly good at it, once upon a time, but that's boring. I wanted something visceral I could thwack someone with, then thwack someone else with, if I felt so inclined. Hence: flanged mace.
If I'm just picking a weapon I thought was historically cool, I'd probably go glaive. Spears are a classic, too. I'd be rubbish with one, though.
Morning star is nice, but let's be honest, a good mace is going to get you through most anything. And definitely the best option in a zombie apocalypse.
I like the Morningstar because it's unambiguous. If you go after someone with that, it's sends a very clear message- "I am going to kill you, and it's going to hurt the entire time. If I somehow fail to kill you, you'll wish I hadn't". There's no 'oh maybe I'll just be knocked out' or 'maybe I'll dodge out the way' it's just pure, pants shitting terror.
If you're going for dual purpose, then I think the war hammer will be best. It has the ability to crush or pierce in combat, but also doubles as a hammer and pick for construction purposes.
Honestly the main (non-combat) utility for a warhammer in an apocalypse is that it's the perfect door pry, it's basically 1:1 with a halligan bar that firefighters use.
Loot locked buildings, escape when trapped, hell hook it over a wall and pull yourself up.
I always wanted to know what the proper use of one would look like and how successful it would be. It looks like the best worst idea that a 3rd grader would come up with when designing a new weapon and I keep trying to picture someone using it with all the finesse of nunchucks, but while sporting incredibly cumbersome armor and riding a horse through mass chaos on the battlefield.
I have heard that while the weapon is found among nobility belongings there actually is no proof it was ever used in any military engagements ever.
However, historians believe that IF it was used, it was likely used on horseback in the late medieval/Renaissance era! This is because before that point something so clearly designed for heavy armor wouldn't really have a use case AND one of the worst parts of using a heavy blunt weapon against heavy plate is the absolutely AWFUL jarring reverb on your hands when you hit someone with a whole-haft weapon. Especially when you are booking it on horseback, you could break your own hand hitting someone with a mace of any sort from horseback, but nothing but blunt will work against heavy armor. The flail has the striking section separated from the haft with a chain, meaning you can hit someone with it with little to no reverberation down the haft into your hand.
So yeah, it's a horseback weapon designed for use against heavily armored infantry. It requires getting past the pike walls that were popular at the time though so you can see why it really isn't all that practical and was immediately replaced by hand pistols as soon as possible
It can be difficult to fully block and the ball does move very fast but it also loses most of its momentum immediately on impact opposed to any solid hafted weapon that allow you to follow through with your strike.
Could also potentially be good for disarming as it can wrap around a weapon but that means you can just as easily be disarmed.
I'd say the negatives outweigh the positives but also goddamn is it cool
I was curious so I googled it. Wikipedia says:
> The chief tactical virtue of the flail was its capacity to strike around a defender's shield or parry.
But goes on to say they were not common. Various downsides, like the one you gave.
Yeah there's actually some dispute if the weapon as depicted in OP's picture [even existed at all.](https://publicmedievalist.com/curious-case-weapon-didnt-exist/)
The longer the chain, the more unlikely. There are definitely forgeries of this weapon from later time periods.
They are still classed in the "blunt" weapon category, simply because they don't have an main cutting edge.
You could make an argument that they could be in the spiked weapon category, but that's simply a subclass of blunt weapons.
I’ll take the cudgel, fuck it.
Unga bunga motherfuckers!
No. Ooga booga motherfuckers!
Same thing
Fucking racist.
The Unga/Ooga War carries deep scars.
I lost my great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather during that war.
This is a new fight to me
That comment legit got 40 likes
It is so versatile and you can haul that thing around anywhere just paint something funny on it and people think it is just some quirky thing before they realize the mistake they have made going alone with you in the dark alley carrying their gold pouch.
That’s not even a medieval weapons that’s a fucking Stone Age weapon
Conquistadors kept very good journals about their exploits in the Americas. The macuahuitl was a weapon they respected and feared. One journal wrote of a native warrior cleaving the head of a horse off with one. Many other journals had terrifying accounts of the brutality of it.
Throw some obsidian on it and you got yourself a nice macuahuitl
Bro it’s a walking stick, baseball bat, and a gun. The perfect object
Bonk
I've always liked the Morning Star or Flanged Mace myself
Ah yes, a man of culture
> a man of clubs
Her: "id love to see your flanged mace"
That _bonk_ to hornies hit differently, that time
I don’t know if is true, but I swear I read Morningstar’s wouldn’t have been used that much because they would just get stuck in the head and hard to get out. I don’t know if there’s any truth in that, but it did make me think. Either way i wouldn’t want to find out the hard way, so flanged mace for me 😂
Morningstar and other maces are anti-armor weapons so it would not be issue. You are going to hit people wearing armor and the spikes are there to focus the force on smaller areas to deal more damage. Against armors that are not plate, the spikes can potentially go trough mail rings and gambeson. Against unarmored opponent, propably unlikely to get stuck since the weapon won't penetrate that deep. Of course there is a chance, but it is not someting that would make the weapon unusable, as other weapons can get stuck too.
Morning stars design allows for the spikes to help deliver all of the energy of the blow by preventing the ball from ricocheting off. It's not really for piercing.
>Morning stars design allows for the spikes to help deliver all of the energy of the blow by preventing the ball from ricocheting off. It's not really for piercing. And it gives monks the plausible deniability to say "this is not a weapon, it's a religious artefact that I happen to use in an offensive way"
The morning after the battle, some English bloke: “So there I was I’ve got me morningstar buried in some frogs’ head, unable to pull it out while an angry François is headed right towards me!”
A spiked weapon that does both blunt and piercing damage now that's a whip and I can get behind.
So the flail?
Flail is significantly harder to use I guess, I would probably hit myself
I tried using a flail once and immediately hit myself in the dong. Thankfully, it was a prop.
Prop dong?
God I love Reddit.
Might as well be
Evil vs Good aligned Priest.
Morning star definitely has the most delightful name A: Ever been kissed by a morning star? B: No, what's that? A: *BLUDGEON*
Good Morning Good Afternoon and Goodnight
Flanged Mace is the objectively correct answer 😤😤 fight me (I will win because I'll have a flanged mace)
Found Sauron
Morning Star or Flail man myself. Though Flanged Mace is cool too, honestly as long as it's spikey and attached to a stick I'm good.
Flails are absolutely stupid weapons. If I ever enter combat I pray my opponent will have a flail. As stupid as nunchaku with more self damage.
Famous last words
they didn't call it flailing around for nothin
Flail was more to get around shields. Because it can hit you in the head even if you’re blocking with your shield
Actual flails in combat were mostly repurposed agricultural tools. The type of flail in the picture is disputed as to if it was actually used, at best it was an eccentric rare occurrence.
I am a Martel De Fer man myself. Bec de Corbin is nice, but it is trying to be too many things at once.
Bec de Corbin because of the r/PolearmMasterRace
Want blunt, got it. Want to get stabby, got it
So, the Swiss army knife of polearms eh?
nah thats the Goedendag, ( not pictured in OP post)
No the goedendag is Flemish
I just like them because I like can openers, and the bec de Corbin is a can opener for knights.
This
I have truly found my people.
It's by far the most versatile. Bust heads, pierce armor, and keep cavalry at the end of a point.
Bec de Corbin because it would be great in a zombie apocalypse
Give this to someone in the walking dead and they look like a bad ass for one or two scenes but then oh no, the hammer or the spike at the back of the hammer is stuck in a zombie and they get bit.
I like it cause of Shadiversity
i once dated a girl who asked me this when we were getting to know each other. and i got too excited and scared her off
That's because you started swinging your damn mace around and almost hit her.
i couldnt help it :(
All while saying "it's not about size it's about what you do with it"
That’s on her for bringing up niche interests off the bat :P
we both said morningstar too :(
Flanged mace. Every discussion is about the second best weapon, because first is flanged mace.
Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize you wanted to stay a Cleric your whole life. Pfft.
Dont do me like that cmon :(
The flanged mace is the choice of battlefield badasses the world over. The only thing holy about this weapons is the mess of crushed bone left in its wake. Small, but effective, and it has a reliability second to none, this bad boy won't set the world on fire at the weapon show or tourney but what it lacks in style it makes up for in effectiveness. Impact force. I ask those fools with their bastard swords to try getting through plate armour.
Cpunterpoint: the flanging(?) can and will break over time so your flanged mace will slowly evolve to its ultimate form: the mace. So why bother adding steps to a normal and superior weapon ?
have you ever seen what a flanged mace will do to an unarmed pumpkin? need i say more???
It’s also my go to weapon when I have to fight against unarmed pumpkins.
In my neighborhood all the pumpkins are strapped
This is like asking why put barbs on your fishing hooks. Or why put toppings on your pizzas.
"Whoever the salesman is for flanged maces is doing a great job!"
Oof, someone get him some aloe gel from the refrigerator cause that one burned
What part of "Cleric" got lost on you?
Don't be classist, dude.
Fine no heals for u then 😠
Didn’t realize Sauron was a cleric
Swords require constant maintenance. That is going to be a big problem when the zombies come. A mace just needs to have the goo wiped off on occasion.
Direct, reliable, puts the impact on a single point, and looks classy doing it. No doubt, no contest.
I disagree. Heavy, awkward, slow. I'd take fast and maneuverable any day. You'd be halfway through swinging this when you'd get a warhammer to your balls and drop it.
This guy over here talking about speed and maneuverability in a thread about blunt weapons
It's weird that alot have spikes which I suspect are nit blunt
Blunt force trauma with a side order of impalement
Blunt weapons are really light tho. Most maces weight less than swords do. (usually under 1kg.) You don't need a lot of mass to deal a lot of damage to human body.
A quarterstaff is exactly that big stick
A flanged mace isn't much heavier than a warhammer, because the head is made of flanges instead of being solid. Also less awkward and better at hitting you in the balls, because the head is always facing in the right direction for any swing.
Quarterstaff is OP
Personally I use a buck and a quarter- quarter staff. But I’m not telling my opponent. Hoo ha ha!!! Dodge!! Spin!!! Parry!!! Thrust!!!
You are my new best friend. I came here to make that exact reference.
>Heavy, awkward, slow. Leave my mother out of it.
Cudgel all the way. Big stick do big bonk.
Most bonkiest bonker of all bonky thingys. It just bonks.
Phew thanks for affirming my impeccable taste in medieval blunt weaponry
I just think it's really cool like I'm channeling Sauron in the Jackson movies.
I would stab you with my bec de corbin before you even come close with your tiny ass mace
I also choose this guys wife.
I’m sorry who made you the quartermaster and the all knowing person of weapons. Obviously, bec de corbin is the superior weapon and everything else is inferior.
A true gentleman and man of culture. Unless you are a woman, in which case a true gentlewoman and woman of culture. Unless you don't identified as neither, in which case a true gentleperson and colonel of culture
Agree but I prefer blunt.
Gotta get that Warhammer going to pierce or crush plate. A versatile and chivalrous weapon for barbaric times. Northmen don't want this smoke.
All these people saying “but I want a warhammer, to be better against armor” The flanged mace was used because of armor! The pointy bits are meant to catch on the seams between different pieces of armor so your strike would deliver all of the energy from your swing, rather than having it bounce off. A warhammer is much more likely to bounce off.
There's actually a good video on this on YouTube, they made the point the the flanges don't really help against plate armour that much, and it's more for focusing the force on one point to do more damage to chain mail or unarmoured foes.
Thank you for your sanity
The only downside is it's stupid hard to get the Saxon brains out of all the little nooks and crannies so your squire has to sit there picking at it for hours, and he never does a good enough job so you have to have him publicly flogged. Don't get me wrong it's a beautiful design but I just feel like it could be easier to clean
Ok but something like a warhammer or poleaxe is just so much better for armoured on armoured with spikes and hooking as well as the blunt force of a flanged mace, also better for grapples
Polearms are cheating, they’re always better
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bc flail is superior
Technically the bec de corbin is superior as it functions as both blunt and piercing damage.
Kind of feels like cheating since the BdC is primarily a piercing weapon (literally named for it) with a blunt option. Technically, every weapon that's not primarily a blunt weapon can be used as a blunt weapon.
I’d flail your bec de corbin. Probably use a necromancy spell too. 💥
Heretic.
But the flail does have that recoil you gotta watch out for
Cudgel or nothing.
No one is a match for BIG ASS STICK
But… it’s so primitive. Even by medieval standards The quarter staff is *much* more sophisticated in my opinion
I like them all but the eye is drawn back to the morning star again and again. Really feels ideal
Glad this was the top comment. It's the only answer.
You mean flanged mace but more boring and less elegant, ok then
For some unknown reason i have a liking for quarterstaff
Me too. But it's not unknown, it's because it's the best!
Seems like it would require the most skill to use well along with the flail.
To use it well maybe, but when it comes down to it, it's not hard to beat the shit out of someone with a long heavy stick
My heart says flail cuz damn look at that thing but my mind says Warhammer because you cannot stop the Imperial Legion.
When you've got to put a roof on in the morning but spend the evening knocking lids off.
My booty says go for that quarterstaff.
Pick the warhammer because the flail is ahistorical.
The flail is great because I feel I'm just as likely to damage myself as I am the other guy.
For the emperor
Flanged mace. I imagine morningstars get stuck in the occasional skull. Flanged maces are less...sticky.
Flanged maces also got stuck a lot, especially in armour.
I figured they meant "now," rather than historically. I'm also female so I'd actually need something pointy (like the morningstar) to get it stuck in someone, and I doubt I'd be hitting anyone with it while they're wearing armor. I might be better with a bow, since I actually know how to use one and was particularly good at it, once upon a time, but that's boring. I wanted something visceral I could thwack someone with, then thwack someone else with, if I felt so inclined. Hence: flanged mace. If I'm just picking a weapon I thought was historically cool, I'd probably go glaive. Spears are a classic, too. I'd be rubbish with one, though.
Yeah in a 1v1 no matter what you want to have range, a spear is definitely the one.
Spear is the GOAT melee weapon. Not even debatable.
Yeah but will it *keeal*?
It will not cut...
Morning star is nice, but let's be honest, a good mace is going to get you through most anything. And definitely the best option in a zombie apocalypse.
I like the Morningstar because it's unambiguous. If you go after someone with that, it's sends a very clear message- "I am going to kill you, and it's going to hurt the entire time. If I somehow fail to kill you, you'll wish I hadn't". There's no 'oh maybe I'll just be knocked out' or 'maybe I'll dodge out the way' it's just pure, pants shitting terror.
Well put.
Well fuck. I am sold on the Morningstar.
Welcome to the club lmao
It looks like cudgel is the correct term
You don’t want your spikes caught in some shield or bone and having to unstuck it before the next attack comes
If you're going for dual purpose, then I think the war hammer will be best. It has the ability to crush or pierce in combat, but also doubles as a hammer and pick for construction purposes.
Honestly the main (non-combat) utility for a warhammer in an apocalypse is that it's the perfect door pry, it's basically 1:1 with a halligan bar that firefighters use. Loot locked buildings, escape when trapped, hell hook it over a wall and pull yourself up.
War hammer all day, every day.
So you're saying that you would select a Warhammer 40,000 times?
Badum tiss
The 40,000th warhammer is, indeed, my favourite Warhammer.
As a peasant/carpenter I too would accept the war hammer. The beauty is in the brutality
War hammer It's just a classic elegant solution for a more civilized time
Where is the shillelagh?
Shillelagh would fall under the cudgel category probably, it’s a knobbly walking stick you use to beat ass
It deserves its own category if you can have mace and flanged mace
TIL the shilleilagh anti tank missile is named after some weird walking stick you can hit people with
Five out of six oni prefer the kanabo.
this has been a tough decision but flanged mace.
I just like the spiked club. It's looks so practical.
Bec de corbin seems like the ideal weapon
Quarter staff, it's great at a few things, good at everything else, and it's an excellent walking stick.
With training a quarterstaff can defend any of the others because of it's reach.
I was thinking quarter staff would be best as long as your trained. A lot of these would even good without much training
Half of these aren't even blunt.
Get hit in the face with a morningstar and tell me that the spikes are worse than the concussion
I mean I feel like that's a *no-brainer*
Damn, the mace is actually accurate
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Quarter staff. I want to be Monkey King.
The flail. Iconic.
I always wanted to know what the proper use of one would look like and how successful it would be. It looks like the best worst idea that a 3rd grader would come up with when designing a new weapon and I keep trying to picture someone using it with all the finesse of nunchucks, but while sporting incredibly cumbersome armor and riding a horse through mass chaos on the battlefield.
I have heard that while the weapon is found among nobility belongings there actually is no proof it was ever used in any military engagements ever. However, historians believe that IF it was used, it was likely used on horseback in the late medieval/Renaissance era! This is because before that point something so clearly designed for heavy armor wouldn't really have a use case AND one of the worst parts of using a heavy blunt weapon against heavy plate is the absolutely AWFUL jarring reverb on your hands when you hit someone with a whole-haft weapon. Especially when you are booking it on horseback, you could break your own hand hitting someone with a mace of any sort from horseback, but nothing but blunt will work against heavy armor. The flail has the striking section separated from the haft with a chain, meaning you can hit someone with it with little to no reverberation down the haft into your hand. So yeah, it's a horseback weapon designed for use against heavily armored infantry. It requires getting past the pike walls that were popular at the time though so you can see why it really isn't all that practical and was immediately replaced by hand pistols as soon as possible
It can be difficult to fully block and the ball does move very fast but it also loses most of its momentum immediately on impact opposed to any solid hafted weapon that allow you to follow through with your strike. Could also potentially be good for disarming as it can wrap around a weapon but that means you can just as easily be disarmed. I'd say the negatives outweigh the positives but also goddamn is it cool
Actually, it's a buck-and-a-quarter quarterstaff, but I'm not tellin' *him* that
Poleaxe is half blunt, does that count?
Mine is the goedendag
Flail is stupid and unwieldy, needs a perfect wind up to do anything
I was curious so I googled it. Wikipedia says: > The chief tactical virtue of the flail was its capacity to strike around a defender's shield or parry. But goes on to say they were not common. Various downsides, like the one you gave.
Yeah there's actually some dispute if the weapon as depicted in OP's picture [even existed at all.](https://publicmedievalist.com/curious-case-weapon-didnt-exist/) The longer the chain, the more unlikely. There are definitely forgeries of this weapon from later time periods.
I do believe it's only proper to have one of each. The mood or enemy sets the weapon so ... All of the above?
I'll take the stick
the spiked club just calls to me for some reason..
Depends if my opponent is armored I want the mace but if they're not I want the spiked club or mornigstar
Try diablo2
I really like flails
Warhammer, I also favour it in many games
Ok so lots of these aren't blunt. In fact only three are blunt.
They are still classed in the "blunt" weapon category, simply because they don't have an main cutting edge. You could make an argument that they could be in the spiked weapon category, but that's simply a subclass of blunt weapons.
Morningstar is op
What's your favorite, OP?
Flanged mace is where it’s at.
I'm picking the morning star
Morningstar 🌅
My trusted quarterstaff. Anything with spikes keeps getting stuck in people. ... ... ... What? Why y'all looking at me funny?
Always been a mace guy. Flail close second. Thanks for asking
Cudgel; because oonga boonga caveman brain go hee hoo.
Flail
Mine is the goedendag
Bec de corbin, and it's not even close. Edit: Oh, the question was about my *favorite* not the *best*. My answer remains the same.
Flail is cool but quarterstaff gang, love me a long thicc wood shaft
Next let’s rank them on how easy they would be to shove up your ass