The Way We War

[Farael]

Originally Posted by davem

Tell you what - we'll try it out. You get a pen knife & I'll get hold of a broadsword & if you're right you'll win hands down with that short little swing....

Funny, but you seem to have missed the point of my post. Not to mention, the fact that a broad sword would probably not throw an experienced fighter out of balance, it is an example of a SHORT weapon. The fact that you can find an even SHORTER weapon proves nothing.

I still stand by my idea, the longer your weapon the more you need to work with those around you, because as soon as your enemy gets within your swing, you essentially have a top-heavy club, the sharp end does you no good. Thus, you need to keep the enemy at a distance, and what best way to do so than by having your buddy chopping him up if he gets too close when you are busy?

Which leads to organized, formation-style fighting, which conflicts with the idea of a bezerker.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Farael

Which leads to organized, formation-style fighting, which conflicts with the idea of a bezerker.

Nope. People have been fighting with 'long' weapons (like spears) for a very long time. The point of a long weapon is that it is designed to prevent your enemy getting close to you. It has more momentum in a swing - & you don't have to hold a spear or pole-weapon by the end furthest away from the blade. You can hold it part way down the shaft.

Poleaxes appear to have been very versatile weapons, with the ability to crush, cut or thrust. Some poleaxes even sported a spike on the butt of the haft, as illustrated in the various works of the famous fencing master Hans Talhoffer. In other words, the poleaxe (or fussstreiaxe, or bec-de-corbin or Lucerne Hammer or whatever the modern enthusiast wants to call these marvels of engineering) was a combination of the best of what several different weapons had to offer. It is worth noting that the poleaxe was very well-suited to deal with heavily armed opponents which seemed to abound after the end of the 14th century. There is little wonder then that poleaxes were employed both on the dueling ring, during knightly bouts and during pitched battles. http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_spot_poleaxe.html

Any kind of pole weapon would be designed for use against a specific enemy - if you were confronting riders you would have a weapon with a longer shaft, if an enemy on foot it would be shorter. Men at arms would train from early childhood with different weapons & were highly proficient. A pole weapon could be used in many ways - not simply the obvious one of swinging blows to sever head or limbs. You have a spear with the top spike, a staff weapon, a hook for bringing down an opponent, as well as a 'short' axe if you hold the thing part way down the shaft. And the whole point of a longer weapon is that you don't let your opponent get as close as you're envisioning. Your enemy would also probably be using a longer weapon,

Pole axe fight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgOrHKfYuxk

[Farael]

Originally Posted by davem

And the whole point of a longer weapon is that you don't let your opponent get as close as you're envisioning. Your enemy would also probably be using a longer weapon,

Yes, but how many enemies can you keep away at the time? One? Two? As many as they come? (This is an honest question, I BELIEVE you can only keep one or a couple at bay, but I could be wrong)

In almost all situations, the "good guys" (Dwarves, men of Gondor, elves...) were heavily out-numbered. If each acted as an individual, they'd be overwhelmed by sheer numbers but if they kept together and acted as a unit in formation they'd have a chance to defend themselves from an enemy that was (very likely) using poorer weapons and armour as well as (possibly) less trained.

So, if a dwarf with an axe can keep three or four orcs at bay (or seven or eight) then I'll concede the point, I started off my discussion by saying I didn't know much about medieval fighting.

Morthoron, Michelangelo may have been a very special person, and as I said before, Thorin was the son of a ring-bearer and we know that the rings brought out the worst of the dwarves.

Even if Thorin never wore a ring himself, you'd expect him to learn less-than-stellar behaviours from his parents, eh? So I wouldn't say he is representative of dwarves as a whole.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Farael

In almost all situations, the "good guys" (Dwarves, men of Gondor, elves...) were heavily out-numbered. If each acted as an individual, they'd be overwhelmed by sheer numbers but if they kept together and acted as a unit in formation they'd have a chance to defend themselves from an enemy that was (very likely) using poorer weapons and armour as well as (possibly) less trained.

.

I think you're getting too caught up in specifics. Assuming Dwarvish were like medieval human armies I'd assume they would vary their tactics to suit the circumstances. If attacked en masse they would surely have formed some kind of shield wall to fight behind. But circumstances are all. I think you're also forgetting how quickly battles would descend into free-for alls. Once the adrenalin starts pumping & the bodies start piling up (do you know that at Towton time out was called more than once to allow the bodies to be removed from the field as it was impossible to fight for all the corpses?) things can get chaotic very swiftly. add to that weather conditions (there's a story - which I can source if you like - of a troop of men at arms frying in their armour as a result of repeated lightning strikes during a thunder storm. Towton was fought during a blizzard, & some battles would take place in fog so thick that it was impossible to see more than a few feet), disease, lack of ordinance, incompetent (or dead) comanders, & you move further & further from the kind of 'perfect' conditions you seem to imagine.

[Farael]

Hmmm, you do have a point there. I still think the Bezerker aura comes from non-Tolkien sources, but I don't really have any evidence for either position. No, Thorin is ONE example. Furthermore, if we take Davem's word, battles grew rather chaotic and fighting desperately for one's life does not really qualify as going bezerk.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Farael

Morthoron, Michelangelo may have been a very special person, and as I said before, Thorin was the son of a ring-bearer and we know that the rings brought out the worst of the dwarves.

Even if Thorin never wore a ring himself, you'd expect him to learn less-than-stellar behaviours from his parents, eh? So I wouldn't say he is representative of dwarves as a whole.

Guilt by proximity? Hmmm...I suppose that would depend on whether you were an adherent of Hobbes or Locke. I would think Thorin was fairly representative of the Dwarvish aristocracy, as he was not a run-of-the-mill Dwarf, even while in exile. But then he was not an inherently evil Dwarf, as were those that did commerce with Orcs, or allied with Sauron in the War of the Last Alliance.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I don't know that even Thorin went "full berserker." I get the impression that the Thirteen drove through the Goblin-host in a tight wedge formation (or at least as tight as axe-swinging would allow). Tolkien of course was capable of envisioning such a formation, as the Numenorean dirnaith was of the type.

[Gwathagor]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

I don't know that even Thorin went "full berserker."

Never go full berserker, man!

[Kuruharan]

Somebody else has pondered this question...

Link

Interesting that he agrees with my initial assessment regarding the usefulness of shields, although not so much on the specific swords dwarves should favor.

However, I don't agree with the video in regards to strength as I think dwarves in Middle-earth are stronger than humans, which might make the big axes and hammers a viable option at least as far as damage potential. What I question is the efficiency/safety of using massive axes and warhammers as the wielder exposes oneself in their use. You don't need to make your opponent burst into ludicrous gibs through hitting them with a blow of massive strength. You need to inflict a disabling wound to them while reserving your own strength for the remainder of the fight.