Why shortswords get so little attention compared to other bladed weapons? Throughout history they've been the most common sidearm yet almost no info or discussion exists around this class of weapons, aside from discussing individual models. So, let this be a shortsword thread. Post your gladiuses, knoifes, tantos, machetes, cinquedeas, seaxes, messers, cutlasses or whatever.
Shortsword Thread
Christopher Walker
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Adrian Long
They short into evolve into survival knife/bayonet nowadays so it's kinda cool.
Nicholas Morales
Just like my dick
Andrew Sanders
They were the most common sidearm because they were cheap and easy to mass produce. A longsword or spear will always be superior because of its reach, and a dagger will always be superior for concealment or short-ranged attacks. Given the actual stopping power of a shortsword, I'd rather have a hammer or a club or an axe if I'm going to sacrifice reach anyways.
Gabriel Baker
There's a thin line between a long dagger and a shortsword and a longsword would be a bit of a hassle to use or just get ready in a self-defense situation, especially in tighter spaces. Longsword is hard to carry not only because of length of the blade but the handle as well so broadsword would be better and hauling a spear with you to the shop every day is pretty stupid. Shortswords are generally lighter and more nimble than clubs or maces as well, even more so if you look at the later ones such as smallswords.
Kayden Anderson
Main sidearm in Europe was arming sword or simply "sword" that later transferred into complex hilt swords. They are not short.
youtube.com
If anything entire name "short sword" is AD&D invention (AD&D also misused longsword name).
Easton Foster
Arming sword is a bit too expensive and is of little use as a tool, unlike some of the shorter blade weapons. Longer daggers were more common, especially if we consider a knife blade 6" long today. The closest example from "swords" would be oakeshott type 14, though things like messers were used more often, in this case especially for the reason they were not "swords" per se.
I still think that this classification is of use because of the usage of such weapons extensively by civilians.
Juan Edwards
Because machetes already exist and has more utility to top it all off
Joseph Powell
I have that exact machete and it's been the most useful thing I have for the garden because the weeds go fucking wild in my backyard.
Cooper Moore
Because "Ehhhhhhhh, big sword, cling clang, kill the orcs LMAO!" that's why. Big swords look visually impressive so therefore they make more appearances in media, so that's the type of stuff people get interested in.
Machetes are more of a long knife, than a short sword. The reason they have more utility is because they were always intended to be a utility first tool. Not a weapon. The only people that consider machetes to be good weapons are shitskins and edgy teens that think's they'll need it when the zombies come.
Ryan Garcia
But they are good weapons in about the same category as a one handed axe.
Dylan Hall
Which are also shit. Also, no they're not, most machetes simply do not have enough mass at the top of the blade to have the same pros that axes have (granted they also lack a lot of the cons that axes have but whatever.) They aren't abnormally good against armor, they don't have a hook to pull down an enemy's shield, they don't allow you to choke up on your grip to give you better control. They're shit.
Besides, like I said, axes are kinda shit. Swords are the best all around melee weapon, hands down. You can argue that "oh spears have better reach, and are better in formations." and they are, but no one is going to lug a spear around all day. You can say, "knives are easy to carry!" but they have absolute SHIT reach and almost no defensive capabilities. Knifes are a tool first and a weapon second. You can say "oh axes are better against heavy armor than swords." and they are, but warhammers/maces are better and they BOTH have a relatively small striking area. Like what, 6ish inches for an axe? Less for a warhammer? If you over extend then you hit them with the handle, possibly damaging your weapon, and if you under extend then you woosh past and throw yourself off balance.
Swords are easy to carry, especially if you have a holster on your belt. They have decent reach, they can cut like a knife, chop like an axe, or thrust like a spear if needs be. They have a large striking area, and true, they don't do great against armor directly, but they're usually agile enough that you can maneuver your blade into an armpit or some other chink in the armor.
TL;DR Machetes are shitty axe-knife hybrids and swords blow everything else out of the fucking water.
Kayden Sanders
Blake Scott
When it comes to all around, general purpose melee weapons, swords are the best option.
Jack Perry
Not all swords are the same you autistic faggot. A kopis isn't a spatha, isn't an arming sword, isn't a spadroon, isn't a rapier, isn't a falchion, isn't a montante, isn't a sabre, isn't a dao, isn't a basket-hilted broadsword, isn't a wakizashi, isn't a longsword.
To say "swords are the best melee weapons" is fucking retarded, because no two types of sword are the same.
Eli Stewart
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Adrian Murphy
A low-functioning autist, obsessed with swords because that's what his favourite cartoon characters use.
Henry Foster
Xavier Phillips
The thread is literally called "Shortsword thread"
And yes obviously not all swords are created equal. Just like not all guns are created equal, so if I were to go ahead and say "guns are the best all around, ranged infantry weapons" are you gonna sperg out about how "hurr durr rifles and pistols are different." because that's a non-issue. I am well aware that guns are different, but I'd still rather have a gun, pistol/rifle/shotgun, than an atlatl or longbow. Just like I'm well aware that swords are different, but i'd still rather have a sword, saber/rapier/whatever, than a fucking pocket knife.
Now sure, you could say, "hurr durr, muskets are guns, and they're shit compared to this new full auto crossbow!" and sure, there's probably some crossover on the extreme ends of the spectrum. However, GENERALLY SPEAKING, I'd take a gun over a crossbow any day, and GENERALLY SPEAKING, I'll take a sword over a spear.
kek
Dylan Gutierrez
Come on now.
Lincoln Davis
Good luck chopping with a fucking shortsword.
Joshua Scott
Not very easy, sure, but it can be done in a pinch.
Wyatt Watson
Engineers and Artillery men were issued short swords back in the 1800's explicitly for chopping shit up.
Jeremiah Lewis
You mean the shortswords that were basically xiphos-shaped machetes, and handled like shit due to their weight?
Josiah Scott
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John Taylor
That's because they are the most average of D&D weapons. Sage for all thr fat fuck LARPers thinking they're expert swordsman. Most of you couldn't complete a 1000 stroke drill let a lone be able to cut anything thicker than a sandwich.
Nathaniel Robinson
You do know that 98% of sword fighting is martial arts and throwing your opponent off-balance/on the ground, and only 2% actually using the sword to injure/kill someone, right?
Colton Kelly
Yes, as any user should.
Lincoln Wright
I dunno about handling like shit given those fuckers went through hellish Florida swamp brush during the Seminole wars. Even the Frogs liked theirs.
Cameron Rivera
Why on earth would they not? Unless you're specifically referring to the eight-to-ten-foot pikes that were commonly used in formation, pretty much any spear will be lighter than a sword and can double as a walking stick.
Austin Gomez
Shit, I should have kept reading before I posted. Welcome to Zig Forums, faggot.
Jayden Thompson
Yeah, they were good in those environments because they're basically misshapen machetes. There are very few accounts of them being used in combat whatsoever.
Angel Rivera
Stop pulling numbers out of your fat ass.
Dylan Brooks
Jaxon Rodriguez
Shedys
Michael Sanders
Warriors could afford it. Those who can't didn't participate in the Medieval war in other way than victims.
Pleb. Go bring me my taxes, slav(e).
No such thing in the archeology.
European swords that could be classified as "short swords" are gladius, katzbalger, hanger and cutlass. Some points:
1. None of them are called short sword in the first place but have their own name. because just "sword" was name for the sword of normal length.
2. Minus gladius, latter period "short swords" were quite rare and used by specific groups and were greatly outnumbered of swords of "normal" length.
Thomas Edwards
I bought this and it's good; it's been referred to as a machete but it's a sword
Christian Cook
Warriors used swords, while civilians generally used things that were not called swords, like long daggers similar to cinquedea.
Being pretentious little faggot without arguments will only make your statements more ironic, britcuck.
More like having tools that are used as combat arms. Go be a "proud warrior" faggot somewhere else. Knights used daggers both as tools and as weapons extensively, so what?
Knives or daggers were quite a bit longer than they are today and were carried more often. Longer of them, like those used by hunters fit really well for the term.
As well as messers, cinquedeas, seaxes, and other sheeit that didn't have a name other than a "long knife".
Wyatt Nelson
Also, dirks and shorter falchions, which are nothing more than sharpened machetes with better blade.
Michael Hernandez
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Julian Richardson
They do look sexy tbh.
Eli Barnes
Falshions are rainbow unicorns rarity things. There are literally only bloody 2 (two) fully preserved found. One is the musee de cluny cl.3452 falchion, you pic is reproduction of it, and another with clipped point. All reproductions of falchions are made using them two as pattern, makes you think.
Swords on the other hand were found in thousands across entire Europe everywhere.
People just had separate set of tools more suited for use and abuse of work be design and price, like tool axes.
youtube.com
I would like to see how you would use rondell dagger as tool.
Messers are normal sword length.
Yeah forgot about that thingy. Same point. Special name, special usage, surrounded by masses of "standard" swords.
It a tool/kitchen knife. But yeah you kill people with it like with kitchen knife today you do.
Jason Butler
They are very probably result of sword control. Though real reasons are lost.
Jordan Morris
Nathaniel Butler
Carson Perry
Do they have thinner blade so that it degrades faster?
Sure, if they were going to carry a weapon. Therefore they'd use something that's at hand in case of emergency.
Rondell dagger is not the only kind of dagger. Bollock dagger' shape is not that far from our modern knives' blades.
Earlier designs are not and shorter models are not uncommon, i even posted a version of one here already.
They were used as weapons quite extensively, be it a sidearm or an improvised weapon. If you wear a big thing similar to bowie knife and get problems you'd probably use it and not some stick laying nearby or your fists.
Jose Howard
wew. It was made on December 18, 2017. It was a thread about riot gear I think.
Chase Edwards
Ian Garcia
A bomb's a bad choice for close-range combat.
Lucas Johnson
Fucking vatnik peasant…
Chase Gutierrez
I bet you're the sort of faggot who doesn't even want to fill a Zero with sufficient explosives to gloriously destroy an aircraft carrier.
Gavin Thompson
Why didn't they make the handle longer? This way you have a higher chance of detonating it and surviving.
Jason Taylor
How would you get rid of the idiots in the squad then?
Jackson Anderson
Send them to recon the area, every time
Brayden Watson
Absolutely Greek
Christopher Sullivan
There's no real difference between the two.
Kevin Gutierrez
A longer pole would probably make it better for ambushes, since the tank commander is much more likely to spot the gook holding the bomb than the bomb itself.
Carson Nguyen
Yep, that was a good thread
Thomas Ramirez
I would bring a gladius to the Middle East tbh
Kayden Morgan
Too practical and cost effective to be cool.
Ian Martinez
Might be wrong but a spatha was essentially just a double-edged kopis (essentially a machete) for pretty much the same purpose, as slashing weapons (kopis was also a more generic term referring also to non-militant purposes, like cleaving). Think you might mean xiphos instead of spatha, that was the more typical sword (and later became largely synonymous with the genderneutral word for spatha, "spathi").
Adam Bell
In English nomenclature, the spatha is straight, and the kopis curves forwards.
I know this since I'm a fetanigger too, but again, English nomenclature.
Adrian Parker
That post kinda clarifies things. By "spatha" you mean the standardized latinized/byzantine style, not the more inclusive context of the original "σπάθα" term, pre-Roman spathes often were shorter and/or leaf-shaped.
Andrew Perez
Elijah Wright
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Nathan Thomas
Looks like something from Final Fantasy.
Parker Perry
YoU asKEd FoR ThIS
Blake Mitchell
How would the Berserker Fang even work?
Dylan Ross
Bentley Thompson
Middle of first pick, #1 from left in 3, and the scythe in 4th pic with the girl on it (I actually kinda like the general idea of it) don't look too bad.
Ian Rivera
I'd swear you'd think japs have never even seen real weapons and drew these based solely on vague descriptions. And the worst part isn't even that they are totally impractical rather its that most of them don't even look cool they look like awkward boat paddles with spikes sticking out seemingly at random.
Jeremiah Campbell
Machetes are tools, large knives and short swords and have obscene kill numbers in Africa and South America. Swords don't get much attention because they're obsolete as a professional weapon, hurt the fee-fees of the gore-adverse, and exist primarily in utility roles.
Jack Watson
Ian Price
1 million dead Tutsis disagree with you
Jack Price
The same artist could and did draw sane and even tasteful swords, so he doesn't even have ignorance as an excuse.
Justin Lee
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Chase Nguyen
You're only talking about shortswords, what about my porksword?
OW!!
Owen Perry
I'll resurrect this thread with a few new picks. I've found these when searching for daggers and these are something really unusual.
Robert Edwards
Anyone else a fan of leaf blades? They look so fucking sexy.
Lincoln Smith
Why did sword bayonets and long bayonets in general die? the US and bongs still train with bayonets and iirc the bongs have used bayonet charges as recently as 2011. Apparently, it was fairly successful.
Either way, you really only need the pointy end. The rest of the sword is mostly useless in combat, unless cutting stuff is explicitly called for(like cutting the heads off of superior polearms).
A more powerful cut can be done with an axe, and a longer and more powerful stab can be done with almost any polearm. Swords are like the f-35 of melee weapons: far too expensive, jack-of-all-trades master of none.
Ayden Fisher
I like half-fuckingleaf shaped ones more tbh, though these are fine too.
Luke Barnes
David Flores
Also here's your daily supply of sexy blades, streloks.
Nicholas Myers
Go get a long rifle and throw another 17-20" on the end of it and run around some tight corridors, better yet do some house clearing. A short pig sticker will fuck someone just as well as a long one.
Ryan Thomas
even you, gyronigger?
Landon Powell
Excess weight and volume with very little actual use.
Bayonet charges are for desperate times necessitated by poor tactics that would make running at people with loaded guns a good idea.
Cooper Cook
Polearms are the superior weapon, but swords aren't "the f-35 of medieval weapons"
Zachary Butler
Some guy selling 2 Chinese swords and a dagger on craigslist for around $50 each.
Can anyone I.D them?
William Powell
Nine out of ten says they're wallhangers.
Adam Hill
IS THAT A JIAN?
Jaxson Myers
Only buy swords if they're full tang and made of at least 1040 steel and even that's a little too low, but it will work.
Jason Parker
No. It's clearly a meme.
William Hall
Because full tang 15+ blade length is more than enough to kill and what the fuck would you use it for? Killing niggers and gooks? Only use for it is in close-quarters combat, being shielded and stabbing germs into abdomen. Otherwise longswords/spears are preferable since you have bigger reach. Stop watching anime.
Daily reminder that stabbing is deadly and cutting/slashing is not.
Cooper Allen
Josiah Ross
you do know that was only in the case of knights and other armored opponents?
combat between the normal foot-soldiers mostly came down to trying to shank the other fucker before he could shank you.
Josiah Brown
That's fucking wrong.
Most sword fighting technique is about slashing/thursting with the sword.
People carry both, they would carry a polearm/greatsword, a shortshort/a mace/an axe and a large knife/dagger.
Medieval weapons are not heavy so you can carry multiple of times, especially in the day when there's less uniformity in combat.
Eli Hall
My favorite.
Brayden Young
A longsword may have superior reach, but is also heavier and more difficult to manipulate. A dagger offers too small a reach and cannot parry. Shortsword is a compromise between them, offering relatively light weight and good manipulation while maintaining a decent reach with the possibility of parrying.
Weight might not seem like that big an issue considering all swords were relatively light (shortsword would weight about 1kg, maybe even less, while a longsword would be 1.5kg or a bit more. Of course it depends on the particular model), but one needs to realise he needs to swing that thing quickly, with force, over a long period of time (if it's a battle) and many swords during the period weren't balanced properly, leading to yet more power one would need to use to manipulate it.
If you are a /fit/ swordmaster, pick a longsword. If you're a weak-armed little shit who knows nothing about blades, get a dagger. If you are somewhere in between, a shortsword would be the way to go.
Christopher Brown
Can anything beat the machete?
Daniel Bailey
it looks like some cheap chinese toy
l like it