Talk:Myrtenaster/@comment-96.8.204.173-20150719053619/@comment-6582316-20150720200608

To Hand/Annon 2: Sorry about the pike comment, I got Napoleonic tactics mixed up with rennesance tactics in my head. I did some research to refresh my memory and this is what I found.

1. I said in both my posts that pikes were formation weapons whose primary purpose was to protect against cavelry, and in both posts I make it clear that that is not their only role. Further research  has indicated that that statement was correct, it was especially common to mix muskateers with pikeman to defend them against cavelry charges as that was the muskateers main weakness.

2. Single handed swords as primary weapons were in common use (at least by the swedes) untill the mid 1800's, as sword and shield is a good combination. However all the pictures of muskateers I can find have one of two weapons as their side arm: A bardiche, which is a type of short pike often used by muskateers as a stand when fireing, afer they fired they could switch to being esssentially short-range pikeman (it seemed to be mostly a Russian thing), or a rapier, which was favored by the Spanish, French, and Swedeish muskateers.

3. once firearms were introduced armor dropped off dramatically, down to a curiass or breastplate that protected the chest quite well but left the limbs and armpits exposed, prime targets for the rapier. Which is why they were not an uncommon sight on the battlefield, though most often used by elite soldiers.

4. Rapiers, like all europeans swords at the time, had a distill taper, getting thicker toward the hilt, and some even had more extreme 3D geometry like Weiss's, making them quite sturdy at the hilt. Unless you offer your hilt to a twohaded strike from a quite heavy sword that thing ain't breaking, especially considering that most od the time a blade reatched the hilt in the process of binding with the blade, and not much force is involved in that.

I am enjoying this discussion thoroughly and look forward to your response :)