Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-16774229-20130831151015/@comment-10390252-20130908140835

SanguisAnima wrote: I was also considering the halberd... Thinking about it, the halberd has a spike (to stab), blade (to chop/slash) and a fluke (to rip through armor); on the other hand, the poleaxe has a spoke (stab), axe head (chop) and a hammer (crushing bone/tissue)...

Oh great now you got me thinking of swappable weapon heads. I once designed a shortered poleaxe with the axe cutting head running the length of the greatly-shortened shaft so it can double as a blocking tool in close combat bordering on a crude sword. There was also a mace head on the opposite end of the shaft from the stab/smash/slice head.

In many ways, the poleaxe was the standard infantry weapon in Britain right up until the widespread introduction of the musket. The sword was an expensive weapon that was difficult to maintain and master; typically it was only carried by nobles/officers and their senior men-at-arms/NCOs. The poleaxe, which could be mass-produced in small village smithies, was an idea close-quarters weapon for the peasant archers that made up the massive bulk of light infantry forces.

Hmm... Best of both worlds. Why not build a poleaxe around an assault rifle/Dust effect energy caster? It would fit with the sci-fi/fighting fantasy hybrid theme of weapons in RWBY.