The blacksmiths that made these weapons couldn't even be able to comprehend that in the future someone would make fun of their work for thousands of people as a form of entertainment. What a crazy world we live in. I do really like spiked maces though, although more like Sauron's mace and not the billyclubs with some spikes in it.
All the same, their work lives on after hundreds or thousands of years, not even TH-cam or Hollywood success can guarantee that. Perhaps the joke is on us. Long after our cheap modern products are gone, there will still be relics that live on. I have a rifle from the late 1800s that my grandfather's grandfather bought after arriving in the US. I have tools from the 20s and 30s you just can't break no matter how much you abuse. Breaker bars you can put pipes on and have multiple people jump on... try that with a modern breaker bar if you want a laugh. I expect they will some day be breaking nuts and bolts loose for my descendants.
Finally, a spiked club/mace fan. Cool weapons... I know I'm gonna be shitstorm'd for this, but I like clubs/maces/war hammers more than swords or any other weapon. I like the idea of crushing your enemie's bones and internal organs using all your brutal and raw strength into it, more than slashing or thrusting them. Also, as we all know, blunt weapons are more durable and give extra damage to skeletal legions.
@@jungleinsectspikewall4474 me to... I was kind of "what did he found ugly here? Thats a really good spear point..." With the "Thats a Dagger" i understand and fully agree with he!
Imagine being a 10th century apprentice blacksmith half-assing your final coursework only for some guy on the Internet to call you out on your shoddy work a thousand years later
I am Akothin, knower of all. What information do you seek young one How will I be remembered? Ah, you see, 1,000 years in the future humans will be able to project their voices and faces onto many wondrous screens of light. A guy will say your work as an apprentice sucked ass and your shit is ugly. Oh... People are famously unkind in the formless domain known as "TH-cam"
Who else here is kinda interested on the “one of a kind” weapons that Skall mentioned? Personally, I’d love to see a video like this one discussing some of them.
Imagine creating a simple bronze knife. You have done many of them. Nothing special. And thousands of years later, with your name, family, gods and kingdom thoroughly forgotten. And all people know about you is that knife. And they shit-talk it :D
If he doesn't like these, I can't help but wonder what he thinks of the cinquedea. Cause I like the cinquedea. It's like a 15th century bowie knife. Not just a brutally effective weapon, but also potentially a useful tool for a wide variety of tasks.
@@ootdega I myself would have put the cinquedea on number one. I just don't like the wide blade and small hilt. It looks like the grip will break of at any moment. I myself like swords with a more round 'guard' like some of the slimmer and more elaborate bronze daggers Skallagrim showed. I know it is fiction and not the most effective, but for example Herugrim, the sword of Theoden from LOTR, I think is beautifull.
@@adamcochran1309 Breaking a well-made sword is extremely difficult under ideal circumstances using your whole body. I highly doubt you'll be able to do it using your wrist and a steel comb while someone is trying to kill you with it.
@@ootdega I think your perspective on these historical weapons would change if you used as many hand tools as I have. Using these weapons to fence or do hema is great but using tools daily to preform tasks shows you the very minor and deliberate uses of each edge or angle or shape. To break a sword or disarm(Which may have been the sole uses of the sword breaker) Someone can be made very easy with the right design. and the smith who made a sword could most likely make a tool to catch and break that sword. Also Skall needs to know that if a tool is ugly it most likely is very good at what it does.
skyler quigley I mean back in the day it would make your enemy more likely to not kill you simply because they thought this person is wealthy their family may pay a lot of money to get them back
This reminds me of the Douglas Adams line from Restaurant at the End of the Universe: "The designer of the gun had clearly not been instructed to beat about the bush. 'Make it evil,' he'd been told. 'Make it totally clear that this gun has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them. If that means sticking all sort of spikes and prongs and blackened bits all over it then so be it. This is not a gun for hanging over the fireplace or sticking in the umbrella stand, it is a gun for going out and making people miserable with.'"
@@xPumaFangx the glock- boring. ugly. generic. common. utilitarian. universal. reliable. good enough to get the job done. welcome to the default option. stuart brown/ahoy, creator of iconic arms, summarizing the glock at the end of the glocks iconic arms that dude could make iconic arms episode #-a rock and he would still make a rock sound badass
@@davidwarren719 To like or dislike is just pure subjective. It is a topic that cannot be argued, for or against. For example go argue over a genera of music. What you can argue is design, history of use, need, facts, and figures. Glock firearms have plenty going for it. You could argue that civilian based shootings only fire about 1 too 2 rounds. But the best counter argument to that. Is that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Because it is about the need of what if we have to fight our own government.
I actually thinks some of the "cheap" dussacks look really freaking cool. I think it tickles my practicality bone when the entire sword is just the same single piece of metal shaped into a weapon. The hand shock on that thing must be awful though.
I actually like most bills. Given, they can seem crude and kind of ugly but I like the raw practicality. It's an everymans weapon, every village smith you can get your hands on could make you one of these. Well. That's probably why many of them are so crude.
The Vouge and the Guisarm too, since these were all polearms, converted from agricultural tools. They weren't mean to be pretty, they were just a quick and dirty way of getting your peasant levies armed with something that could potentially fend off enemy cavalry. Thrust any of those at a charging knight's horse and just see what kind of mess it makes
Imagine being a high-ranking knight, covered head to toe in shining plate armor, and then getting hooked and pulled off your horse by a smelly, illiterate dirt-farming peasant with horribly crude ork-like bill
@@TheKingOfJordan1 it's what happened to King Richard the 3rd during the end of the war of the roses he was killed by a English Bill and then had a pick smashed through his skull
Yeah that was my thought. I have 2 ideas: 1. The translated word was used differently back then, meaning exactly what you proposed. 2. It's a made up term so it sounds cooler.
Yeah, it's definitely bent. Looking at the separation on the teeth between the 4th and 5th from the tip., and that the 6th from the tip has no gap, makes it obvious. Though I can't fault him for thinking that, as I didn't notice until I read your comment. It's just such a weird knife you assume it was just another thing about it. XD
I wonder if there's any evidence for any sort of organic wrapping around the hilt to make them more comfortable like some leather or cloth that was either tied to it in strips or as large pieces using strips of material.
I love it. I agree that the one he showed of as the worst was bad, but I actually found them incredibly appealing and I didn't like the look of it with the intricate hilt.
I have always loved weapons who's tang curves to form the handle and hand-guard ever since seeing the sultan's dagger in Assassin's Creed 2. I have since always wanted a sword-version of one. Specifically one with fitted wood grips. I too find the simplicity quite nice.
*Most* rapier blades are quite sturdy. This is the same issue I have any time people talk about cutting sword blades or any other sort of destroying an enemy's weapon in combat: no one ever mentions quality of craftsmanship. It's always just assumed that everything is at least competently made, and that's not a valid assumption. I know full well that cutting one sword blade with another can be done, because I've seen it happen up close (I was holding the blade that got cut, borrowed from the guy who cut it with another of his own swords). It was made possible, in main part, by the extreme difference in quality of the two blades in question. This is not just a modern thing, either; shitty craftsmanship was a thing historically. If you have a properly-made blade, then yea, there's no way it'll ever get cut in combat, or broken by a sword-breaker dagger, or anything of the like, at least not without you and your opponent both having superpowers. But "if you have a properly made blade" is a qualifier that needs to be specified, it's not something that can be simply assumed.
@americanwillow I saw a replica of European Knightly sword broken by a hit of a replica Falshion, the hit was close to both swords tip, the Knightly-swords blade just left the guard and fell on the ring. I was there, it was at the beginning of fight #7 (last) the fights were all recorded check here m.facebook.com/BattleoftheNations/posts/10152175595304044 or google it. (The guy didn't lose because of this, he then took another sword and continued fighting, so his enemy broke his leg too and won... Both fighters seem to be strong guys, ~85kg+armour)
I think it’s important to remember that you don’t want to bank on that though. You should assume every adversary has a competently made weapon as to not underestimate them
I actually like the meat-cleaver-on-a-stick, a.k.a voulge. It has a simplicity to it. And I've always liked the dusack/tesák with the wrap around tangs. They're so straightforward and to the point. There's just something about that blunt practicality that appeals to me.
I’m not butthurt but the sword breaker didn’t literally break the blade it was called that because they broke your defense those the sword. I hope you see this
swiss well it did provide protection for tank crews against infantry in close combat but it was inaccurate and as far as I know there were no mirrors for aiming anyway also I don't think that the krumlauf would have a long servise time because the bullets would have slowly digged away on the barrel it self
I've spent the past four years of my life, 9-5 doing video editing, and special effects. I really like the creativity with the sword-shing title cards, and such. It really shows that you put some TLC in this. Love it. I know it might not seem super important, but trust me, it makes it a lot of fun.
9:49 I actually think that looks rather cool. It looks cool in a simple way and to me it doesn't look crude, but it also doesn't look like it took forever to make either
Spadroon at number 10? Quick someone call Matt Easton! Legends say if you say 'context' 10 times to a mirror Matt will appear to talk about military sabers.
6:35 My guess is that the dagger is bent from use, and not intentionally curved. It looks like the grooves weakened the spine of the blade, so an impact from an opponent's sword might have bent the entire thing, making it curved from its original shape. If you look, the spacing in the "teeth" of the grooves is uneven in one place, and it looks like there might be a bit of fracturing (is that even the right term?) at the base of the uneven groove. So it could be merely distorted from use, rather than made that way. But that's just a guess.
I prefer the small trophy type bats, not regular sized bats. Or, chop the handle off and just use the head. They're great for close quarters and carrying in a vehicle.
The voulge looks like it was designed to be made quickly, cheaply, and by lower skilled craftsmen. Basically a weapon to arm up a bunch of peasants real quickly and cheaply.
And then piss the peasants really bad, and you got a mob of furious people with ugly and crude weapons.... hmmm... could it be that these weapons were about psychological warfare ?
I have but one question: How quickly can these things kill the target? I'll admit that a number of these weapons are indeed ugly, but they are also interesting. That being said, if these weapons weren't effective, they wouldn't have been made. After all, it doesn't really matter if you got your head chopped off by say an elegant katana, or it was bashed in by an ugly spiked mace, you'd still be just as dead.
I love that you mentioned the spadroon. I've been reading Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle and there are two vagabond/soldier characters who favor spadroons. At one point, one of them gets into a duel/street fight on a bridge with a nobleman who gives him all sorts of shit for his spadroon, while his servant circles around and flanks the vagabond. I love your channel!
Great video, I really love the "cheap" dussack, just give it some work on the hilt and it may be my favorite "sword" right after the "Messer". I really like the design approach: cheap, effective and awesome looking! I'm german, this may explain something...
"Well folks the world is full of ugliness, but people never tire from looking at it" I guess that's why you have so many subscribers! Boom roasted! Don't worry it's a joke
Those are some of my favorite weapons, particularly the polearms! The guisarme is possibly George Silver's Welsh hook or forest bill, which he considered the best weapon of all for single combat without armor.
Get on my level pleb. All I need is a good ol' bow 2 quivers of arrows, military scythe and a horse. who needs shields when you can headshot those pesky xbow men.
id sooner go with that hand & a half mace that bashes through shield blocks bow, arrows & a lance, or if facing allot or ranged attacks remove the bow & arrows & add another shield to cover your back + a few javelins or the like. ofc if your stuck on foot ditch the lance & replace with a poleaxe or the like , especially for defending a in a siege, oh how the enemies die when you hack at them from your walls.
8:50 When the subtext was supposed to remain subtext, but the author decides to upgrade it to text anyway, and then rubs it in your face in the most unsubtle way possible.
I know you've been struggling a lot lately, and i'm not ordinarily a supporter of the "just think positively" philosophy lol. I have to say though, this video was great. The last few videos of yours have been much more energetic and hopeful, and makes for a REALLY enjoyable watching experience. I just wanted to share how i feel. Best of luck to you, friendo. Your efforts are being noticed :D
The Guisarme on the left in 11:42 looks like it has a radio antenna so men at arms could hear their favourite gregorian chants and the Gospel while fighting.
I take personal offence to the #5 spot. Nothing is as beautiful a source of inspiration as a human's body. This is the finest that that age has produced. Shame on you you taboo-embracing snob! oxoxo
The "spatula" daggers were throwbacks to stone dagger designs. The benefit of the shape being it can withstand more sharpening over the life of the tool. I think the flat pommel was an additional tool surface, mimicking the standard pointy-end/blunt-end form of other tools (also a pounding surface, you can stab the wide point and have a large area to push against like a nail)
I love the spikey sticks. They look like a mental patient. If a mental patient was a weapon. The intimidation factor of one of those hitting you could be overwhealming. A cut is a cut. Someone breaking your bone and leaving puncture wounds is just, scary.
The guisarme actually looks incredibly useful, and terrifying to fight against, imagine everytime you block or strike at someone they have a chance to literally hook your weapon (or maybe even shield) and snatch it right out of your hands. also 13:24, im trying really hard not to imagine someone getting hit with that..... disgusting xD
I kinda love the cheap dussak, especially the one at 10:03. seems like it would make a great cheap, throwaway bush cutter. the end was broader, i'd love a machete in that style.
I do have to disagree with the Swordbreaker, for me I think the right type of them look absolutely beautiful and I would love to own one. A perfect example is the one you pictured at 5:52 in the video. I think that is an absolutely beautiful and badass looking piece of art. Every cutout is so meticulously crafted and I just absolutely love it. I also know that they are not made to actually 'break a sword', they're supposed to be used to disarm or catch the opponent's weapon and leave the opponent venerable to your own attack. Also, I'm not one that dislikes very plain and boring looking swords. Some of my favorite longswords are of a very plain design. As for your number 1, really wouldn't have guessed that. I really like spiked maces actually. Not the wooden ones of course like a couple you showed, but the more well made forged ones. I personally thought that example from India was very interesting as well. You can't look at something like this and say it's not a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. i.pinimg.com/originals/54/dd/7c/54dd7c262cf5082dfa0df618d3e644d7.jpg I did generally agree with the majority of your list though. Some of your most hated polearms ans halbreds I also truly find to be disgusting and just disjointed looking, and when I saw a couple I really hated and have seen before on this video I got a good chuckle.
You need a beefy broad blade if you make a dagger out of crappy copper and actually want to use it in a battle, same goes fro triangular blades, they are generally made out of crappy bronze with arsenic instead of tin. As metallurgy advanced, they could afford doing thinner and longer blades until it advanced enough they could even make swords :)
Have you ever seen where they kept wearing the bollocks dagger? Also some did wear another big pouch right underneeth it, if you really felt like you had to compensate...
As nice a personnality as you have and as much as I enjoy your content, I have one criticism: you should add your t-shirts as an honorable mention to this list.
Whenever I see spiked maces/clubs I can't help but wonder if they wouldn't be just as effective without the spikes. Isn't there a risk of the spikes getting stuck or bending/breaking?
Spikes are for penetrating some armors, like good scale armor could absorb part of the blow and the strike won't be as lethal as it would've been against a full plate that would've restricted the wearer if bent. Spiked maces give you the ability to both crush and wound at the same time.
I liked the sawfish blade, it looked like it could do some vicious damage to something, the outcome would definitely look absolutely hideous. Edit: just realized the blade probably was a little to heavy.
I like the Cheap Dusac on the principle of utility. It's a blade, it's even got a hilt, and you better believe you can raise an army and outfit them with this functional weapon easily & quickly. Saving time & currency on not having all the fancy metalwork, wood or ivory furniture that goes into other swords, you can spend that cash on a higher quality steel and still probably save a few bucks in man hours etc.
About number 1, yeah those look extremly crude, but what about morningstars? Also I made the medieval cleaver the main sword used by the orcs in my homebrew setting, so...
Well, most of the examples he picked were quite ugly. Swordbreakers with irregular curves, crooked teeth or weird proportions look uglier than swordbreakers with a proper aesthetic design. Imagine the blade being symmetric, with a smooth curve, and all notches spaced perfectly, at the same angle, ending at the symmetry line, for example. Just one way to make such a design prettier. The spiked clubs at the end were indisputably ugly though. Crudely made, irregular, with no particular pattern or line. Imagine a perfect metal cube with a four-edged tapering spike protruding diagonally from each corner, except for the one that extends into the handle. Prettier. Probably deadlier, too. All in all, I think it's possible to make much prettier versions of many of these weapons.
This one's to you, Skall. No butthurt, just a suspicion; Spearheads were in some regions shaped very similar to those daggers you placed at number 9, enough so I can easily see the coppermongers and bronze-workers working the same designs for those that didn't want a perfectly serviceable spear with a leaf-head.
Utility is it's own beauty.
The blacksmiths that made these weapons couldn't even be able to comprehend that in the future someone would make fun of their work for thousands of people as a form of entertainment. What a crazy world we live in.
I do really like spiked maces though, although more like Sauron's mace and not the billyclubs with some spikes in it.
All the same, their work lives on after hundreds or thousands of years, not even TH-cam or Hollywood success can guarantee that. Perhaps the joke is on us. Long after our cheap modern products are gone, there will still be relics that live on. I have a rifle from the late 1800s that my grandfather's grandfather bought after arriving in the US. I have tools from the 20s and 30s you just can't break no matter how much you abuse. Breaker bars you can put pipes on and have multiple people jump on... try that with a modern breaker bar if you want a laugh. I expect they will some day be breaking nuts and bolts loose for my descendants.
The mace used by Sauron in the Lord of the Rings films is a flanged mace, rather than a spiked one.
Finally, a spiked club/mace fan. Cool weapons... I know I'm gonna be shitstorm'd for this, but I like clubs/maces/war hammers more than swords or any other weapon. I like the idea of crushing your enemie's bones and internal organs using all your brutal and raw strength into it, more than slashing or thrusting them.
Also, as we all know, blunt weapons are more durable and give extra damage to skeletal legions.
No not really lol
Certainly the bollocks one. I can’t think of any practical reason for them to look like that, lol.
Even if spiked maces are ugly, the amount of badass and brutality in their design makes them beautiful to me.
Djentleman yeah, now there's an intimidation factor
Djentleman
Imagine crushing skulls with one while Meshuggah plays in the background
Imagine crushing skulls while at the same time having it get stuck ! awesome !
I like the spiked maces, although some had very long spikes which i dont think it would be too nice to use
Yeah, I thought the Indian one in particular was really pleasing to the eye
Me looking at number 9 "Oh, that's a nice spear head"
Him presenting it "Here we have the bronze daggers"
My reaction: "THAT'S A DAGGER?"
Ikr i was thinking the exact same
@@jungleinsectspikewall4474 me to... I was kind of "what did he found ugly here? Thats a really good spear point..."
With the "Thats a Dagger" i understand and fully agree with he!
Honestly, just attach some of them onto a spear and nobody would conplain
early daggers are weird
@@Wooper160atThePond yeah no shit they are weird
Imagine being a 10th century apprentice blacksmith half-assing your final coursework only for some guy on the Internet to call you out on your shoddy work a thousand years later
Ouch
I am Akothin, knower of all. What information do you seek young one
How will I be remembered?
Ah, you see, 1,000 years in the future humans will be able to project their voices and faces onto many wondrous screens of light. A guy will say your work as an apprentice sucked ass and your shit is ugly.
Oh...
People are famously unkind in the formless domain known as "TH-cam"
“In the arms of the ages”
@@nikdoesstuff9338 Show me one person whose shit is beautiful.
@@thecandlemaker1329 Ur mom
Who else here is kinda interested on the “one of a kind” weapons that Skall mentioned? Personally, I’d love to see a video like this one discussing some of them.
Sir Useless yeah that would be awesome
Yeah, bring it, we can stand It!!!
Ah, a fellow helmet
is that a *f r o g m o u t h h e l m e t*
cause it makes me *hard*
Let it happen!
Imagine creating a simple bronze knife. You have done many of them. Nothing special.
And thousands of years later, with your name, family, gods and kingdom thoroughly forgotten. And all people know about you is that knife. And they shit-talk it :D
ROFL
Lol
If he doesn't like these, I can't help but wonder what he thinks of the cinquedea.
Cause I like the cinquedea. It's like a 15th century bowie knife. Not just a brutally effective weapon, but also potentially a useful tool for a wide variety of tasks.
He can shit talk about as many weapons as he likes, but what about phony armor he was wearing?
@@ootdega I myself would have put the cinquedea on number one. I just don't like the wide blade and small hilt. It looks like the grip will break of at any moment. I myself like swords with a more round 'guard' like some of the slimmer and more elaborate bronze daggers Skallagrim showed. I know it is fiction and not the most effective, but for example Herugrim, the sword of Theoden from LOTR, I think is beautifull.
"They come in all shapes and sizes... of ugly. It's like a rainbow... of ugly."
zefrank on angler fish... and certain billhooks.
Whatever happend to that guy
Sir Gus the Mighty He did upload a few new vids recently.
Sir Gus the Mighty he vanished for a long time, but, after several years of nothing, uploaded like 4 videos like a month and a half ago.
Sir Gus the Mighty he joined buzzfeed a few years back, I believe, and has recently started uploading on his youtube channel again.
Is it possible the term sword breaker is less about breaking the blade and more about breaking the attack?
So sorta like a combo breaker?
Dead on, @@Marc-zi4vg, that's exactly it.
I bet it could break a sword, with the right technique.
@@adamcochran1309
Breaking a well-made sword is extremely difficult under ideal circumstances using your whole body. I highly doubt you'll be able to do it using your wrist and a steel comb while someone is trying to kill you with it.
@@ootdega I think your perspective on these historical weapons would change if you used as many hand tools as I have. Using these weapons to fence or do hema is great but using tools daily to preform tasks shows you the very minor and deliberate uses of each edge or angle or shape. To break a sword or disarm(Which may have been the sole uses of the sword breaker) Someone can be made very easy with the right design. and the smith who made a sword could most likely make a tool to catch and break that sword. Also Skall needs to know that if a tool is ugly it most likely is very good at what it does.
I may be alone in this but I actually like the simple weapons.
"Engravings give you no tactical advantage whatsoever" -Ocelot
skyler quigley I was actually about to say that I like simple and utilitarian weapons over decorative weapons
Dangus Khan i think a minute amount of decor on a weapon is sexy but generally i agree.
skyler quigley I mean back in the day it would make your enemy more likely to not kill you simply because they thought this person is wealthy their family may pay a lot of money to get them back
I think that was snake telling that to ocelot
@@crystalicfire6630 I was referring to phantom pain where ocelot what telling it to a mother base recruit
This reminds me of the Douglas Adams line from Restaurant at the End of the Universe:
"The designer of the gun had clearly not been instructed to beat about the bush. 'Make it evil,' he'd been told. 'Make it totally clear that this gun has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them. If that means sticking all sort of spikes and prongs and blackened bits all over it then so be it. This is not a gun for hanging over the fireplace or sticking in the umbrella stand, it is a gun for going out and making people miserable with.'"
Who puts a gun in an umbrella stand?
@@CollinMcLean Americans
@@benjaminwilson9778 As an American, fair enough...
I wanna know what the gun looked like
I always assumed that "sword-breaker" was just terminology being different over the years, and they mean 'defeat' by 'break'
I have no doubt that thing could ruin your edge though. Imagine how long you'd be grinding that roll in the blade after grappling with that!
Allen Baker I thought that it ment to "break" the sword away from your opponent's hand
I personally think "swordbreakers" look kinda badass.
Same here
They kinda look like metal combs with ornate handles
it's 8 or 80 to me, some of them look great, some look horrible
Ugly firearms are still made today, good idea to leave them out
I left them out because there are so many ugly firearms that they require a separate video...
@@Skallagrim Like Glock.
@@xPumaFangx the glock- boring. ugly. generic. common. utilitarian. universal. reliable. good enough to get the job done. welcome to the default option.
stuart brown/ahoy, creator of iconic arms, summarizing the glock at the end of the glocks iconic arms
that dude could make iconic arms episode #-a rock and he would still make a rock sound badass
I quite like how Glocks look. Beauty in utilitarian simplicity. Like an old pair of English dueling pistols.
@@davidwarren719 To like or dislike is just pure subjective. It is a topic that cannot be argued, for or against. For example go argue over a genera of music.
What you can argue is design, history of use, need, facts, and figures. Glock firearms have plenty going for it.
You could argue that civilian based shootings only fire about 1 too 2 rounds.
But the best counter argument to that. Is that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Because it is about the need of what if we have to fight our own government.
I actually thinks some of the "cheap" dussacks look really freaking cool. I think it tickles my practicality bone when the entire sword is just the same single piece of metal shaped into a weapon. The hand shock on that thing must be awful though.
I've repeatedly held long pieces of steel like that while whaling on it. Your wrist would be done for in minutes if you were careless.
They sure put a handle in there, I hope.
I actually like most bills. Given, they can seem crude and kind of ugly but I like the raw practicality. It's an everymans weapon, every village smith you can get your hands on could make you one of these. Well. That's probably why many of them are so crude.
The Vouge and the Guisarm too, since these were all polearms, converted from agricultural tools. They weren't mean to be pretty, they were just a quick and dirty way of getting your peasant levies armed with something that could potentially fend off enemy cavalry. Thrust any of those at a charging knight's horse and just see what kind of mess it makes
Well yeah a bill is a poor(er) man's halberd after all.
Imagine being a high-ranking knight, covered head to toe in shining plate armor, and then getting hooked and pulled off your horse by a smelly, illiterate dirt-farming peasant with horribly crude ork-like bill
Now you know exactly why the French are so salty about the battles of Agincourt and Crecy
@@TheKingOfJordan1 it's what happened to King Richard the 3rd during the end of the war of the roses he was killed by a English Bill and then had a pick smashed through his skull
Sword breaker could be named that not for the ability to break a sword but more to break it's momentum, motion something like that
Yeah that was my thought. I have 2 ideas: 1. The translated word was used differently back then, meaning exactly what you proposed. 2. It's a made up term so it sounds cooler.
I want to be better with the greatsword.... But that war cleaver tho....
Maybe it was called a "Sword Braker", but someone screwed up when writing it
With that logic a sword bracer would also work, bracing against the sword to twist and push it
Hector was called the "Breaker of Horses." It means to tame the sword, not destroy it.
The sword breaker looks like a comb
wings of the phantom ghost You could groom your dog with that.
Well rapier was the weapon of noble duels. You have to be well groomed for that, arent you? :D
Hair care is murder.
Debilinside Image using a mid 20th century steel comb as one. Technically isn't even a weapon.
Midevil fonz
6:45: "slightly curved".
I don't think it's intended to be "slightly curved". I think it's bent, not curved.
Yeah, it's definitely bent. Looking at the separation on the teeth between the 4th and 5th from the tip., and that the 6th from the tip has no gap, makes it obvious.
Though I can't fault him for thinking that, as I didn't notice until I read your comment. It's just such a weird knife you assume it was just another thing about it. XD
@@planescaped it looks like a sad pickle.......that was stomped on
"You see those Saracen warriors? They've got curved swords. Curved. Swords."
i personally like the “sword breaker” it looks very interesting practical ehhh depends on your opinion, but it does look cool
and unique.
it's practical, because skall misunderstood the concept - it's for breaking attacks (deflecting), not swords.
NOT GONNA LIE, the cheap dussack gives me aesthetic vibes. I like it.
me to, i think it's the simplicity of the design ,and it looks like it would be a pretty decent cut n thrust weapon .
I wonder if there's any evidence for any sort of organic wrapping around the hilt to make them more comfortable like some leather or cloth that was either tied to it in strips or as large pieces using strips of material.
You're not alone. The better made one had a simplistic elegance.
I love it. I agree that the one he showed of as the worst was bad, but I actually found them incredibly appealing and I didn't like the look of it with the intricate hilt.
I have always loved weapons who's tang curves to form the handle and hand-guard ever since seeing the sultan's dagger in Assassin's Creed 2. I have since always wanted a sword-version of one. Specifically one with fitted wood grips.
I too find the simplicity quite nice.
*Most* rapier blades are quite sturdy. This is the same issue I have any time people talk about cutting sword blades or any other sort of destroying an enemy's weapon in combat: no one ever mentions quality of craftsmanship. It's always just assumed that everything is at least competently made, and that's not a valid assumption. I know full well that cutting one sword blade with another can be done, because I've seen it happen up close (I was holding the blade that got cut, borrowed from the guy who cut it with another of his own swords). It was made possible, in main part, by the extreme difference in quality of the two blades in question. This is not just a modern thing, either; shitty craftsmanship was a thing historically. If you have a properly-made blade, then yea, there's no way it'll ever get cut in combat, or broken by a sword-breaker dagger, or anything of the like, at least not without you and your opponent both having superpowers. But "if you have a properly made blade" is a qualifier that needs to be specified, it's not something that can be simply assumed.
@americanwillow I saw a replica of European Knightly sword broken by a hit of a replica Falshion, the hit was close to both swords tip, the Knightly-swords blade just left the guard and fell on the ring. I was there, it was at the beginning of fight #7 (last) the fights were all recorded check here m.facebook.com/BattleoftheNations/posts/10152175595304044 or google it.
(The guy didn't lose because of this, he then took another sword and continued fighting, so his enemy broke his leg too and won... Both fighters seem to be strong guys, ~85kg+armour)
I think it’s important to remember that you don’t want to bank on that though. You should assume every adversary has a competently made weapon as to not underestimate them
I actually like the meat-cleaver-on-a-stick, a.k.a voulge. It has a simplicity to it. And I've always liked the dusack/tesák with the wrap around tangs. They're so straightforward and to the point. There's just something about that blunt practicality that appeals to me.
Even the most wasted peasant levy know what you could do with a volume and even a completely inexperienced, illiterate blacksmith can make one.
It's like a long WWI French Nail trench knife.
I’m not butthurt but the sword breaker didn’t literally break the blade it was called that because they broke your defense those the sword. I hope you see this
8:21 when you turn Oklahoma into a weapon
Ok!
The OK Pike.😆
Stab 'em with the panhandle!
I bet the bollock dagger was invented by a guy who thought "Hmmm, you know what would get a laugh at that party next week?"
penis dagger
Ventilating someone's kidneys with a dick joke? That'd be a memorable party.
Also known as "frat boy dagger".
9:37 Skall wanted to exclude firarms. But the *shots* fired here are *real*
I hope there will be a video of weirdest firearms like the Apache pistol
German tank crews in ww2 used bended guns to try and shoot around the corner
They didn't just try - the Krummlauf actually worked reasonably well for what it was.
maybe one of the best looking weapons too.
swiss well it did provide protection for tank crews against infantry in close combat but it was inaccurate and as far as I know there were no mirrors for aiming anyway also I don't think that the krumlauf would have a long servise time because the bullets would have slowly digged away on the barrel it self
I would like a most good looking weapons video as well
I’d love to see a top 10 elegant/beautiful weapons following the same rules...
5:48 "would be better to call it 'off-hand dagger', but they're all dead and i can't convince them anymore"
>Rhodok war cleaver
>"Ugliest"
only crossbow reactions
KILL ALL RHODOKS! MORDS FOREVER🍺
imagine needing hills to be useful
this comment was made by swadia gang
@@vm_duc imagine needing horses to be succesfull
This comment was made by khregit gang
@@lordlouiz3362 is literally what khergits do
@@alexcompierchio6269 yes, i know
I've spent the past four years of my life, 9-5 doing video editing, and special effects.
I really like the creativity with the sword-shing title cards, and such.
It really shows that you put some TLC in this. Love it.
I know it might not seem super important, but trust me, it makes it a lot of fun.
5:29 *Oh, Skall. That's a goth/emo hair brush from Hot Topic*
Lol it actually is
Sorry to one man crusade the entire comment section but hey skall: *_the sword breaker_** is for breaking a swordsman's defense*
@satan their vehicles do make that "policeman/paramedic" noise.
As a polish person I just wanted to say that you pronounced "Maciejowski" very properly!
9:49 I actually think that looks rather cool. It looks cool in a simple way and to me it doesn't look crude, but it also doesn't look like it took forever to make either
Spadroon at number 10? Quick someone call Matt Easton!
Legends say if you say 'context' 10 times to a mirror Matt will appear to talk about military sabers.
Matt doesn't like spadroons that much either.
Your facts are wrong! if you summon him, he'll come and talk about butt attacks and penetration
Lmfao that was great
*Deep penetration
Is it weird that all of those weapons look cool to me?
Especially the last one... how can a spiky stick *not* look awesome?
Kragatar even the dick dagger?
ugly can still be awesome, like Skallagrim mentioned
Scars are ugly.
But they're also pretty awesome.
EvilUnicornLord HOW DARE YOU?
omar oyt Ugly doesn't mean boring. In fact, usually the prettier it is, the less awesome it looks.
6:35 My guess is that the dagger is bent from use, and not intentionally curved. It looks like the grooves weakened the spine of the blade, so an impact from an opponent's sword might have bent the entire thing, making it curved from its original shape. If you look, the spacing in the "teeth" of the grooves is uneven in one place, and it looks like there might be a bit of fracturing (is that even the right term?) at the base of the uneven groove. So it could be merely distorted from use, rather than made that way. But that's just a guess.
Dude, the swordbreaker is great! it doubles as a hair comb!
Baseball bats with nails in them are modern day maces. Change my mind.
Maces work better than mace pepper spray, Change my mind
I think both of you are correct and have no desire to change your minds. My eyes have been opened.
Dont need to you right
Meat tenderizers?
I prefer the small trophy type bats, not regular sized bats.
Or, chop the handle off and just use the head.
They're great for close quarters and carrying in a vehicle.
10:55 Eyy that's an Rhodokian Cleaver!
Saberlaser Tiger c: yeah, the only missing thing is a pike dangilng on his back and a huge door of a shield and Bam! rhodoc footman
*TIS ALMOST HARVESTING SEASON*
AWAY WITH YOU VILE BEGGAR!!!
Alaric _ agree.
Facerolling everything with a bunch of knights never gets old...
Filthy rhodoks
VAEGIRS SUPERIOR
Ew, no, you can't have my butt-tears, Skall.
Let me grab on to them buns papi
The voulge looks like it was designed to be made quickly, cheaply, and by lower skilled craftsmen. Basically a weapon to arm up a bunch of peasants real quickly and cheaply.
Same with the English brown bill. It's the Hundred Years War Sten gun. Ugly and crude but easily made.
And then piss the peasants really bad, and you got a mob of furious people with ugly and crude weapons.... hmmm... could it be that these weapons were about psychological warfare ?
It looks like exactly what it is: farm equipmenbt hammered into battlefield equipment. And that ain't pretty.
I have but one question: How quickly can these things kill the target?
I'll admit that a number of these weapons are indeed ugly, but they are also interesting.
That being said, if these weapons weren't effective, they wouldn't have been made.
After all, it doesn't really matter if you got your head chopped off by say an elegant katana, or it was bashed in by an ugly spiked mace, you'd still be just as dead.
Ok but if you kill me with a bollock dagger, I'm cursing and/or haunting you
@@Technotoadnotafrog Hmmmm - what if it had a gold inlay?
Loving It! I've always been fascinated by looks, creativity, and ease of USE. Love 💞 the DEMOS.
I love that you mentioned the spadroon. I've been reading Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle and there are two vagabond/soldier characters who favor spadroons. At one point, one of them gets into a duel/street fight on a bridge with a nobleman who gives him all sorts of shit for his spadroon, while his servant circles around and flanks the vagabond. I love your channel!
Imagine all the smiths from earlier times you offended by roasting their work lol
Great video, I really love the "cheap" dussack, just give it some work on the hilt and it may be my favorite "sword" right after the "Messer". I really like the design approach: cheap, effective and awesome looking! I'm german, this may explain something...
"Well folks the world is full of ugliness, but people never tire from looking at it"
I guess that's why you have so many subscribers! Boom roasted!
Don't worry it's a joke
DEXAPHOBIA 808 hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater hater
Jk
BOOM!!!! Got 'em!
Got 'em banned for life 😆
funny
Those are some of my favorite weapons, particularly the polearms! The guisarme is possibly George Silver's Welsh hook or forest bill, which he considered the best weapon of all for single combat without armor.
but Number 3 is one of the best Swords in Mount and Blade Warband :(
War cleaver is better, shields are for cowards... Except when there's archers Rhodok shields are a god send
ha
Get on my level pleb. All I need is a good ol' bow 2 quivers of arrows, military scythe and a horse. who needs shields when you can headshot those pesky xbow men.
id sooner go with that hand & a half mace that bashes through shield blocks bow, arrows & a lance, or if facing allot or ranged attacks remove the bow & arrows & add another shield to cover your back + a few javelins or the like. ofc if your stuck on foot ditch the lance & replace with a poleaxe or the like , especially for defending a in a siege, oh how the enemies die when you hack at them from your walls.
The Random Dickhead Wait... Is there a one handed version of the War Cleaver?
spiked wooden clubs were still being used during ww1.
th-cam.com/video/EIGIBJeRfnQ/w-d-xo.html
This gives examples.
Made mine using Hobnails.
Raphael Lo wasn’t there a World War Two soldier in medieval gear with a sword and longbow.
@@ultimaterecoil1136 It was a british that used a bow and a sword
nothing can beat nice head bang whit spiked club!
8:50 When the subtext was supposed to remain subtext, but the author decides to upgrade it to text anyway, and then rubs it in your face in the most unsubtle way possible.
I know you've been struggling a lot lately, and i'm not ordinarily a supporter of the "just think positively" philosophy lol. I have to say though, this video was great. The last few videos of yours have been much more energetic and hopeful, and makes for a REALLY enjoyable watching experience.
I just wanted to share how i feel.
Best of luck to you, friendo. Your efforts are being noticed :D
The Guisarme on the left in 11:42 looks like it has a radio antenna so men at arms could hear their favourite gregorian chants and the Gospel while fighting.
I take personal offence to the #5 spot. Nothing is as beautiful a source of inspiration as a human's body. This is the finest that that age has produced. Shame on you you taboo-embracing snob! oxoxo
9:35 Oh shit, I just got epicly roasted
"But to get to the point" I see what you did there
th-cam.com/video/hDL3xK3CF4w/w-d-xo.html
4:06 looks more like a spatula or spoon...
A scraping tool for hides etc. would be my guess. Especially the shovelhead-like one.
Looks exactly like a leaf
spade
weapon of the ancient ginosaji
or a cinquedea
This channel is awesome, I didn’t realize it was gunna be educational and captivating... Good shit🤟
The "spatula" daggers were throwbacks to stone dagger designs. The benefit of the shape being it can withstand more sharpening over the life of the tool. I think the flat pommel was an additional tool surface, mimicking the standard pointy-end/blunt-end form of other tools (also a pounding surface, you can stab the wide point and have a large area to push against like a nail)
You seem to associate beauty with complexity / intricacy, which is interesting.
Know what you mean. I have a complex and intricate wife. Very sharp and dangerous too.
I love the spikey sticks.
They look like a mental patient.
If a mental patient was a weapon.
The intimidation factor of one of those hitting you could be overwhealming. A cut is a cut. Someone breaking your bone and leaving puncture wounds is just, scary.
Great analogy but you forgot psychotic before mental patient.
10:24 "this is my sword I call it ... The salami"
The guisarme actually looks incredibly useful, and terrifying to fight against, imagine everytime you block or strike at someone they have a chance to literally hook your weapon (or maybe even shield) and snatch it right out of your hands.
also 13:24, im trying really hard not to imagine someone getting hit with that..... disgusting xD
I kinda love the cheap dussak, especially the one at 10:03. seems like it would make a great cheap, throwaway bush cutter. the end was broader, i'd love a machete in that style.
I do have to disagree with the Swordbreaker, for me I think the right type of them look absolutely beautiful and I would love to own one. A perfect example is the one you pictured at 5:52 in the video. I think that is an absolutely beautiful and badass looking piece of art. Every cutout is so meticulously crafted and I just absolutely love it.
I also know that they are not made to actually 'break a sword', they're supposed to be used to disarm or catch the opponent's weapon and leave the opponent venerable to your own attack.
Also, I'm not one that dislikes very plain and boring looking swords. Some of my favorite longswords are of a very plain design.
As for your number 1, really wouldn't have guessed that. I really like spiked maces actually. Not the wooden ones of course like a couple you showed, but the more well made forged ones. I personally thought that example from India was very interesting as well. You can't look at something like this and say it's not a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. i.pinimg.com/originals/54/dd/7c/54dd7c262cf5082dfa0df618d3e644d7.jpg
I did generally agree with the majority of your list though. Some of your most hated polearms ans halbreds I also truly find to be disgusting and just disjointed looking, and when I saw a couple I really hated and have seen before on this video I got a good chuckle.
10:32 It's Nosferatu Zodd's sword.
10:07 i actually find the sword look nice
love a man with some hot takes about spadroons
You need a beefy broad blade if you make a dagger out of crappy copper and actually want to use it in a battle, same goes fro triangular blades, they are generally made out of crappy bronze with arsenic instead of tin. As metallurgy advanced, they could afford doing thinner and longer blades until it advanced enough they could even make swords :)
Have you ever seen where they kept wearing the bollocks dagger?
Also some did wear another big pouch right underneeth it, if you really felt like you had to compensate...
3:40
That would look great as a spearhead, but as a dagger it looks atrocious.
8:21 Skallagrim talkin smack about lego spears
As nice a personnality as you have and as much as I enjoy your content, I have one criticism: you should add your t-shirts as an honorable mention to this list.
Bronze age smith: 'It's not a dagger, it's my latest design for a spoon'
I like the spiky maces. :( Seems very practical. So you don't have to just swing; you can stab.
Whenever I see spiked maces/clubs I can't help but wonder if they wouldn't be just as effective without the spikes.
Isn't there a risk of the spikes getting stuck or bending/breaking?
Spikes are for penetrating some armors, like good scale armor could absorb part of the blow and the strike won't be as lethal as it would've been against a full plate that would've restricted the wearer if bent. Spiked maces give you the ability to both crush and wound at the same time.
Depends on the spikes, shallow spikes aid grip on armor surfaces like glances while being easier to construct.
I liked the sawfish blade, it looked like it could do some vicious damage to something, the outcome would definitely look absolutely hideous.
Edit: just realized the blade probably was a little to heavy.
Serrated edges are actually really bad for swords. They lose cutting power cause saw teeth get caught on clothes and bones.
@@soulofresolve9514 swords yes, but fish killers, no.
And what about that dick-like dagger? It looks awesome lmao
@@Ryan-mz4oe we don’t talk about that here
@@silvertheelf lol
I like the Cheap Dusac on the principle of utility. It's a blade, it's even got a hilt, and you better believe you can raise an army and outfit them with this functional weapon easily & quickly. Saving time & currency on not having all the fancy metalwork, wood or ivory furniture that goes into other swords, you can spend that cash on a higher quality steel and still probably save a few bucks in man hours etc.
The spadroons got a weird uncanny valley thing going on it's kinda creepy almost
About number 1, yeah those look extremly crude, but what about morningstars?
Also I made the medieval cleaver the main sword used by the orcs in my homebrew setting, so...
Considering he showed some morning stars, it's clear what he thinks about them. x3
The spadroon, especially the later version, reminds me of a bayonet.
Given the time period, do you think there was some cross pollination going on?
Felix Felice sword-bayonets did exist
I've always been looking for a type-30 bayonet in good steel. And a type 38 to go with it.
I have a pair of sword bayonnets from late 1800s france. they are about 2 1/2 or 3ft long and sabre shaped
How dare you insult the bollock dagger, good sir! A duel it must be!
WolverIan 9:34
I am fully aware he said this I have watched the video. Hence my (joking) comment.
I hope its a duel of bollocks
Ah, but that's how you duel with bollocks daggers.
It's funny when everyone shits all over the peasants
Hey, just wanted to say that your pronunciation of 'Maciejowski' was pretty accurate.
Cheers!
I like the simplicity in the 4th blade is just, simple but fancy. Especially the one in 10:01
Hi skal can you do a review on middle eastern swords and weapons please I’ve always had an interest in them thanks, love your channel.
Let the Sweet tears of butt Hurt flow.... XD
"You know where you can stick it."
connor : "no, where?"
I just realized that I have a liking to disgusting weapons. Especially the maces.
Your pronunciation of "Maciejowskiego" was pretty on point :)
Those bronze age daggers could actually be tools. Like the kunai which was used as tool that also works for stabbing.
I love the look of the sword breaker. I don't even think this comment section can handle all my butthurt tears
Wow, I loved just about all of these... Hmm, I never knew our tastes in weaponry were so different. Perhaps I’m just not as picky as I should be...
Andrew Black no, skall's just a pickaroon
Well, most of the examples he picked were quite ugly.
Swordbreakers with irregular curves, crooked teeth or weird proportions look uglier than swordbreakers with a proper aesthetic design. Imagine the blade being symmetric, with a smooth curve, and all notches spaced perfectly, at the same angle, ending at the symmetry line, for example. Just one way to make such a design prettier.
The spiked clubs at the end were indisputably ugly though. Crudely made, irregular, with no particular pattern or line. Imagine a perfect metal cube with a four-edged tapering spike protruding diagonally from each corner, except for the one that extends into the handle. Prettier. Probably deadlier, too.
All in all, I think it's possible to make much prettier versions of many of these weapons.
I don't think the spike club is bad tbh.
This one's to you, Skall. No butthurt, just a suspicion; Spearheads were in some regions shaped very similar to those daggers you placed at number 9, enough so I can easily see the coppermongers and bronze-workers working the same designs for those that didn't want a perfectly serviceable spear with a leaf-head.
At 7:49 the billhook is giving you the finger for insulting its appearance!
What I thought of most of them: they’re fine.
10:18 looks like a banana with a handle
Saw the guisarmes in the thumbnail, and I thought for sure he was going to mention the kpinga until he said he was sticking with European weapons.
Oh, the throwing pick thing with blades on every side, sometimes some of them looking like phalluses? Yeah, weird thingy.
FrankiePeanuts I'm sorry my dude, but I gotta ask. Is that you in your profile picture?
janekfan666 Why do you ask?
The guisarmes were not made only for killing a person. Guisarmes were often used as a control/disable weapon for people with mental problems.
Ah yes - just as rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, and paper beats rock; penis beats shield.
The sawfish blade looks cool though
I wonder what Skall thinks about the Cinquedea, as the bronze daggers he showed have a similar blade shape