Quote Originally Posted by [cF]Adherbal
suppose I gave you an axe, and tell you and your axe carrying friends to go and attack an enemy formation of halberdiers. Would you charge and crash through the enemy or advance with causion ? If you charge you'll most likely end up with a halberd spearpoint in your stomach.
Ha ! I wouldn't have been in a army in the first place
But it is difficult to say, I have never been in that situation and didn't live in those days. People thought differently back then.
Look at Pickett's charge during the battle at Gettysburg, 15000 men marching up to musket and cannon fire knowing it would kill them and yet they did it. That attack was doomed for stage 1 and pretty much everyone knew it and yet did it.
If it was me today I would have said screw this I'm going home.
Everyone view history from modern eyes wether they like it or not but fact is that people thought differently back then. What is insanity to us may not have been that for them.


Quote Originally Posted by [cF]Adherbal
and halberdier formations actualy fought simular to spearmen. They formed a dense wall of spearpoints to keep the enemy at distance, and then individual would chop at the enemy with the halberd blade, or pull shields and weapons away with the hook, so that other halberds can stab at the exposed enemy. Later on halberds got a cross section on the handle that could be use to block enemy attacks.
None of this charge in the middle of enemy formation nonsense that you see in this video.
They probably did but this doesn't apply to the unit in question. They are not in a tight formation and don't have a shield to take the blow.
What you see is a not very tight unit that is being charged by a unit with a huge 2-handed axe, high on adrenalin and charging down-hill.
I repeat again, it doesn't look perfect but looks better then before.