"Effective Against Armor" Nonsense..

[antisocialmunky]

Maces are armour piercing if you've seen the ones that knights used.

[IvarrWolfsong]

Yes some of the later period maces are specifically meant to smoosh armored opponents. I should have listed them in the sensible group

[The_Emperor]

Maces are armour piercing if you've seen the ones that knights used.

Maces are for sure effective against armour, not neccessarily for the reason that they penetrated armour but the sheer impact can cause blunt force trauma on the victim leaving them with internal damage or hemorraghing.

[PaulTa]

I'm no expert on the issue, but from my days of watching the history channel and reading articles on the internet (mostly wikipedia), I've gathered that blunt weapons weren't effective against armor, but effective against an armored opponent. The blunt trauma would be enough to knock an opponent down, and a now prone opponent could have his face mask smashed in. I'd guess, from what I've seen and read, that the face mask is one of the most vulnerable parts of a heavily armored opponent.

The key is to get an opponent prone. The mace would knock an opponent senseless, the billhook would pull an opponent down, and a large axe or hammer would serve as a means of knocking an opponent down.

Like others have said, a large spike on a polearm has the same effect as a can opener.


So as far as I can see, the only thing that armor has been consistantly effective against throughout the years is swords.

[antisocialmunky]

Except the armour piercing short swords.

[Ulstan]

Javelins are one of the few things that would be completely ineffective against plate armor. Short stabbing swords would be another, as would spears.

Maces, axes, and bastard/long swords would most likely not go *through* the armor but would dent/mangle/bash it in enough to break bones beneath the armor - which is certainly an effective way of slowly defeating your opponent.

The absolute best weapons for getting through armor were military pick style weapons : a heavy mass that was swung, with all the force concentrated on a sharp spike at the end. That *would* punch right through armor.

A man just standing and jabbing with a spear would not be able to generate enough force to go through plate armor. A hurtling knight with all the weight of his horse providing impetus? His lance might penetrate armor, if it didn't break. But the mere force of the blow could finish off the opponent even if it didn't penetrate the armor.