Falchions?

[Cimrandir]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falchion


So I've been reading lately about falchions and it occurred to me that this could be a useful Ranger weapon. If you extended the grip to be more like a hand-and-a-half, you would gain more control and you would be able sort of like a axe right? Not to cut the larger wood but branches and such. Of course, you would have to sharpen it more often.

Plus, it would just be handy against some of the larger orcs and trolls, right? It's a brutal weapon and it's fairly simple to use.

Also, with the shorter blade, it would be easier to move with and fight with in forested areas.

What do you guys think? Am I just making too much of this weapon?

Thanks,
Haradir

[Peter Remling]

I'd agree, I've had a few falchions over the years and they would definately make a serviceable Ranger weapon/tool.

[E.MacKermak]

I actually like the falchion as a weapon choice...very useful in my opinion. Good cutting power out of a blade short enough to be toted around in the forests. The Grosse Messer is similar style and pretty nice. Still haven't really found the style I want in a production piece.

[Tim Hall]

How about a messer? ( http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/alb ... soldat.htm ) They can be/were used as both a tool and a weapon.

Edit* I didn't see that the post above mine mentions messer.

[Eric C]

How about a messer? ( http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/alb ... soldat.htm ) They can be/were used as both a tool and a weapon.

Edit* I didn't see that the post above mine mentions messer.

Okay, what's the tongue off to the side of the guard for? Enquiring minds want to know! (You older rangers will get that last line.)

[Jon]

It's a bit like a seax isn't it? Slightly broader blade though.
I was wondering: would a ranger value practical over noble ? Sort of like a falchion/seax over a sword? It would combine a tool and a weapon and would be much more practical than a sword... But a sword is more like.. chivalric...

[Duathen]

Okay, what's the tongue off to the side of the guard for? Enquiring minds want to know! (You older rangers will get that last line.)

The tongue is there to add a bit more protection for the hand. While messers are similar to falchions, their popularity flourished during the heyday of martial arts being recorded in fechtbuchs (they were also specifically German in origin, which is why their are several German treatises that cover the messer).

[Eric C]

Okay, what's the tongue off to the side of the guard for? Enquiring minds want to know! (You older rangers will get that last line.)

The tongue is there to add a bit more protection for the hand. While messers are similar to falchions, their popularity flourished during the heyday of martial arts being recorded in fechtbuchs (they were also specifically German in origin, which is why their are several German treatises that cover the messer).

Thanks. That's kind of what I figured, but I wanted to make sure.

[Hereward the Wake]

Falchion, messer, saex, kopis, kukri.... they all follow a similar forat of being a one edged cutting weapon. I mentioned in a thread a while back that that a Greek celt-iberian kopis also makes a good ranger sword. Short enough to not get in the way long enough and designed to do good damage and more wieldy than an axe and can function as a tool as well

[Mirimaran]

Falchion, messer, saex, kopis, kukri.... they all follow a similar forat of being a one edged cutting weapon. I mentioned in a thread a while back that that a Greek celt-iberian kopis also makes a good ranger sword. Short enough to not get in the way long enough and designed to do good damage and more wieldy than an axe and can function as a tool as well

Yep, I remember the post. Now, with all of this in mind, we need to sit down as a forum and come up with a practical design for a Ranger shortsword that can then be produced by our Dunedain smiths

[Hereward the Wake]

Well i think the designs are there already. The detail and finish could be more ME but I don't see a way to improve the actual designs of the real world. With a history as long as ME one could use anyone od the possible real world options as suited what the individual wanted and it would and be able to fit.

[Mirimaran]

I guess what I mean is finding a way to define our Dunedain culture, through a common weapon, or style, and decoration.

[kaelln]

I guess what I mean is finding a way to define our Dunedain culture, through a common weapon, or style, and decoration.

I would imagine that there will always be a certain variability considering that we're so widely scattered. You'll always have new folks coming in with new ideas of what a Ranger is and what they look like. Right now, a lot of us are influenced by the movies, but in 20 years, if we last, the new crop will probably think the movies are just a quaint curiosity.

[mcapanelli]

I'm going to have to disagree here. A Falchion, while a wonderful weapon, would not make a good tool at all, at least a well made one. Any weapon designed for fencing, as this would be, would have too much distal tapering and too complex a blade geometry overall to be very good at cutting anything other then armored flesh. Hacking a tree is nothing like hacking a moving target. Tree's don't have the "give" that a person, or in this case a person simulator, have. Even though it's easy at first glance to mistake a single edged sword as a glorified machete it's not even close once you start to use one. A sword in it's best form is a complex weapon intended for one grim purpose only, and it ain't chopping wood. So as a ranger weapon I think their great. Very good cutting power combined with a nice, stiff blade with a manageable length. As a camp tool? I don't think so. You'd ruin the blade quiet fast. Just get a walmart machete.

[E.MacKermak]

The standard messers all use slab handles on full tangs. The Masciejewski (sp) bible falchions also would be pretty effective. Remember we are talking historical not modern (look pretty) construction. While neither would be my first choice for a camp tool, the versatility of the messer/falchion class of blades can not be overlooked. I live in a forested area with lots of undergrowth and, if this was my area to patrol, the longsword favored in literature and the weapon of knights would be impractical at best. My long bow is bad enough and it isn't strapped to my hip. The seax and kukri were brought up and both are proven camp tools with combat capability.

Excluding the Cold Steel version, what I have been able to find is that the average length was about 30 inches overall with a blade of 24-25 inches and a straight guard with the protrusion on the right to protect the hand. The blades appear to have been roughly the shape of the CS style, but the weapon was designed for one handed use.