A Couple More Questions Regarding Treasure and Such

[zedturtle]

Personally the concept of the "long-hafted axe" is one of my least favorite details in TOR.

Huh, why is that? It's attested to and all, and I think a neat idea. (I like the TOR system where an axe can be as effective as a sword but still feels different mechanically.)

Yeah but was it usable 1-handed?

Dude on the Bayeux Tapestry is 'wielding' it one-handed. Yeah, it might be a bit tricky, but there's certainly such a thing as a 1-handed war axe, and I imagine that there's a length of haft where it'd be practical to use it one-handed and possible to use it two-handed. Sounds like a topic for some experimental archaeology.

[aramis]

Personally the concept of the "long-hafted axe" is one of my least favorite details in TOR.

Huh, why is that? It's attested to and all, and I think a neat idea. (I like the TOR system where an axe can be as effective as a sword but still feels different mechanically.)

Yeah but was it usable 1-handed?

Dude on the Bayeux Tapestry is 'wielding' it one-handed. Yeah, it might be a bit tricky, but there's certainly such a thing as a 1-handed war axe, and I imagine that there's a length of haft where it'd be practical to use it one-handed and possible to use it two-handed. Sounds like a topic for some experimental archaeology.

Judging from what I've seen SCAers pull off... mind you the following is based upon rattan & ductape simulation weapons...
Sir Kylson's Naginata was 6' even, with 18" of that being the head. It was wieldable 1 handed. Not properly an axe, but similar mass issues. Readily wielded 1h, but not in the same manner as 2h.
Sir Georg (who is a mountain of a man - 6'4" or so) wielded a 2.5' haft 2'x1' double-bit head - overall 4.5' - as a 1h weapon. One of his shorter squires fell over from an overswing with same. (In other words, she missed and the leverage factor put her off balance.) I may be off by 3" or so in either direction; I never closely examined it except when hit hit my grill.
Sir Phelan used a 3' hafted, 6"long x 3" deep head axe with 3" backspike both 1h and 2h. His backhand with it was painful.
ISTR Sir Timothy (about 5'8") using a 7' overall halberd (which I suspect later was cut down to Phelan's axe - same heads) 1h due to having taken an arm hit; it was physically doable but not effective. How much of that was a competent opponent, as opposed to lack of practice, I don't know.

I've seen Sir Kylson and Sir Brenden both use a 3' overall small-head axe 2-handed. Looks odd, but damn it hits hard.

I suspect the 2h requirement for broad-head axes hits at about 4'6", and for narrow heads at about 6' overall length. Naginatas and glaives (essentially seaxes on a stick) (where the head is ≤3" from the haft) up to about 7', but with technique changes in the use of it.

[Random221B]

I would venture to suggest that the reason Dwarves can use axes and greataxes, but not long-hafted axes, despite the fact that the long-hafted axe is similar in size/length to the great-axe, is about the versatility. At a Dwarf's size/height, the long-hafted axe would be too big/long for him to wield one-handed. So, technically, I would suggest that a dwarf *could* use a long-hafted axe 2-handed, but not 1-handed, due to the size issues. However, a) there's no point in using a long-hafted axe instead of a greataxe, if you can only use it 2-handed, and b) tracking the fact that they have a long-hafted axe but can only use it 2-handed seems like unnecessary bookkeeping, so it just makes more sense to say Dwarves "can't use" the long-hafted axe.

Best,

~~~~Random