11-20-2010, 10:57 PM
My conscience made me re-work the spear to make it more of an average weapon, rather than a long heavy killing weapon.
I do this for a living, and I am lucky enough to own a variety of infantry and cavalry spears. I agree that the large spear heads are probably for hunting, with lovely long cutting edges for muscle and blood vessel. But such weapons would also work against un-armoured enemies. The penetrative properties of different types of spearheads are fascinating. But 1.74 m seems a small spear, and 1.5 m seems too small for an infantry spear. You need length/weight to penetrate armour and helmets. Infantry spears lack the velocity of cavalry weapons.
For a while we had a high density rubber torso covered in plate armour, plus a helmet, as a target for jousters at the yard where I train. On foot it was annoying how good quality javelins made relatively little impression. On horseback javelins and spears soon destroyed the target. Couched lances hit the breast plate, but cavalry spears could hit inside the "collar bone" between helmet and breastplate and penetrate deeply.
I do this for a living, and I am lucky enough to own a variety of infantry and cavalry spears. I agree that the large spear heads are probably for hunting, with lovely long cutting edges for muscle and blood vessel. But such weapons would also work against un-armoured enemies. The penetrative properties of different types of spearheads are fascinating. But 1.74 m seems a small spear, and 1.5 m seems too small for an infantry spear. You need length/weight to penetrate armour and helmets. Infantry spears lack the velocity of cavalry weapons.
For a while we had a high density rubber torso covered in plate armour, plus a helmet, as a target for jousters at the yard where I train. On foot it was annoying how good quality javelins made relatively little impression. On horseback javelins and spears soon destroyed the target. Couched lances hit the breast plate, but cavalry spears could hit inside the "collar bone" between helmet and breastplate and penetrate deeply.
John Conyard
York
A member of Comitatus Late Roman
Reconstruction Group
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York
A member of Comitatus Late Roman
Reconstruction Group
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.comitatus.net">http://www.comitatus.net
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.historicalinterpretations.net">http://www.historicalinterpretations.net
<a class="postlink" href="http://lateantiquearchaeology.wordpress.com">http://lateantiquearchaeology.wordpress.com