dacian falx

[brennivs - tony drake]

Has any one played with a falx, I am interested in any experiences. I have one of my own, but I dont have a website to show a image. Any comments or pictures hock:

[munazio planco]

ave

i maked one dacian falx for the didactic durin the events.is a very impressive arms,when you have between the hand you hundestand how can be strong and terrible arm.

i did a few of experience..for example whit one stroke of falx is possible divide in two part a blockhead of wood of 15 cm of diameter.you can immagine what could do on roman scutum?

[griffin]

There are some very cool pictures of a Dacian Falx, and some tests done with it at Roman Days 2003. In the middle of the page row F.

http://www.larp.com/legioxx/rdays.html

I wouldn't want to be holding the shield.....

[Peroni]

Dacian Falx = Pure EVIL! :twisted: :twisted:

[Virilis]

I have always been more horrified by some imaginary UNDERARM THRUSTS with this weapon!!!

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

There are some very cool pictures of a Dacian Falx, and some tests done with it at Roman Days 2003. In the middle of the page row F.

http://www.larp.com/legioxx/rdays.html

I wouldn't want to be holding the shield.....

Judging from the pics, the scutum is damaged, but the guy with the falx in a real combat, with his weapon stuck and with no armor/shield protection, would have likely been killed with a gut thrust by the very legionary whose scutum he mistreated...

[Caballo]

But in a combat situation, you'd go for the legs or exposed limbs and (gulp) scythe whilst out of sword reach .......and I'm not convinced that a manica or greave would give much more than psychological protection.....

[Steve Lenz]

I have always been more horrified by some imaginary UNDERARM THRUSTS with this weapon!!!

Uppercuts! :roll: (I prefere a romphaia! Hope to get my one in may...)

[richsc]

judging from the pics, the scutum is damaged,

That was Steve Peffley handling the falx, and Matt Amt steadying the contraption. Mark Morrow made the blade to Steve's specification, and a great job it is. Steve brings that thing with him to every event (like MTT and Roman Days here), but he only made the two shields to be destroyed.

For getting stuck see Peter Connolly's book "Legionary' where exactly that happens to a Dacian in one illustration. Steve won't admit to that happening, though.

[Primvs Pavlvs]

.......and I'm not convinced that a manica or greave would give much more than psychological protection.....

I think a manica or a greave would cause the blade to glance. It would be very hard to get the blade to "bite" on a piece or armour designed the way these pieces were.

[brennivs - tony drake]

Sorry for not responding quickly. Been having problems accessing site.
Munazio very nice, mine is the sword version with scabbard copied from the Birdoswald dedication stone 8)

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I wonder just how much protection a cross-braced helm offers against this beast too? hock:

[brennivs - tony drake]

On line now , Griffen, Cvrivs n Richsc thanks for photos enjoyed looking. You have a very good set up . I myself wouldnt attack a shield ,arms legs head. When I was in Spain a few years ago ,I was put up against a manica Legioniare who egged me on.I pulled my Falx out of its scabbard so fast, his pulled scuta was right under his nose in shock, I could have cleaved his cassis open, without his Gladivs coming any where near me.
Thanks for your comments

[brennivs - tony drake]

Palvlvs the experiments I have done ,if the Falx hit a manica it may break your arm at worst or it would disable you holding a Gladivs for a while. On the good side you would still a arm. In the end we still defeated them.

[Crispvs]

Tony,

I have handled both your falx and the one made by David Simm which you will no doubt remember from the RoMEC in South Shields. His falx is much heavier and I think that once the blade got going it would be hard to stop it. I found yours much easier to handle but I suspect that the power of the blow would not be as great, whereas his was an intrument of naked brute force (I am sure you will remember the high speed film he showed at the time). I have no doubt however that yours is capable of similar damage to that shown in the Legio XX photos.

I also think that the falx is much more likely to have been used for horizontal and underhand cuts as I think that using it overhand in the way Connolly shows would leave the falxman dangerously (even suicidally) exposed. However, given the fact that the carvers of the Adamklissi metopes seem never to have wanted to show a falxman who was not accompanied by another warrior, I wonder whether it might have been a weapon used not so much by an individual but by a 'squad', one of whom was armed with a falx for maximum shock value and the others with swords and spears who could take advantage of a gap created by the falxman and at the same time cover him as he recovered his swing.

Crispvs