CLOK BBS

Woodworking:
Clubs
Walking Sticks

Knapping:
Swords
Mace/Mattock
Glaive

For the knapped swords, I'm thinking of along the lines of this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macuahuitl). Of course, it would probably involve making the basic weapon with woodworking. If you wanted to go simple, it could simply be an altered club. Want to go complex.. could have it so that when the weapon gets damaged it would revert to its normal club state having had all the obsidian smashed off. At that point, it would require knapping again to restore the obsidian shards.

For the mace, I'm also thinking along the lines of an Aztec weapon where they basically attached a large lump of rock to the end of a haft. Could do a two-handed version, hence the mattock.

Including the Glaive because out of all the other polearms, seems like it would be the easiest to replicate with an obsidian blade.

I'm fine with the woodworking suggestions, but I think as far as knapping goes, the size of your material (flint/obsidian) is an issue.

The Macuahuitl isn't so much a sword as it is a wooden club with a bunch knives stuck along its side. I suspect mattocks would shatter too easily -- compare it to one made of glass. Doesn't seem too feasible to me, but I might be mistaken. Making the head of a glaive out of this again would result in a very fragile weapon -- like bloodsand, but worse I think.

Maybe the mace would work okay if the lump of rock is large enough, but all I've found by way of knapping materials are small chunks of flint and obsidian. Even if bigger lumps were available though, it's again like whacking things with an edged hunk of glass. The edge would crush easily on metal armor, but might be very lethal against nekkid opponents. (Then again, what isn't?) Still, an ordinary rock, instead of rock-shaped glass, would probably have more mass i.e. be more fit for bludgeoning.

Re: your woodworking suggestions: seems pretty ok. Wouldn't mind at all to be able to practice my woodworking on some walking sticks.

Stone weapons are already like that so.. I see nothing different from what you've said compared to the handaxes and spears. Seems fine to me.

The mattock and halberd made of stone I'm not so sure about. (I tried looking up any records of stone mattocks/picks but all I got were video game results - go figure) The macuahuitl has been on my list of thing to implement for quite a while, I'm just looking for the right time and way to release them. I'd like to keep them a more specialized weapon, though that doesn't mean they're going to be super powerful or anything.

You can already make a stone "hammer", which pretty much covers the stone mace and anything else that falls into the chunk-of-rock-at-the-end-of-a-stick category. I think it's actually technically a mace, mechanically.

For stone weapons you'll probably be wanting to use flint more than obsidian. Once breakage goes live, obsidian will be breaking very quickly when striking any of the harder armors, or being parried or blocked by metal weapons/shields. Flint and quartz will break quite quickly too (more quickly than any metal weapons), but in the stone category they're your weapons that will last a decent amount of time before having to make a new one.

You're welcome to keep finding obsidian and making tons of weapons so you can easily replace them of course. Edged weapons made from obsidian (axes) will have some extra power against targets with soft armor or no armor.

My idea about the mattock was basically following the principle of how stone clubs were made. Why not get a stouter, larger, haft and use a slightly bigger stone.

And I'm not sure a halberd would work, a halberd head is a rather complex affair. I said Glaive for the simple fact that it is a one-edged head that is mostly used for slashing more than anything.

Neither has a real world reference I can suddenly draw up, but it doesn't necessarily mean either wouldn't work. The head of the Glaive for example, could be a replication of the macuahuitl, but with a long haft.

And I wasn't aware of the hammer, but is there an option for a two-handed version? Also, while there is a spear is there any reason there is not a pike as well?

Either way, I'm doubtful Karn will end up using stone weapons.. but I definitely do think there's a lot of leeway to explore in terms of variety instead of just the few that are available now.

I believe it's worth mentioning a couple of things I've found out, regarding the macuahuitl and Karn's proposed new polearm.

The first of these is that according to most hobbyists and professionals that study these weapons, a Macuahuitl was not simply a club with obsidian attached. It was much closer to being a wooden sword edged with prismatic obsidian blades held in place (most likely) by resin of some sort.

Secondly, the Aztec had a polearm similar to a macuahuitl on a long stick, known as a Tepoztopilli. The last remaining authentic tepoztopilli was destroyed in a fire, however. It was, according to the little information I found, a bit of a cross between a spear and a halberd, good for thrusting and slashing. Essentially a wide wooden head lined with prismatic blades.

It's also worth mentioning that weapons such as these are VERY difficult to replicate in modern days, as the Aztecs (again, according to my limited research) practiced knapping to a high degree. It's likely they developed techniques for creating their prismatic blades that we've yet to be able to replicate. So, as fragile as a wooden weapon lined with prismatic obsidian blades seem, they were probably far more deadly and sturdy than one might initially assume.

[quote=Lysse]So, as fragile as a wooden weapon lined with prismatic obsidian blades seem, they were probably far more deadly and sturdy than one might initially assume.[/quote]

Except vs fire. Hehe.