Halberd Grip?

[Rikard Lindgren]

Hello there!
I am new to this forum, but been reading the webby for a very long time. So let me introduce myself.

My name is Rikard "Drakir" Lindgren and i am 39 years old. I am the team leader of the medieval total conversion of Half-Life 2 named Age of Chivalry. (www.age-of-chivalry.com) Where we are trying to bring medieval combat into a first person shooter game.

I have been interested in medieval things since i was a little boy and saw the first black/white movie "Ivanhoe" that Swedish television shows on new years day every year.

Anyway, I see you guys as experts in all sorts of areas. And recently we have had a discussion about our Halberd and how it should be animated and displayed in the game.

The dispute is about wheither the weapon was held as a hockey stick for righthanded people or if you held the right hand high on the stick to gain more power in the attacks.

The hockey grip seems like the most probably one, but its also very possible that the force was of more importance than the accuracy in the swing for a halberdier.

So if any of you have an answer i would be really happy as then we can close down the argument and get our animations done and over with.

Thanks!

[Brian Hunt]

The grip varied as you fought. If you look at this webpage, you will see a series of positions for how the halberd was held. http://www.thearma.org/Manuals/Mair/Mair_part6.htm If you want translations of these plates and not just pretty pictures, David Knight and myself have a commercial translation availible at http://www.paladinpress.com/product/886/47 please note the way the hands hold the weapon when you look at the images, it is important.

hope this helps.

Brian Hunt

ARMA Senior Researcher

[Keith Culbertson]

Hey do Rikard! Welcome to ARMA. Before someone else gets to you, please resign into the Forum with your given name instead of your nickname and continue to enjoy the site.

As for your question, certainly go with Brian and David's book; also, for a starting point you can go to the Historical Manuals section of this site and find La Jeu de la Hache, a poll-axe specific manual which also refers to Vadi, Talhoffer, Fiore and other images that will assist your need.

best regards

[Rikard Lindgren]

Thanks alot guys! Those images are gonna be really helpful when doing the animations.

[Axel Pettersson]

Tjenare Rikard,

there are several HEMA fighters around sthlm that could help you out more directly as well.

start by looking here: www.vildsvinet.se

If you are further interested in older Western Martial Arts Gothenburg Historical Fencing School is hosting a 3 day event focused solely on this from october 31st to november 2nd, just stop by! There will be several of the sthlm fighters there (pm me for more info).

here is a video clip from Polish ARMA fighters demonstrating halberd techniques from the Meyer manual:

http://www.arma.lh.pl/zrodla/filmy/pozn ... alberd.avi

[Jaron Bernstein]

Hello there!
I am new to this forum, but been reading the webby for a very long time. So let me introduce myself.

My name is Rikard "Drakir" Lindgren and i am 39 years old. I am the team leader of the medieval total conversion of Half-Life 2 named Age of Chivalry. (www.age-of-chivalry.com) Where we are trying to bring medieval combat into a first person shooter game.

I have been interested in medieval things since i was a little boy and saw the first black/white movie "Ivanhoe" that Swedish television shows on new years day every year.

Anyway, I see you guys as experts in all sorts of areas. And recently we have had a discussion about our Halberd and how it should be animated and displayed in the game.

The dispute is about wheither the weapon was held as a hockey stick for righthanded people or if you held the right hand high on the stick to gain more power in the attacks.

The hockey grip seems like the most probably one, but its also very possible that the force was of more importance than the accuracy in the swing for a halberdier.

So if any of you have an answer i would be really happy as then we can close down the argument and get our animations done and over with.

Thanks!

I suggest that you read Meyer's polearm section. It combines very clear descriptions with very usable woodcuts. You might also arrange to visit an ARMA study group (or some of the Swedish HEMA guys) who do polearm training and get a hands on lesson. Happy game designing!

[Jonathan_Kaplan]

Heya, are you all doing other realistic things with the other weapons at all? Like halfswording, for example?

Edit: Also! Armor shouldn't really slow you down, or reduce your agility (well, maybe reduce the height you can jump, but that is about it...)

What it SHOULD do is make you get winded / overheated more quickly, which few games that I know of simulate.