[Jean Thibodeau]

Pole Axe arrived today from A&A and here are my first impressions:

Feels very substantial and surprisingly light at the same time because of the way it balances in the hand: Compared to a Danish Axe it is very agile with the balance point being about 3" above the circular hand guard making onehanded carry and use possible especially in a thrust, held with one hand below the handguard and the other a couple of feet lower it should be possible to attack, block and change angle of attack with ease.

The head is far from huge when compared to an Italian Bill, as an example, and the Pole Axe fairly compact at 5'9" overall lenght approximatly: It does seem like a fairly close quarter weapon as even a large Hand & a Half might outrange it
(Unless maybe when the sword is halfsworded).
It does seem like the perfect knight "Can-opener".........LOL.

What I wasn't aware about the construction of the Pole Axe from only seeing pictures, (Never up close or handled one before.) is that the hammer and axe part are one piece while the spike and side languettes are a second separate assembly, I would be curious to know exactly how the components are put together?

In any case the construction feels very solid: The side languettes are completely inletted into the sides of the rectangular section staff, the staff being rectangular with bevelled edges.
The side languettes seem (Hard to tell since they are deeply inletted) to be integral with holding the spike in place and should be fairly thick in comparison to the top and bottom languettes which seem only intended to keep the staff from being cut.
Rivets and nails seem handmade, staff has a very nice woodgrain, the steel head has a lot of nice detailling with a "sharp" point on a stout diamond section spike 3/4" wide at the base, the axe head has an apple seed style edge and is axe sharp.

I opted for the standard steel ball at the butt, as having a spike at the butt could be dangerous to the user (Me....LOL)!
An acceptable risk, maybe, when wearing plate armour, historically when use was for real and with the nescessary training.

Overall a very good purchase, very prompt replies to all my E-Mails and excellent customer service: A pleasure dealing with Craig.

[Adam Lloyd]

I absolutely love this pole-arm even tho it's earlier than the things I want to collect. Can I ask this: Would a warrior who carried this weapon also carry a sword? How would a pole-arm like this be transported to battle etc?

[Russ Ellis]

Congratulations, if I ever work my way through their swords I'll start buying polearms from A&A soon after...

[Jean Thibodeau]

Russ;

Well I guess I like having a few other essentials other than swords and I can't afford every sword I would like and I didn't want to wait "decades" to get a nice pole arm..........LOL.

Apart from swords I also have 2 A&A spears, an Albion Danish axe, an Albion francisca and maille hauberk, cervellière and eye slot kettle hat.

Handling a well balanced pole arm is also a learning experience as I find that with all hand weapons you have to get the feel of it to understand it in your "gut" and not only in your imagination based on your readings.
(Obviously a badly balanced cheap reproduction will give you a wrong impression about real battlefield use.)

Adam;

I would assume that also carrying a sword or at least a rondel dagger might be the norm.
Although being more a Knightly weapon one might assume that a squire or a page might carry some of the extra weapons.

I'm just guessing here: The historians among us might be able to answer this for you with more certainty!

[Russ Ellis]

[Gordon Frye]

[quote="Adam Lloyd"]I absolutely love this pole-arm even tho it's earlier than the things I want to collect. Can I ask this: Would a warrior who carried this weapon also carry a sword? How would a pole-arm like this be transported to battle etc?[/quote

Lloyd, absolutely. It really seems to me that by the time the Pole-Axe was popular the Sword was pretty well useless against an armoured opponent (in plate that is). I'm sure that your own amusements with armour have shown it to be pretty darned resilient! But the Sword had of course become the "Weapon of Status and Office" rather like a mace in some ways, but the true signature of a Man of War. Thus many times a sword was carried when your primary opponent would hardly feel the thing were you to use it on him. Thus the pole-axe I would suspect that the sword would be pretty handy for dealing with those pesky fellows not wearing armour though, running around with bows and such things.

I guess I tend to look at a sword from the development of plate armour on as the practical equivilent of a modern hand-gun. Certainly not your first choice for combat, but a symbol of authority, and damned useful sometimes too!

Oh, for transport, I suspect that since even the English Men-at-Arms rode into battle, it wouldn't be hard to carry a la a lance, or better yet that lad riding your spare horse can carry the darned thing, leaving your hands free to carry on a friendly conversation with your equals. Or smack villiens or something like that.

Cheers!

Gordon

[Jason Adams]

Yes indeed, a sword and a dagger was always carried. It didn't matter if you were going to be a lowly levie in the bill ranks, or a knight on horseback, a sword and dagger were required. Look at the muster requirements: No man would be taken without helm, Sword, Dagger, and Three months rations (these depending on nationality). All other arms & armour and living supplies were optional. The pole-arms themselves were purchased by the company C.O.s or whoever was raising the company and all bought from one or maybe a very few arms-makers. Bulk-discount

The pole-axe seemed to be used by Germanesque nobility and learned men-at-arms with verteran status or rank. So yes, if you have a pole axe, you would have a sword, if even just a simple arming sword.

As far as transport: Nobles would usually have a retinue of squires and body-guards as well as enough wagons to suport their "comforts". The body guards and the lords would equip themselves with ONLY weapons usefull on horseback if an ambush is sprung agaisnt them. The squires, sometimes mounted, would carry the foot-battle instruments. The rest was in the wagons. Men-at-Arms as dismounted knights would be mounted inbetwen battles and the same applies to them. Men-at-Arms that have no horses and fill the rank and file carry large weapons over their shoulder, or even tie an lanyard thong of leather to sling it over the shoulder. Even the Landsknechts were documented to have slings fortheir Zweihanders, though everyone on the face of the planets says "no!". lol

In service,