[Ar-list] Swords

[John W. Pierce]

People interested in using swords in their world may find these links
especially interesting with regard to weapon effectiveness:

http://netsword.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000892.html 
I. C. Koets, a long-time contributor to the Netsword forum (and one of the
most rational ones), describes his visit to an abattoir to whack on recently
deceased cow carcasses with several different weapons. Discusses their
relative effectiveness, etc. In addition to this base message, there's a
fair amount of follow-up discussion spread over several months.

http://www.classicalfencing.com/articles/bloody.shtml
http://www.classicalfencing.com/articles/kill2.shtml
Frank Lurz, a very well-respected fencing master, discusses (mostly)
historical reports of the (lack of) speed with which sword thrusts and cuts
(fail) to incapacitate or kill fighters. Primarily concerned with
Renaissance-era weapons, but more widely applicable.

http://www.thearma.org/manuals.htm
A very good collection of Medieval and Renaissance sword fighting
instruction manuals. From these one can get a good idea of what individual
armed combat was really like, especially in the 15th-17th century, at least
between well-trained fighters. Also of particular value, in my opinion, is
George Silver's rating of weapons as to their effectiveness in individual
(and sometimes group) combat.

All three sites have a vast amount other information that someone running a
medieval or renaissance era setting should find enlightening and possibly
useful.

-- jwp