Polearms

I was talking with some associates on the twit-x and was holding forth on polearms. Fantasy RPGs and stories tend to focus pretty heavily on swords, axes, and other one-handed weapons. Perhaps a greatsword or axe here and there. And that’s all well and good - lots of wonderful stories we all draw inspiration from are about magic swords or other weapons.

However, in a fantasy world that has giants, trolls, ogres, dragons, and loads of other critters that are significantly bigger than humans, we shouldn’t overlook the massive advantage that a good polearm can give you when fighting something big.

Longer arms and a longer sword can give a substantial advantage in a fight between humans. Imagine the kind of advantage a sixteen foot giant is going to have - being able to hit them requires you to close, and you’re in danger from them for a lot longer than you can hazard to wound them at all. A polearm can help with this problem. Most polearms are just some variation of a blade or axehead on a stick; there are a bewildering variety with all kinds of fun names (glaive-guisarme!). What matters is the length - historically, enough to give an advantage over a sword wielding foe. If a normal polearm isn’t big enough, imagine going up against that big dragon with proper likes - twenty feet or longer. A group of brave stalwarts with massed pikes would be a real threat to large monsters (maybe they won’t do much about that breathing fire business, but that’s another problem).

All that to say don’t ignore polearms in your stories or your fantasy RPGs. They’re highly effective weapons and being able to counteract enemy reach (or gain reach yourself) is a huge advantage. Swords are cool (we all love swords) but think of a sword like a sidearm - it’s the weapon your hero can carry all day. A polearm is like a battle rifle - carried into major conflicts against specific foes, and your main weapon against those enemies.

So remember - stab ‘em with a blade on a stick!