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Pre-gunpowder weapons, what would you like to see?

October 7, 2011 12:00 AM

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COMMENTS
AdamC
07-Oct-2011 12:50

Oooow! Great idea chaps! Hows these grab you;

1. Medieval Longbow (a must for the series surely)
2. British Cavalry Swords 1640-1940 (300 years worth of cavalry steel to look at there!)
3. The Bayonet (an often over looked but vital weapon that saw an end to the pikeman)
4. Medieval Crossbow (always in the shadow of the longbow and with far less written about its battlefield use)
5. The Claymore (huge swords wielded by huge hairy Celtic types - nuf said really, lol)

What do you think???

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cold0
07-Oct-2011 13:44

Yes, great idea indeed!

While no properly a weapon, I think that "Mediavel-Reinassence Plate Armour" could ba a intriguing subject for the serie.

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MarkL
07-Oct-2011 13:56

Here's my list of items that don't go bang!
1. Assegai - Zulu finisher
2.Scimitar - Used for centuries
3.Mongol recurved bow - helped conquer most of the known world
4.Mace- often overlooked medieval smasher (including flail)
5 Halberd/Pike/Polearm - poke your eye out with them
and bonus one
6 tomahawk- for a home continent addition

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albertomv
07-Oct-2011 14:14

Here they go:
1. Pilum, Cooling the Celtic Charges
2. Gladius hispaniensis, the Roman Sword
3. Strange Weapons of Medieval Age (military flail, goedendag, ahlspiess, war hammer,...)
4. Medieval Ranged Weapons (cross bow, long bow, throwing axe, throwing javalin or lance, ...)
5. Composite Bow (the weapon of the people of the steppes)
I love Rome, and it is seen in my proposals

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wardog
07-Oct-2011 16:09

1. Naginata
2. Chinese war sword
3. Two handed sword
4. Egyptian kopesh sword
5. Aztec sword

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baldyman
07-Oct-2011 17:51

Here's my five!

1.Longbow - one of the most important medieval "British" weapons! Could be said to have changed the face of warefare.
2.Pike - Macedonian super weapon - still being issued to the Home Guard in WWII!
3.Crossbow - Romans uded them - Chinese invented the Repeater version (Perhaps there could be a chapter on William Tell :) )
4.Bayonet. - From "Plug" to "Sword" - Still being issued today - The fear of "Cold Steel" was considered a "Battle Winner" for many, many years!
5.The Mace/club/flail - Favoured weapom of Bishop Odo at Hastings- symbol of leadership in many communities

(For a Wild Card - How about the use of the Sling ?)

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baldyman
07-Oct-2011 17:53

Here's my five!

1.Longbow - one of the most important medieval "British" weapons! Could be said to have changed the face of warefare.
2.Pike - Macedonian super weapon - still being issued to the Home Guard in WWII!
3.Crossbow - Romans uded them - Chinese invented the Repeater version (Perhaps there could be a chapter on William Tell :) )
4.Bayonet. - From "Plug" to "Sword" - Still being issued today - The fear of "Cold Steel" was considered a "Battle Winner" for many, many years!
5.The Mace/club/flail - Favoured weapom of Bishop Odo at Hastings- symbol of leadership in many communities

(For a Wild Card - How about the use of the Sling ?)

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Hammerfest-Perth
07-Oct-2011 21:02

These would be great.
Mauser 1898- german standard rifle for almost fifty years including wwi and wwii
FAL rifle-used by many of the worlds major powers outside of the US
MP-18 the first real submachinegun ever widely used in combat
Handgrenade- a study on these could range from wwii to the modern era of combat
DP light machinegun and Pssh submachinegun- the only main russian weapons besides the rifle and heavy machine gun in wwii
Maxim-1910- used in the russian civil war and up until the end of wwii
or you guys could just do a study on watercooled machineguns

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CMB
07-Oct-2011 21:33

Colt revolvers.
Sharps rifles and carbines.
Matchlock muskets.
Katzbalger (Landsknecht sword).
Mauser "broom handle" pistols.

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hobbe62
08-Oct-2011 10:41

1. Greek fire
2 the Dacian Falx sword

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Mike @ Osprey
08-Oct-2011 13:03

Some great ideas coming in - keep em coming, but don't forget we are after everything that you would not class as a gunpowder weapon - we already have loads of guns planned in for the series - but would love to see what non-gun weapons you would like to have us cover too.

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Hubert==!
09-Oct-2011 06:35

Composite bow
Damascene Sword/Scimitar
Lance/javelin/spear
Gladius versus Celtic Longsword
Shields (Roman, late Roman, Celtic, Medieval)
Armor (from Roman segmentata, via Mail to Plate and Japanese)
Japanese bow

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General Interest
09-Oct-2011 07:07

1. Police Baton (Bobby Truncheon, French Gendarme, GI Riot Baton, PR-24)
2. Survival knife (Pilot, Special Forces) including Machete, Golok, Bilhook
3. Spy weapons (SOE, OSS, CIA, KGB)
5. Naval Hand To Hand Weapons (Issued, Improvised)
5. Bayonet (a must have)

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Peter Dennis
09-Oct-2011 12:16

The brick. Ok, it could be a rock.
Seriously, think about it.

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Alessio
09-Oct-2011 20:01

1. medieval sword;
2. napoleonic era cavalry swords;
3. Tulwar (and more generally indian edged weapons);
4. maori weapons (and more generally tribal weapons);
5. medieval armor (and its evolution).

About the last point I hope that WPN series could include defensive weapons. It could increase dramatically the range of topics taken into consideration.

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hobbe62
09-Oct-2011 21:02

rocket artillery (the Mysore rockets and the British Congreve rocket.

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hobbe62
09-Oct-2011 21:03

rocket artillery (the Mysore rockets and the British Congreve rocket.

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MTG
10-Oct-2011 16:32

I'm thinking

1 - The Medieval sword (and its evolution - could include falchions?)
2 - Medieval pole arms
3 - Viking axes / swords / scrams (any of these)
4 - Roman Pilum
5 - Roman gladius

As both a re-enactor and a History teacher any of these would be helpful as well as enjoyable to read

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MTG
10-Oct-2011 16:34

Oh and anything on WW1 trench clubs, knives and other improvised weapons would be great!

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wardog
10-Oct-2011 21:54

1. Zulu knobkerry
2. North American Indian war club
3. Gurkha kukri
4. sling
5. lance

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william
11-Oct-2011 19:43

Hoplite spear and shield, please (sword, helmet and the rest optional...)!

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wardog
12-Oct-2011 14:01

1. Atl Atl
2. Boomerang
3. Spear
4. Dagger
5. Battle ax

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MTG
12-Oct-2011 14:33

Daggers / bayonets

1. - Roman pugio
2. - Bowie knife
3. - Medieval daggers of which there are a wide range e.g. - rondel
4. - Early bayonets - plug to socket
5 - Bayonets of the 20th Century

To be fair the bayonet could be covered in one book but then again we Osprey readers like our detailed explanation!

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General Interest
24-Oct-2011 18:24

1. Police Baton (Bobby Truncheon, French Gendarme, GI Riot Baton, Tonfa, PR-24, Telescopic Baton Monadnock / ASP) Including Blackjacks and Saps.
2. Naval Officers And Crew Individual Weapons (Issued, Improvised) Cutlass, Belay pin, Ropes end, Cat o nine tails, Cosh.
3. Native American Indian Weapons (Tomahawk, Club, Lance, Bow)
4. Street Weapons (Gangs, Thugs) Knuckleduster, Flick knife, Butterfly knife, Chain.
5. NBC Nuclear Biological And Chemical Warfare (Atomic, Nuclear, Dirty bomb, Anthrax, Mustard gas, Zyklon B)
The scientific principals used in mass killing.

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Amaral
16-Nov-2011 19:50

1. FN FAL
2. Bayonet
3. Gurkha kukri

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