Close combat with a spear and knife

[JohnKPatterson]

I have a man in the books who has been a soldier for a few years, trains often, and approaches weapons and combat with an attitude of versatility ("always have a way out," he thinks). In a fight scene early in the book, he has to face enemy soldiers with the army he's joined, and he has an eight foot spear and a long knife (almost long enough to be a shortsword). Does it sound kind of feasible that he could use the knife in close combat in one hand, and fend off or kill distant attackers with the spear?

I should mention, he dodges and strikes more than he parries. When in combat, he tends to move around the enemy's attacks and then rushes in with a brutal strike of his own.

Thank you so much for your time!

[Steerpike]

My main question with that is the feasibility of using an eight-foot spear in one hand. My understanding is that those were not generally one-handed weapons, but I'm not certain. Using it to fend off distant foes while actively engaged with a close attacked using a long knife seems pretty risk, but if the character is skilled enough I don't think it is out of bounds for fantasy. Depends on where you want to fall between realism and heroic action.

[Ankari]

An 8 foot spear would be extremely cumbersome to maneuver. Spears of that length had one purpose: stab forward. A sweep of the spear would clear space, but anything after that would pose an obstacle against the protagonist. When you see spears used in close quarters, it's usually around 5 or 6 feet and used with both hands. If you've read Wheel of Time, think Mat Cathoun or the Aiel (although their spears were shorter).

A single spear with a weighted end would be a better weapon than an 8 foot spear and a long knife.

[Telcontar]

Not with an eight-foot long spear, no. A spear of that size is A) Unwieldy in one hand, unless used entirely for stabbing motions and B) entirely dependent on keeping your enemy at a distance.

A man who possessed of both these weapons would not fight with both at once under any circumstance I can think of. He would use the spear to keep his opponents at bay, and once they managed to either damage the weapon or get too close he would draw the short sword.

The problem with trying to cover both his "ranges" at once (having him fight close enemies with the knife and farther-off enemies with the spear) is that the weapons are too dissimilar in their action and do not complement each other. In trying to do both at once he would almost certainly fail miserably at everything.

I would suggest this alternative: Give him a shorter spear and let him have the knife as a backup, but don't try to have him use both as once. A staff or spear of about the same (or slightly less) height than a man can be quite agile even in one hand, and if he is skilled with it he should be able to threaten opponents further away with the spear point while simultaneously defending and attacking opponents who try to slip inside that range by parrying their weapons with the spear's haft and using open-handed techniques (striking with hands, elbows, knees, etc) against them.

[T.Allen.Smith]

A spear of that length is approaching the length of a pike which started around ten feet long (some well over 20'). Weapons of this length were generally used by soldiers in formations that moved together. The weapons, used in unison, we're very effective but limited to stabbing forward (hence the need for formation use).

Th primary advantage of a spear is obviously reach. The longer the spear shaft the more unwieldy the weapon and the more it's successful use depended on teamwork in a formation. For your uses, as a single fighter, I'd recommend a 6-6.5' length, good reach while not too cumbersome to move quickly.

There are a ton of different types of spears. I'd suggest researching those differing types to settle on a weapon design that fits the combat system you have in mind for your character.

[Butterfly]

Shaolin Kung fu has a spear form. If you want to see how they wield these things in combat take a look.

Shaolin Spear Kung Fu

This one's a lot longer, and in Chinese with English subtitles.

Shaolin Yang-Family (Yang Jia) Spear - YouTube

[Butterfly]

Oh, meant to say as well...

Those red things they tie below the tip... is to stop the blood running down the shaft...

(I shiver at the thought...)

[TWErvin2]

Roman Soldiers and Spartains used spears and shields with a short sword (Gladius) as a backup. But the spears were not 8 feet in length. Go to a lumber yard and pick up a long dowel rod of about 1 inch diameter, that's about 8 feet long. Try to maneuver it one-handed and you'll percieve the difficulties.

It also depends on the type of combat, but army on army, there'd certainly be a lot less dodging and charging individual enemies with brutal attacks of his own with a very long spear one-handed, unless they were small group/skermishes. And a long knife against someone with sword, shield and armor, he'd be at a disadvantage--especially if the opposing soldier(s) knew what they were doing. Even without armor, rapier vs. knife would leave him at a disadvantage.

[Dan]

You could change the spear to a one of about 6ft and have a small, but heavy shield.

The spear can be used to stab, swing, and deflect other spears, while the shield can be used for deflecting spears and swords, as well as being used a heavy-blunt weapon to either unbalance the enemy, or knock them down.

Example
Allen teaching Hoplite shield and spear - YouTube

P.s. I am not sure of the quality of the video content, apparently the moves are from a book 'The Cutting Edge: Archaeological Studies in Combat and Weaponry', so I'd suspect them to be solid reference to work from.

[FireBird]

I can honestly say that if I read in a book that a man was using an eight-foot spear with one hand I would stop reading because the realism would have died for me. If you are using a standard spear with one hand stabbing is easy to do and sweeping takes practice. Parrying is incredibly hard with a spear in just one hand. I would believe the scenario more if he was using a regular spear with two hands or a spear and shield. Most people don't seem to know this but using two weapons at the same time takes years if not decades to master. In the middle of a battle it doesn't seem plausible at all.