Demesnedenoir
Myth Weaver
A spear will not push through maille reliably. You have a misconception about riveted maille. Maile is essentially as effective as plate armor, but heavier to gain the protection. To get through good maille or plate, you rely upon impact. Halberds are not spears, and they are pretty good can openers, but their mass production gets more expensive. But halberds are inferior to swords in others ways. Halberds typically don't allow for the use of a shield, swords do. Time period matters in the discussion, too, as effective "long" swords weren't around until steel became readily available. There also seems to be some idea that people run around in armor all the time like they're in a D&D campaign, heh heh. Any good armor is hard as hell to slice through or puncture through, period. A guy I talked to once worked at a museum in England where they put together some serious cuir bouilli and they took several weapons to it... nothing. Roman linothrax, again, you need to not hit the armor to penetrate the good stuff. Ablation was even limited. You need to find gaps or rely upon the concussive energy.
Swords are the best multi-purpose man-killers for hand-to-hand combat, in particular, once out of the bronze age. A war hammer is a helluva tool as well. Spears and their relatives are great pole-range weapons in war and crowd control. Halberds are polearms/axes with specific design purposes.
Swords are the best multi-purpose man-killers for hand-to-hand combat, in particular, once out of the bronze age. A war hammer is a helluva tool as well. Spears and their relatives are great pole-range weapons in war and crowd control. Halberds are polearms/axes with specific design purposes.