the word "claymore"

[David White]

Thanks Allen, whenever you get the chance!

[gmcdavid]

Most of the historic manuals show certain techniques for defeating someone with a pike or spear if you have a longsword. None that I have seen ever teach the cutting off of the pike head. Even if you do, a staff with a probable sharp end is still a very formidable weapon. http://www.thearma.org/Manuals/Gladi...ladiatoria.htm

Yes. The pike quickly evolved steel "cheeks" extending behind the head for the specific purpose of frustrating attempts to lop off the point.

When all is said and done, the pike remained a standard infantry weapon down to almost 1700, while large swords were used by at most a very few specialists. It is all very well to talk about getting through a pike phalanx with a big sword, but good swordsmen were hard to come by--they took years of training. By contrast pikemen could be found anywhere and trained in a few weeks. As S.M. Stirling puts it, quantity has a quality all of its own.