Quote Originally Posted by arimareiji View Post
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afqhBODc_8U
^ Likely to be of interest to anyone wrt spears vs swords, ran across it today.

My impression from it is that one-on-one, a spearman has a big advantage unless the swordsman has a large shield and knows how to use it -- or unless the spearman is also trying to use a shield, which is just disastrous. Between that and watching the group fights trying to simulate army combat (but the spear/shield wielders were pretty inept), I feel like I understand better how conscript units could be butchered if they broke formation.
Funny enough that video is part of the reason I rate spears so highly. Of course, it's between amateur combatants rather than experienced soldiers, but even so, the advantages of a spear are pretty clear. Not that swords are bad, spears are just... really damn good.

On the other hand I'm happy the guy with the messer got a point. I like messers.