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Hello, everyone. Do you have a question about what type of weapon would kill what type of soldier? Do you wonder about the medieval feudal system actually worked? You've come to the right place.

Post your questions about weaponry and history here, and they will be answered, provided you don't make my eyes bleed with your light font, abuse of caps lock, or non-use of the enter key.

Note: I know a whole lot about a whole lot of stuff, but I'm not an expert. Do some research if its a really broad topic.

EDIT 6/18/2007- Well, thanks to a generous donation from ArmasTermin, the History and Weapons Buff Guild is now up and running, get those requests in soon!

Link

Direct all random discussion there, but you should still throw questions that you need answered to improve your writing here.

A mace is a piece of metal on the end of a stick. It comes in various shapes, sometimes with spikes on it. You swing it, it hits something, it hurts.

A morning star is a stick with a chain on the end of it with a piece of metal on the other end of the chain. It almost always has spikes on it. You spin it around to get up some momentum, then let it hit them. It hurts a lot, more than a mace, usually, but is harder to control, and takes some time to get it spinning. Grabbing the chain completely disables it.

Both are very heavy, at about 10-15 pounds for average size.

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I thought that the morningstar was a mace (essentially) with a spiked head, and the thing with a chain was a flail. Neither mace nor morningstar have chains. I think.

Nope. Flail and morning star are essentially synonymous, but morning star is a translation from a Norse language that was used more by the people around England. Maces can have spikes.

EDIT- I've done personal research on this. Wikipedia is wrong here.

I stand by my information. Yeah.

I know that morningstar and flail are sometimes used interchangeably, but I also know that if you're really looking to be clear, the flail and morningstar are actually different.

The morningstar could perhaps be regarded as a type of mace, but isn't "morningstar" really a reference to the spiked head?

I suppose a morningstar could take flail or mace form. But it is still a distinct thing from either.

EDIT: Actually, meh.

I don't know either way, and I don't have a library at had for some research right now. wink I'll take your word for it.

Considering the confusion between the two of us, I don't think any but the most a**l of readers is going to get you on the whole mace/flail/morning star bit.