Thread: Indian Mace
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Old 11th September 2015, 07:33 PM   #26
kronckew
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Quote:
Originally Posted by estcrh
I have to disagree with you, take a look at this link and see how many flanged Indo-Persian maces you see.

https://www.pinterest.com/worldantiq...persian-maces/
the flanged maces there looked like european style ones they may have copied. the persians were in contact with the byzantines and crusaders and could have captured ones they copied. the flanges again have very wide angle 'points' to avoid getting stuck while still concentrating the force when hitting armour.

your later post also shows a nice ball mace with quite short spikes, again fine for concentrating the force and preventing skidding on plate armour, while being less likely to get stuck in cloth or mail. a lot of the really spiky maces shown have rather bent spikes which would degrade their performance.

another note, a lance is a primary weapon used mostly in a shoulder to shoulder charge, and is really designed to break or be dropped after the initial shock & penetration of your opponent, whereupon they would revert to a secondary weapon, an estoc or sabre, or maybe just a sabre. a lance is a poor weapon if you are in the melee and within sabre range of your opponent who is past your point. lancers in general in later years were lightly armed reconaissance and persuit units, good for spearing a broken and fleeing enemy.

as commented by a heavy cavalryman in a military tv series, 'once you get past the point, it's like killing rabbits'.

the horned devil maces are as noted earlier, light and generally considered qajar parade pieces. 19c maces were well past their sell-by date.

i tend to go by occam's razor - the simplest explanation is usually, but not always, the best. i remain open to persuasion. whacking a ballistic gel dummy dressed in indian style mail & plate, or padded cloth armour ala mythbusters might be informative experimental archaeology.
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