Viking Axe & Shield Combat

[taxidrivercarl]

When you have an axe, you have a solution to many problems

[josephburton]

"Well bravo, you have successfully attached a table top to the end of your weapon." Great quote

Remember, it takes a Viking to raze a village.

[MrBottlecapBill]

The most important benefit of the axe I saw was when you were slow sparring. Not only did you hook the shield of your opponent(which he could not do with a sword) BUT at one point you actually hooked his sword, pulled it aside and then stuffed it and his shield under your shield, granting you a wide open hole to attack his head which would have been the end of him. The power to control the opponents weapon should not be overlooked.

[MrZnarffy]

I used to be active in SCA, and in battles where we had polearms on our side, I would be frontline with shield and axe, just as it was a great complement to spears especially. You had your spear buddy just behind you, and with an axe I would control the enemys shield and my spear buddy would finish him off, while if he had a sword he couldnt do that back, meaning we got a massive advantage. SCA isnt exactly the most accurate of things in many ways, but it can give some insight I think anyways.

[SuperOtter]

Roland, I did not realise you did all those illustrations. Excellent work sir. I have been seeing your work online and am always impressed with your use of light and the detail of your art. Inspiring stuff, Vielen Dank

[cryhavoc]

On the handle of mine is carved, "Feed the Ravens". Odin would approve.

[beserkerknight]

the hook counters the shield and sword nicely, and gives multiple options to break the block and attack quickly. Awesome sparring session.

[TheAwillz]

The way you guys were using the shield reminds me of the way Lomochenko (boxer) uses his lead hand to blocks opponents vision to create striking opportunity.
Vision is so important in war

[robertlogan]

Speaking as a Canadian that spends time outdoors in the winter you need an axe. It even makes game processing easier.

[EricSwanson]

Yes. When you said they were easy to make, you hit the nail on the head. When I was in prison, I made a small axe fairly easily. I broke a piece of a metal off a shelf, made a blade and affixed it to a handle with boot laces. Great protection. Great shock factor. There's nothing like pulling out an axe when someone tries to stab you with a toothbrush.

[Teach]

Very informative and so elegantly demonstrated in the mock combat. This whole series has taught me even more about Saxon and Viking period weaponry :-)

[kevincolwell]

thank you for the history. I loved the seax that you showed, too. I am a bladesmith and bring that background to watching the video. I appreciate it.

[FPVREVIEWS]

a small axe, such as the tomahawk can project a tremendous amount of force very quickly, in close quarters, and can also be used to grapple, and draw the enemy in as well. nothing is so versatile. That's why modern soldiers often choose to carry them when clearing houses in Iraq/afganistan to this day. They also weigh enough that they can be throw, and even if they don't land the right way, they weigh enough to stun for long enough to allow the thrower to access another weapon, such as a sidearm. Also most likely not as lethal as a gun, but faster at incapacitating, so you don't necessarily have to kill the person, an advantage when you need information, or just want to preserve life. also a handy tool for every day life, and can be used to break down barriers, or punch through a wall.

[DaleLClay]

Great information, thanks for helping with the understanding that not everything is a Viking Weapon, but these items had many more practical purposes in daily labor.

[DrFrankenskippy]

Thank you, great presentation and good to see your mileu 'tests' of the beared axes and compromising the shield/balance + strike.
The thrusting (with a slight twisting motion) of axes was one of the most useful axe techniques I have found (research and via practice sparring).
One of the most popular techniques and advantages of the of the axe was to disarm/defy the balance the opponent, either by cutting over and pulling back the shield edge then exposing the head/body for a thrust or by capturing the opponent weapon shaft underneath the lower arc of the axe-head (suited to the broad and great axes as it requires two hands to muster the power to disarm effectively) and twisting as you cut over 3/4 angle forth and down to force the weapon out of the hands (or else discolate the wrist of the opponent ... hard to describe this without showing it visually although it is depicted in the icelandic eddas) and once disarmed the opponent is usually off balance and you van then easily follow up with a continuation of the sweeping motion down to the back of the neck.

[SuperOtter]

Axe and shield seems to be underrepresented in HEMA imho. Thank you for sharing this with us. Fascinating stuff.

[taxidrivercarl]

Axes are great to hook shields to damage an enemy's shield wall coherence, pulling open gaps for spears and other longer ranges weapons to exploit

[mikefule]

This is a tremendous video. It shows an approach in which the main tactics of the fight are to close lines with the shield, and to try to open a line for the weapon. The sword or axe is only used when the opportunity has been created. This is so much more subtle than the Hollywood (or D&D) approach of swing and block, swing and block, swing and block...

[wimsele]

Roland, many thanks. Your efforts bring us closer to the reality of Medieval combat. Reality = Sharp weapons that kill...