[larsdangly]

Anyway, I find all this irritating when I contemplate the details, but in practice I just play RAW and it works out reasonably well. The game stats out various weapons, shields and armor to be balanced, not realistic. It is kind of amazing that the end result has at least as much versimilitude as other games. Pole arms have nerfed damage, but then again they can deliver a normal attack at 2 hex range, which is very helpful in skirmish fights (i.e., where there are more than 2 people on the battle field). And their extra die of damage on a charge is often a difference maker, just because the outcomes of damage in TFT has some very sharp thresholds. Your odds of scoring a knock down on a halberd charge are significantly better than on a bastard sword hit. Basically, pole weapons are valid choices and work differently from other weapons in a way that is interesting, but in the end they don't have game-changing advantages over other weapons. I think that was really the design goal.