[DF] Maximizing Maces

[Bruno]

Most species have a way of fighting among themselves without causing lethal injury (in humans, this is hitting with the fists) and a second way of fighting among themselves murderously. For the human-on-human murder-fight, the downward blow with a tool from above down onto weaker crown of the head (or neck and shoulders) of your opponent is the instinctive preference [1]. It's been the go-to since we figured out how to swing an antelopes thigh bone in anger, and was just encouraged by our developing more dangerous bashing weapons.
Maces obviously are bad to be hit by anywhere on your body but human skulls are weaker than other similar sized animals (such as the pig), and are disproportionately large targets.

I suspect the biggest "advantage" of the mace, in the end, is that we understand their danger on an instinctive level and so we just like them. Our brains have used culture to come up with vastly more superior kinds of weapons, just as we've come up with more dangerous hand-to-hand fighting styles than grabbing-and-biting or thumping each other over the head with our fists. But clubs remain stubbornly popular just as thumping each other and biting each other remain still in use.

[1] For adults and older children. Younger children fight like chimps: grabbing on and biting. As do some adults, we don't always grow out of infantile behavior.