Some questions about polearms.

[Sam Baughn]

First of all, what skill do you use to handle a pike? Is it just a (very) long spear?

What's the deal with the poleaxe? It seems that there are two historical weapons with similar names: a large axe blade mounted on a pole, like a really long two handed axe and a rather more complicated weapon with several spikes, blades and/or hammer heads mounted on a pole, somewhat like a short halberd. Neither of them seem to match the stats on page 272 of the Basic Set.

Finally, are there any rules for pulling someone over using the hooks on the back of halberds and similar weapons?

[Kromm]

Martial Arts elaborates on pole weapons a lot. The revised draft is in. We should be able to playtest the book within the month.

[Polydamas]

For hooking manoeuvres with halberds etc., look up a few Pyramid articles like "The Western Way of War." They are for 3e, but great, and techniques should convert easily enough.

[Big Bear]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Martial Arts elaborates on pole weapons a lot. The revised draft is in. We should be able to playtest the book within the month.

*unutterable joy*

[Maz]

I can't really awnser to any of your questions.
But for the pole-axe I think of it as a lochaber axe. A scottish weapon if I remember correctly, but properly used in other countries as well. A rennassance weapon I think.
*shrug*, sorry I can't help more.

[ArmoredSaint]

Is there any chance that GURPS Martial Arts might re-examine the weights given for polearms in the core book? Just as with a lot of armour, these are far too heavy.

[Kromm]

We're not going to be revising the weights and costs in the Basic Set.* Bear in mind, though, that the pole weapons in that volume are for full-length battlefield weapons faced with steel to avoid being chopped. Martial Arts will present far lighter (and shorter) pole weapons for personal combat.

* In Martial Arts. That's not to say it won't happen some day! However, it's topical for Low-Tech -- not Martial Arts, which takes the stance "Here's how to use the stuff in the Basic Set."

[Luther]

Originally Posted by Kromm

In Martial Arts. That's not to say it won't happen some day! However, it's topical for Low-Tech -- not Martial Arts, which takes the stance "Here's how to use the stuff in the Basic Set.

Glad you added that bit . . . I really hope the new Low-Tech will make justice to metal armors. BTW, what's the author? :)

[Kromm]

Currently, there's no assigned Low-Tech author. The last I heard, we were realizing that there's less content here than for High-Tech (people can quibble, but it's fairly undeniable that more widgets exist at TL8 than at TL0-4 put together) and so needed a strategy to get a 240-page book out of it. As of last autumn, that strategy involved creating a Fantasy-Tech book to cover TL0-4 plus low-tech fantasy. That isn't set in stone, and isn't even officially acknowledged, so that's about as much as I can say about it.

[Peter V. Dell'Orto]

Originally Posted by Perfect Organism

First of all, what skill do you use to handle a pike? Is it just a (very) long spear?

AFAIK you use spear. I am not with my books so I cannot double-check that.

Originally Posted by Perfect Organism

What's the deal with the poleaxe?

As you say, there are two weapons. GURPS uses the term for a big axe blade on a pole. Historically it was an axe or hammer head with a beaked or flanged hammer head or spike on the back, topped with a spike. GURPS Martial Arts will reflect this.

Originally Posted by Perfect Organism

Finally, are there any rules for pulling someone over using the hooks on the back of halberds and similar weapons?

Yeah, as Sean said, in GURPS Martial Arts. Volker`s articles were inspirational but the rules there are 3e and I felt a bit overly complex. But hooking with weapons is in there.