i thought that was because none of TES characters were "human" unless i'm missing something? :mellow: or are imperials and redguards = TES humans?

This is true, though most any hammer will be weighted a little bit at the head to provide a more powerful potential impact and protect it from damage. Hammers and maces have a defined point of pressure (where the handle meets the head) and as such, if made of a single lightweight material the strength of that point is the maximum amount of strength you'll be able to put into a swing without damaging or breaking it. By weighting the head, you can provide impact that doesn't come through that pressure point, and thus allowing to increase your potential velocity without risking much damage to the weapon itself. However, despite this it would still want to be kept rather lightweight. The most work you do with an axe, and especially a mace, is picking it back up after an impact. Due to this though, they tend to be much more awkward to carry naturally. Even if they're the exact same weight as a sword, the axe will likely feel heavier when being carried naturally in the hand, because more weight is at the opposite end. Strapped to you, a top heavy object will be an annoyance as well.

Axes (and maces as well, I suppose) are very nice weapons, especially in the hands of an expert, but swords just tend to be more manageable and more natural for a beginner.

Another annoying thing: ungainly heavy armor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm11yAXeegg

Heavy? Yes. Clanky and loud? Yes. Constrictive of movement? Not if properly made.

I came in here to lay down the law, I was expecting most people to say they were heavy, but I'm glad to see the l ink I've been posting around (thearma, great site for finding real world information on middle ages weapons and combat) is getting around to other people.

@stiler oh yes, lol, thats where i got the information i posted above (the pics were from google though)
http://www.thearma.org/essays/2HGS.html

Does anyone know the average swing time for a two handed sword?

All those old swords that weighed 15-20 pounds were ceremonial swords, used when other royalty came to visit as sort of bragging rights of who has the soldiers with the biggest weapons, sorta like gamers gamerscore or trophy amounts lol. The swords made for battle were much lighter and required a lot of maintinence, and most have broken since then, that why most old swords people have are the heavier cerimonial swords, and why most people think they were all swinging around 15 pound swords with 40 pounds of armor on the battle field all day.

OP is correct. this is one of the reasons that oblivions stupid anime warhammers bug the crap out of me.

I thought those giant war hammers were more western than Japanese/Chinese/anime, though they do show a lot of "very/too large" weapons. though i could be wrong

I don't like the chunky 'n' clumsy look of weapons either (just lol'd at how silly most maces look on the game,) but for all we know, maybe Nirn really has much weaker gravity than our planet Earth after all (seriously, just look at how nuts the acrobatic skill works in game).

judging by the weapons in all the final fantasy games and other square enix releases not to mention their anime shows and manga im giving the giant weapons award to the japanese. the only really big oversized sword i can think of from my childhood that came from western cartoons was he-mans sword, i dont even think the thundercats sword was that big. the current games like warhammer, WoW etc at least to me look to be heavily inspired by japanese art. i stopped playing that game cause everyone looked so stupid.........that and the combat is boring as hell.

@vessels........except that all their other weapons are the same size as ours. their swords are identical, their arrows are identical, axes, spears (in morrowind) etc. unless gravity acts differently on blunt objects than on sharp objects its just crappy art design for people who have never even lifted a sledgehammer in their lives.

Lol, i guess that makes sense, also if you hate Wow are design you'll hate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR7U-lCt19U skip to the 40 second mark. also the one minute mark has some strange stuff.

on topic, i'm not sure if the devs will make war hammers look like that(google images) because when the average gamer sees the word :Warhammer: they think big sledge hammer weapon.

this video should give you an idea of how fast a claymore sized sword can be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkiScJV_IT0

they may not be made of the better materials of their original counterparts(but even so that would only be a pound or 2 difference) and this is also staged but still the speed and accuracy of which they can be moved is undeniable.

Wow, i don't remember attacking that fast in oblivion ;P thanks for posting that.

Yeah, I'd LOVE to see half-swording (holding above the hilt, on the blade) being a combat technique used in the game. No game (or movie really) ever shows such things. People always assume sword fights were two guys standing far away (as they could) swinging around at each other, but a lto of times people would get close, use means other then just their sword (tripping, pulling/pushing, off hand, etc). It was like a chess match, you'd do whatever you could to try and throw the guy off balance or create an opening.

Disenchanted with heavy weapon weights in Oblivion and before using a mod that changed the values, I wanted to make sure the mod was not outlandish. My research yielded this site. http://bjorn.foxtail.nu/vm_eng.htm

I see you didn't take the time to actually read your link and see the part where he says "the weight puts it far outside the parameters for a functional sword of this size."

This thread is great. I love how people start spouting off on things they obviously know nothing about, then interject what they think are facts.

Well, the sword Arnold used in Conan was 10 pounds, so that means they all were about 10 pounds.


There is only one way to actually solve this. Go to a museum that has actual weapons dating back to the time period, and weigh them.

Replicas are just that, replicas. They mean nothing. They were specifically intended to be bought by yokels.

Swords varied greatly in the medieval times. look at the Zweih?nder. It weighed near 14lbs. But the scottish Claymore weighed only about 6lbs.

Some civilizations built weapons differently. Heavier weapons, held by strong warriors, proved to be an epic force. However, lighter weapons allow more to wield them. Arguably, this could mean a lighter warrior could out-manuever a stronger opponent. But it can go back and forth.

The fact is, there are way too many different weapons, and weight classes, to get a "general weight".

Sorry but that video is too fantastic, actually It's a suicidal style. Too open and careless although the speed is fine


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjT4JepA-Vc&feature=related
I think this video is more realistic and they use longsword, not claymore.

I highly doubt that. Source?

From wikipedia but I'm sure you could call the museum and ask for them to weigh it.



That is just his though, maybe it was custom made?

He went to wikipedia, but the page also said swords of that weight were ceremonial and unsuitable for combat.

The Zweih?nder could be up to 180 cm (6 ft) long from the base of the pommel to the tip of the blade, with a 120–150 cm (4–5 ft) blade and 30–45 cm (1–1? ft) hilt. The weight could range between 2 kg and 3.2 kg (4?–7 lb). However, a ceremonial Zweih?nder, which was unsuitable for combat, could weigh up to 7 kg (16 lb).

I'd say so. In technical features, it says they are generally 4.5 to 7 pounds, and only ceremonial ones unsuitable forcombat are in that range.

Magic exists so half all your estimates if you bang on a good ol enchantment. I can swing my 1000 pound warhammer with my trusty magic!

Go to a museum.