I would think that - if you could -parrying with a flail would cause the weapon to loose its momentum and thus render it ineffective as an attack weapon. I'm guessing that it would be difficult to attack and parry with a flail in the same combat round. I don't know, I have never used a flail.
> The real trick to flails and ball and chains is trying to stop the
attack. As
> I understand it, the wielder would strike at the edge shield with the
haft of
> the flail and the momentum of the ball would swing around the shield
striking
> the defender.
Any 'hit' on the chain would probably alter its trajectory though. I imagine that if it could be intercepted far enough from the defender it would swing uselessly. A contest between a flail user and a warrior with a long weapon (eg. a Greatsword) could become a contest of who can maintain the distance that is suitable to them.
> Just to make things interesting I also like to have a special success
flail > attack entangle the weapon used to parry with.
What kind of rules would you have for unentangling weapons? (I'm not saying that it couldn't be done, I'm just curious about how you would do it.) A combatant parrying with a main gauche (however unlikely that might be) or something like a sword breaker would probably be pleased to keep an attackers flail ensnarled. It would allow them to attack without concern. Also, it would make the attackers immobile arm a tempting target.
Again, all of this is nothing more than conjecture. It would be interesting to here what someone like Jane - who is practiced in medeival combat - would say.
Lorne D. Booker
Powered by hypermail