Impact and Crushing Weapons
Examines rigid percussive weapons designed to concuss, deform plate armor, and deliver shock through mail, padded defenses, and helmets.
Inside this collection
Flanged and Knobbed Maces
Surveys solid and composite-headed maces across Europe, the Ottoman Empire, and Central Asia.
War Hammers and Becs de Corbin
Focuses on spiked and pick-backed hammers built specifically to defeat fifteenth- and sixteenth-century steel plate.
Jointed Flails and Chain Weapons
Covers documented military flails and peasant adaptations, distinguishing genuine arms from romanticized fantasies.
Clubs and Macanas of the Americas
Examines stone-, wood-, and bronze-headed shock weapons used across Mesoamerica, the Andes, and the Caribbean.
South Asian Heavy Maces
Details the gada, shishpar, and related steel-headed percussive arms of the Indian subcontinent.
East Asian Impact Arms
Covers Japanese kanabō, Chinese chui, and iron truncheons used against armored opponents.
African Hardwood Rungus and Clubs
Examines carved dense-wood throwing clubs and knobkerries, exploring wood selection and weighting.
Military Picks and Horseman Picks
Details pointed armor-breaching picks used from the Crusader period through the early modern cavalry battles.
Legendary objects deserve
a closer reading.
We study materials, makers and surviving evidence. Legends open the question; history guides the answer.
Our approach