Weapons & Warriors: The Horseman's Pick of the Europeans

Art by TL Jeffcoat

The cavalry of Europe had a variety of weapons in their arsenal. One of the craziest and yet effective against the heavy plated knights was the Horseman’s Pick. The design evolved from a version of the war hammer. The balance for the head was sharpened and stretched to create a long spike that was sometimes curved.

All of the weight of the Horseman’s Pick was concentrated in the head of the weapon. The thin light wooden or steal shaft allowed the wielder to swing the weapon and let the momentum of the spiked head do its damage. This was an easy weapon to generate a lot of force with, but the weight of the weapon required the warrior to pull back before a swing. Any Knight that could see the Horseman pull back would have a couple seconds to prepare for the attack, making it a slow and difficult to hit with weapon.

Art Update & Impossible Goals

I completed the Ballistic Knife, and I've posted it. Unfortunately, March has been a very difficult month for writing, but I've made some progress on the World Building (which has become a project for designing a new Role Playing Game that takes place in the fantasy world I've created). I'll continue working on that, but I'm going to schedule in more time for other projects, such as Devil Dog.

I haven't posted much lately because I've been spending all my computer time compiling information and researching. I'm trying to get in as much research for Devil Dog as I can before completing the final rewrite. I have no intentions of writing this book again once it's done this time. One thing I've learned is that if you keep digging, you'll always find something to fix or change. I'm not changing anything else, just getting it written the way it should be and then fixing all those typos and all the grammar and content editing that comes after that. Cross your fingers or say a prayer for me, I'll need it. I set these goals and planned to complete them, but as a realist, I knew I'd never actually make these deadlines. I have done a lot more in the last couple months than I have ever have in that time span, so I will continue to make new Impossible Goals after I eventually complete the tasks I'm wading through now.

Here's the picture I did up for the Ballistic Knife post. It's not an ancient weapon, but it is a blade and it's really cool. Check it out if you haven't already. Next, I'm drawing the Kanabō and a redo of the Hwacha. That was one of my worst early drawings, and now that I've gotten halfway decent with my art program, it's time to update some old ones as well. I'll be writing up and posting the Horseman's Pick for the monthly weapon post on Monday. See everyone then!

The Ballistic Knife by TL Jeffcoat