Weapon names

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To put it frankly, some have little sense.

For example "Sword of war" or "War sword"

In case of axe, it does make sense, because axes were used for both combat and cutting wood. So the name "war axe" or "battle axe" means that this particular weapon is designated for the use in combat.

On the other hand, swords had no civilian appliaction, they were dedicated weapon. Therefore, the adjective "war" or "battle" is redundant. And what does the name "arming sword" mean? I could not find out. Is it supposed to indicate that you can arm yourself with it?

By the way, please note that the commonly used name "broadsword" was created by accident by 18 century writers who wanted to distinguish the later used rapiers and foils with thin blade from the medieval cutting swords with broader blade. In medieval times though, no such name was used.
 
I agree. Instead of the great sword & sword of war, they should be claymore and flamberge. Great axe could be more accurately named Bearded axe, and pollaxe named halberd.

Also some of the swadian names could do with a tweak. Swadian footmen should be named swadian men-at-arms, (footmen is too similar in name to vaegir footmen, which leads one to believe that they are second tier units, also it's inaccurate because half have horses.)
Swadian men at arms should be renamed swadian cavalry. Cavalry is a much more descriptive name than man at arms.
 
I was wondering why my footmen had horses!

Yes, I like those naming suggestions, I know what a flamberge and bearded axe are very well from Diablo, those names mean a lot more to me than the current ones.
 
According to George Cameron Stone's dictionary on arms and armor (I forget the exact title, and it's at home) an "arming sword" is one intended to be used while wearing armor. Agreed about "war sword" and "broadsword" however.

Pole axe and halberd are distinct pole arms. The first has at most one spike, at the end of the shaft, with the blade balanced by a hammer; the second has exactly two points and no hammer. At least that's how I've always read and understood the distinction.

Of course in a game of this nature, it's at times necessary to introduce extra distinctions where historically none were made, for the sake of providing interest and a sense of the true variety of weapons available. Each sword, axe, mace, etc. was a unique item and had its own combative or defensive properties. Games don't provide enough granularity to reflect this uniqueness, so as a result we end up with some arbitrary terms so that players can have some ready indication as to what they're choosing between, rather than calling any mace-like thing a "mace" and having them delve into its stats to find out its qualities.
 
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