Flail (chain has to be shorter than the wooden haft) | Forums

[NephthysIV]

Hi,
I'm a big fan of flails and there is something that bothers me.
The chain of a flail is always shorter than the wooden haft. Otherwise the user would hurt is own hand.
But in the following picture and trailer is the chain much longer than the haft.

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[Eidard]

Actually not, I remember reading somewhere that there are examples of historical flails with chains long enough to hit the users hand.

Matt Easton dedicated a video to talk about flails, and even though he idn't provide any sources on the video I think the guy has enough credibility to take his word in this matter, he says in some part of the video that there were flails with really long chains.

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[Willaguy2010]

They're not going for shot for shot historical accuracy here, swords can't cut plate, Vikings didn't wear horns, and there weren't any fat Samurai that would live beyond the first battle. The devs stated that this game represents almost an exaggeration of what we think of these historical warriors, they want us to not only see them but feel them through emotion provoking art style.

[NephthysIV]

Thre are some images with a longer chain than a haft. Most of the time they aren't authentic like the multi-chain flails. Especially I can't take the picture where a knight on a horse with a flail seriously.
Why should you use a weapon which can hurt your own horse. And it will be be so hard to use one on the back of a horse.

f you hit a solid surface like a armor the ball of the fail is going to bounce back and will probaly hit you if the chain is longer than the haft.
Fails are fancy like Nunchakus but there are many better weapons. Probably they were only useful to intimidate your oppent. That's why I like them. They are so badass.

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They're not going for shot for shot historical accuracy here, swords can't cut plate, Vikings didn't wear horns, and there weren't any fat Samurai that would live beyond the first battle. The devs stated that this game represents almost an exaggeration of what we think of these historical warriors, they want us to not only see them but feel them through emotion provoking art style.

Yeah your are right .

[TrikRisk]

Calm down guys, this is a history based fantasy game. The fantasy aren't dragons but it is all taken to the "Fantastic!" scene if yyou know what I mean.

[AvarusTyrannus]

My understanding was that a flail was intended to swing around an opponents shield or guard, but I've no earthly idea where I heard that, so take it with a grain of salt or several.

[Willaguy2010]

My understanding was that a flail was intended to swing around an opponents shield or guard, but I've no earthly idea where I heard that, so take it with a grain of salt or several.

I've heard that as well, but I also heard that flails might not have even been used in combat so it doesn't seem like a very well understood history.