Richard Lemmens website
Copyright:
Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike
This text content and maps on this page are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license license. This means that: adapting the content is allowed; using the content for commercial purposes is not allowed; sharing and redistributing the content with others is allowed. If you do any of the above, you must attribute your copy to its creator, Richard Lemmens, and make sure any alterations and distributions are licensed in the same way as the original. More info about Creative Commons licenses can be found at the Creative Commons website.

Warmatrix

War Matrix - Staff

Prehistory 35000 BCE - 3500 BCE, Weapons and technology

Combat with staves
Combat with staves
The staff is a very simple weapon, being a straight stick, usually made completely from wood. But while sticks can be rough and gnarled, a true staff is smooth and straight. This allows the wielder to shift his hands over the length of the staff, varying range, angle of attack and striking force.
A staff deals relatively little damage for its size, but has a good reach and great versatility. It can be used to strike, punch, deflect and block at various ranges. During the Renaissance entire fencing manuals were written for it. The staff is often used as a practice weapon and sometimes in duels. On the battlefield other weapons have always enjoyed more popularity.
Most staves are between 0.9 and 2.5 meters long, thick and sturdy, often made from oak wood. Solid staves are actually harder than swords; if the two meet in a head-on clash, the sword is likely to break first. Some staff weapons have the head reinforced with metal, though this kind of weapons borders on other categories like the club and mace. Examples of staves are the English quarterstaff and the Japanese jo (short staff) and bo (long staff), though staves are used all over the world.