The current model of Halberd is more like a Poleaxe than a Halberd.
Mostly, the shape of halberd’s head is a mixture of 3 blades:
Front: An Axe.
Back/Rear: A Hook and/or Sickle like balde.
Top: A Short, Sword like balde.
And most importantly, Halberd’s head is a “one piece”, not sparated like a Poleaxe does.
And I think this is one of the reason why Fatshark does not give a Poleaxe to Kruber for a very long time.
And for someone who might say, the “play-style” would be similar: No, it wouldn’t. The Poleaxe’s heavy attacks would use its head for sure, but for its light attacks, it would use its bottom/rear end of the shaft. Well, at least in real life, it does.
The weapon head is clearly inspired by pollaxe designs.
Although the ingame weapon length is not common for a pollaxe, its longer than usual pollaxe.
So the attacks using the bottom of the shaft won’t necessarily would be a prominent or effective move with such a weapon irl, imo.
Generally, the ingame weapon would be less thrust oriented, and more chop oriented, relative to usual historical halberd used for formation fighting. It would be a great weapon for dueling and out of formation fighting imo.
The Halberd is not really a Halberd, but rather an impractically oversized Pollaxe. The Glaive has got nothing to do with what a Glaive historically was. The hammers in this game couldn’t be wielded even if you had the physiologically impossible strenght to do so, because you’d need to have the same density as lead as well to have the mass to prevent being pulled away by them when swung. The tips of the Greatswords in this game are just for show, and appearently touching anything but the hilt of them would electrocute you or something, since there isn’t any halfswording.
All of those things (and more) are perfectly true, and would have been things that needed adressing… IF this game pretended to be a HEMA-sim, or something alike. But it isn’t. It’s Warhammer. The setting and premise of this game are absolutely preposterous, from a realistic accuracy standpoint. If this game would have been even 10% realistic, you’d be dead by the first wave on Recruit at the latest.
This game doesn’t need to be realistic. In fact, it needs to be unrealistic, even. And stuff like the Halberd not being a historically accurate Halberd is just stuff we need to let go. It’s a Warhammer Halberd, which can cleave through several bodies without killing them, and which can be swung around at ridiculous speeds for 30 minutes, while still having the mass to hack through steel monsters without losing its edge ever. It’s wielded by a guy that can shout so loud it can displace abominations with the body mass of an elephant. Just roll with it.
Most halberd illusions look pretty close to real life weapons.
And thanks to this game, the pollaxes (or halberds close to a pollaxe) became one of my most favored medieval weapon types, further increasing my interest in HEMA. Its in part thanks to the animations and combos, which does make you feel like you’re fighting with a polearm, and not just a battleaxe.
Its true that Vermintide doesn’t try to be HEMA-sim, and the realistic elements aren’t required. But they’re a very nice bonus in my opinion, because realism in fantasy makes things more believable which leads to more immersion, which is a massive appeal of games (and media in general). One youtuber that promotes such ideas is Shadiversity. Here’s a couple vids about it:
Taking into consideration that Warhammer is inspired by late Medieval era (The Empire faction heavily so), and the laws of physics are the same, we can extrapolate, that HEMA combat would fit this fantasy world really good, spicing up the picture.
So i think the lore reasons back HEMA up, where applicable (non magic weapon + normal human).
Of course, when we look at the game, the crazy stuff that heroes and enemies do is off the charts, but that’s not always immersion breaking, because “suspension of disbelief” is a thing.
It doesn’t mean that HEMA realism doesn’t have place in the game. It doesn’t devalue what it brings to the game - immersion and variety.
Yeah, I do get your points, and I don’t really disagree fundamentally or anything. It irks me a lot that swordtips are just decoration in this game, for example, and I like how some historically accurate influences can really bring character to a weapon (like with the Brettonian Longsword).
I was just trying to say that Vermintide is not really the game for geeking out to HEMA to. Not that it would be a bad thing to do in general, but just that this game will only disappoint if you try.
I stumbled upon this question - why The Grail Knight can’t use the halberd?
Q: What other weapons can I use for my Grail Knight? A: The Grail Knight can use all of Markus Krubers melee weapons other than the Halberd and the Tuskgor spear, for they are weapons of the Peasantry and unfit for a gallant Knight of Bretonnia.
If it’s not actually a halberd, but a mix with a pollaxe, which was a knightly weapon in our history.
And all of the illusions of the halberd don’t look like ‘peasant’ weapon at all, they look high quality and richly adorned.
Now, if you say that its because Bretonnia has its own quirks, then i say:
its Markus we’re talking about, a man raised in Empire so he isn’t brainwashed into following the same traditions. An axe on a stick is still a melee weapon, the length of the stick wouldn’t matter to Markus at all.
why greathammers are allowed for GK then? i’ve never seen bret knights with them in lore or art, its an Empire thing. you could say its a brutish weapon, also unfit for gallant knights.
To be fair, you could also say that Markus not being from Bretonia makes him extra pedant to the restrictions as to not dishonour himself.
Or that it’s just game design and it’s used for creating bigger diversity between careers.
Also who knows what drinking from the Grail actually does to the person and their psyche, he very well could act exactly like a Bretonian because of that.
possible, if Kruber is trying to earn respect from bretons, but doubt he’ll mind if he’s in Empire with only the U5 gang around.
Its not much added diversity between careers, since halberd is available on 3 other careers. The fact that Grail knight doesn’t have the halberd (and spear) is a waste because he’s a 2 melee slot hero, the variety of melee loadout combos is his appeal, and we have less of that simply because of easily solvable lore reason. Like, having an Empire merc becoming a Grail knight is already a huge lore stretch for gameplay purpose, why then we must forbid him from more melee weapon variety?
Would be cool to have 2 different weapons - pollaxe and halberd for Kruber, with pronounced differences. Instead of just 1 ‘halberd’ which is a mix between the two.
So pollaxe would be closer to greataxe in feel, with some thrusting, wrestling, and hammer attacks with the other side - a great potential for interesting weapon.
Halberd would be close to current ingame version, but less choppy and more thrust oriented, more supportive weapon, more reach too.
