The Beaked Halberd

My name Is Tyler, I'm from Australia, and I'm a State and National (World Championship) Historical Medieval Battle fighter  (HMB, also known as Buhurt). HMB is a full-contact, full-force combat sport. We use blunted medieval weapons and wear specialised medieval armour, to fight each other. There are very few rules, put your opponent on the ground by any means available. Punch, kick, hit them in the face with a 3kg steel axe, cut them down with a 5ft sword, grapple them into submission.

Put them on the ground. Any way you can. 

Now that you're acquainted with the sport, I'd like to provide you with a little monologue about a beautifully destructive weapon.

The Beaked Halberd. This ugly beast is one of the many variants of Western-European halberds that saw use in the high middle-ages. A weapon of raw brutality, the halberd can be understood as a lethal mixture of a sword, an axe, and an armour piercing warhammer.

In the world of HMB, the halberd possess similar characteristics of it's medieval fore-fathers. Weight, focused striking edge and lengthy haft (handle) all come together to form a literal bone-crushing weapon. Without our protective armour, this, or any of the weapons we use in this sport, will result in instant fatality. Nothing is for show, it is for function. Armour up, or die.

When used correctly, the halberd is often the decider of a 5vs5 or 21vs21 match. No other weapon provides such fearfully beautiful application of force. Such that a single, well placed hit can reduce an opponent to a sack of potatoes. Gravity need only do the rest of the work, after such a blow.

It takes many months of training to wield the halberd proficiently. You must learn how to move with it, how to handle and grapple opponents in close-quarters, learn how to place shots and make sure you're hitting with maximum precision and force. Once you're comfortable with the use of a weapon, it becomes second nature, it becomes a part of you.