WHAT IT DOES

It adds seven halberds, namely:

- the Chinese Ji. Well, one of the many models of Ji. Particularly, it's the double-bladed model and obviously the later steel model, not the Bronze Age combination of spear and dagger-axe. It was a very versatile weapon, allowing a variety of stabbing, hacking and hooking attacks, and is depicted as used by both infantry and cavalry.

- the Poleaxe, a rather iconic example of European medieval halberd. Well, one of the many, many, many models of halberds that were in use in different times and places. It's furthermore a plain infantryman's tool, not the ceremonial or palace guard models with intricate decorations on the blade. For the back, I gave it a nasty bladed fluke.

- the Pole-Cleaver, a.k.a., Voulge. It's probably easier to recognize as a variant of the "Qunari Halberd" of Dragon Age 2. While it's not a historical replica, it is close enough to a voulge or lochaber axe to not be unrealistic, and at least technically fit into a historical category. Attaching a wide cleaver blade to the side of a pole was how the historical Voulge was born. It's the weapon that eventually evolved into the Swiss Voulge, a.k.a., Halberd. Specifically, because of the "hooks" at the back, this one would be classified as a Voulge-Guisarme.

- the Saxon Voulge, i.e., a more typical example of a voulge, based on a mid-16'th century Saxon design. "Saxon" here meaning Saxony in Germany, not the guys that got beat up at Hastings. This particular example dispenses with most of the extra tips, flukes and so on, and is just a big blade on a stick. It's somewhat similar to the bardiche or Lochaber axe.

- the Swiss Voulge 1. It's a historical 14'th century Swiss polearm, and probably the grandfather of all European halberds. Note that since these were peasant weapons, and done by village smiths, they're not as optimized towards the same optimal shape and size as swords were in a given time and place. Both the shape and the size of the head vary a lot between models. Also, many have flukes or hooks on the back, but many of the early ones don't. I've tried to pick a representative enough model, but due to sheer historical variation, it's probably not identical to whatever your local museum or reenactor group has.

- the Swiss Voulge 2. An even earlier specimen, from the early 14'th century. This type of voulge was used in the Battle of Morgarten in 1315. As usual, here too there was a lot of variability in the actual shape and size.

- the Swiss Halberd. A 15'th century specimen, and pretty much the final evolution of the battlefield halberd for the Swiss. The head is firmly fixed to the thick pole with long metal bands and bolts, which also prevent some joker with a sword from just cutting off your pole. Needless to say, here too there is a bewildering amount of variability in historical shapes and sizes.


It also adds two battleaxes, which is to say, big double-headed axes on a pole:

- Battleaxe 1: It's basically the Poleaxe, without the back fluke, and with a second identical blade towards the back.

- Battleaxe 2: It's basically the Pole-Cleaver a.k.a. Voulge, without the back fluke, and with a second identical blade towards the back.


In game terms, they do _marginally_ more base damage than a skyforged steel battleaxe, and are just as fast, but at the expense of being also marginally heavier. They have double chance to crit, as well as increased stagger. I'm aiming, as usual, for a point that can be justified in game with just steel, but which is still at least competitive at higher levels. They won't out-dps daedric two-handers, or even ebony, but at least you won't be penalized much if you stick with them for the looks.

They can be crafted and enhanced like steel battleaxes, with the difference that, for immersion sake, they use firewood instead of leather strips. I mean, there is no leather anywhere in sight on them, but they do have big wooden poles.


It also adds two long-handled one-handed cavalry axes, based basically on the pole-axe, except with a smaller head and less than half the pole size. Cavalry axes needed a longer handle for reach, so opposing infantry can't just duck below where you can comfortably reach. Unlike the infantry axes, these were high-quality, high-status weapons, often used even by rulers and their personal guards. (E.g., see Michael The Brave, an Eastern-European warlord from around 1600: http://unknownbucharestdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/mihai-viteazu-monument.jpg )

- Cavalry Axe 1: single axe blade, and a nasty curved blade as a back hook

- Cavalry Axe 2: double bladed, top heavy axe, for maximum impact.

These are balanced, obviously, against the war-axes instead of the two-handed battle-axes.


RETEXTURING AND MODDING

If you don't like my textures, the easiest thing to do is change them for yourself. The easiest (though not necessarily best) way is to take advantage of the fact that the pieces have separate textures, and simply replace the JiBlade.dds (or the handle) with whatever metal texture you prefer. For example if you want excessively rusty iron blade or shiny brushed steel or whatever, just replace that texture and there you go. You don't even have to follow the blade shape: any photo of a metal surface will do, as long as the size is a power of 2 (128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096.)

Likewise the mesh pieces are really distinct meshes, somewhat like in the old NWN2. Actually even more so: it's really a collection of several component pieces, to allow for example easy conversion to, say, a single bladed model even by someone who has no experience with mesh editing. You only need to do some copying and pasting nodes in NifSkope for that. It's easier than it sounds.

Basically, it's made to be modder friendly. Even for people who haven't modded before.


HOW TO GET IT

For now, just craft them.


HOW TO INSTALL IT

Extract the archive, with directories, in your "Data" folder. Select it in the list of plugin files in the launcher.


HOW TO UNINSTALL IT

Delete the .esp file from your Data directory.

Delete the MHalberds directory in both the MeshesWeapons and TexturesWeapons directories.


CONFLICTS

It shouldn't conflict with anything.


LICENSE

I release this into the public domain. You can do anything you wish with it. I would, of course, appreciate it if you give credit, but if not, so be it, I can live with that too.


VERSION HISTORY

1.09:
Added the 15'th century Swiss Halberd

1.08:
Added the other 14'th century Swiss Voulge
Tweaked the mesh and blood mesh for the other Swiss voulge slightly

1.07:
Added the 14'th century Swiss Voulge

1.06:
Changed the metal texture again
Desaturated the wood texture too
Different "shine" for the metal parts
Less shiny poles
Better looking blood

1.05:
Added the two cavalry axes

1.04:
Fixed the collision box size (in Skyrim they're 10 times bigger than shown in NifSkope) so they fall to the ground as you'd expect

1.03:
Fixed the normals on the Saxon Voulge, they were pointing inside, making it look paper-thin in first person

1.02:
Added the Saxon Voulge.

1.01:
Duller and much dirtier blades, since people were complaining about their pristine and flawless condition

1.0:
First Skyrim Release, roughly on par with 1.05 for NV