Do spears REALLY beat sword and shield?

[ItchyDani3l]

I watched a recent video by HEMA re-enactor Lindybeige about this subject, it was a good watch.

Interestingly, one of the things they found out was that sword + shield actually beats spear in most circumstances.

But it seems that this is because a single person with a sword and shield can out-maneuver the spearman and close the distance.

If you have a large formation with swords and shields, I think they would lose the maneuverability.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XuhoFszfe8

[McFuzz]

Axes can beat spears too. I watched a guy talk about the Fire Emblem weapon triangle. He mentioned that you could use an axe to yank a spear away, or to damage the weapon and make it less viable. But it looks like, for the most part, that without a shield the battle becomes more about weapon reach.

Here's that video covering a similar topic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N2VibnjB6g

However, you have to keep in mind, the Bad North vikings seem to charge wildly, usually in single file, into a well prepared spearwall, up an extremely narrow pathway, which is probably why they don't do so hot lol.

[ItchyDani3l]

Oh yeah skallagrim is another good medieval youtuber, I like him.
I've seen that video lol, it was a good one.

[CHOO CHOO]

Skallagrim and Lindybeige are hacks who'll claim their opinions to be fact at the tops of their lungs. The few times they are right might as well be by complete chance.

Ask yourselves: Why were pike blocks the final evolution of close-quarters formation combat? Why didn't they just use axes or shield walls? I'm not saying I know the answer, but my guess is that reach and the ability to have several ranks of people attack at once are of far greater importance than some armchair fighters would accord.

Lindy's little fight camp experiment with short spears against longswords in small groups hardly provides much evidence for predicting how larger formations would fare. And while the formations in Bad North aren't all that large either, their pikes certainly are far longer than short spears.

[ItchyDani3l]

To be honest, I think the real reason why spear & shield became the most used military formation was only partially because of its effectiveness, but mostly because of the price.

You could make 5 or more spears with the same iron it takes to make an arming sword, and you could make 10 or more spears with the iron from a longsword.

And then of course, unlike in HEMA or video games, there's no rule in real life prohibiting a spearman from also carrying a sword.

So it makes sense that any general would arm their men first with a spear and dagger, and then if they were wealthy enough to also afford swords, they could issue those as well.

And don't forget, not only do spears allow ranks behind to attack, but they also allow diagonal attacks in the same rank (as shown in the video)

So a spearman who is not in formation is at a natural disadvantage versus a sword and shield, which I think is what lindy was trying to display here. (because a spearman out of formation does cannot use those advantages of a spear)