Tempered Medieval Bastard Sword
Battle Swords
When Strongblade refers to a "Battle Sword," we are referring to most European medieval swords with blades longer than 35 inches or so. real battle swords had blades well in excess of this, and, in fact, a 35" sword was considered a bit skimpy for fighting skirmishes. But for home use and light sparring, a 36" blade is fairly long.
These swords can be sub-categorized into hand-and-a-half swords/bastard swords and two handed swords. Swords of this nature would have been a Knight's primary weapon on the battle field because of their strength, reach, and armor-splitting weight.
These weapons were intended to smash and slice through thick armor, so had to be quite heavy and sharp. While the point of the sword could be used to pierce (and the final killing blow with these swords often was a thrust), this was primarily a slashing weapon.
Many of these swords feature a riccatta, a dull section of the blade just below the hilt. The swordsman could place a hand on this riccatta allowing him to grip the blade a little higher, which gave the swordsman more leverage for the swing (a bit like choking up on a modern baseball bat). This was especially useful for in-fighting (fighting at close quarters), or for more precise thrusts. One of the more popular techniques with these weapons was to use both hands to thrust the blade into an opponents visor, or into gaps in their armor.
These swords rarely had sheathes and were often worn on the back or kept on the knights horse.
See Strongblade's Tempered Medieval Bastard Sword
