Hello all,
It’s been so long since I have posted... probably close to a year.

Anyway, in the past little while I have done some reading on armies of the ancient world such as Rome, Greece, China ect... and I don't remember much mention of flexible weapons such as rope darts, meteor hammers, 3 sectional staffs or chain whips on the battlefield. The only exception I have read was the Ninja of Japan using chain weapons in combat. I have heard of morning stars being used by European countries but was under the impression that those types of weapons phased out. The most common type of weapons I seen were spear, sword, axe, knife or bow.

If they weren’t used on the battle field, were they used for self defence or policing instead?
If possible, Could someone direct me to history books or reading material on gear used during pre gun powder ages (any country)?
Has anyone on here done an in-depth study of flexible weapons?

Thanks,
ML

Not that I really trust wiki very much but...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flail_(weapon)

The flail qualifies as a 'flexible' weapon I think.

This is the wikipedia entry on a great number of MA weapons, and the flexible ones are listed under "soft weapons" and "composite" weapons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_martial_arts_weapons#.22Soft.22_weapons

Thanks for the info guys.

Does anyone know of any historical accounts of Chinese warriors or units being equipped with rope darts or meteor hammers?

I was also wondering if anyone has sparred with such weapons and what was the outcome?

ML

I had a friend who could use a chain like no one else I've ever seen, but not quite a meteor hammer. Sparring with his seven-foot chain probably would have resulted in death.

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If there isn’t a foam substitute to purchase anywhere, it might be neat to play with ideas and make a safe sparring tool

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Tennis ball on a rope

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That makes sense. It's similar to many other armies of the same time. How would these items become known today as weapons?

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While I might rather use a larger weapon if I can, there might be times that it would come in handy knowing how to use a weapon that can be wrapped up tight and hidden in a pocket. Swords are hard to hide.