favorite type of melee weapon?

[Groenteman]

Pollaxe. Most versatile medieval European weapon, once revered as the best weapon for armoured unhorsed combat but all but forgotten today.

They can use used to hack, spike, stab, crush, hook, trip and pull. Plenty of treatises on their use survives to testify that every end of this weapon was the business end!

At about the same length of its user it had reach but was not as unwieldy as the halberds, glaives, pikes, etc. and so can be used both in formation combat or one-on-one duels.

It was also modular and could come in all sorts of forms, from the wide axe blade/stabbing spike/hammer head version that everyone keeps confusing with a halberd to the Lucerne hammer.

Have some examples:

I do love me some no-faff, functional weapons. We need more of them in media, rather than the chunks of tank armor on a stick or ridiculous utterly impractical frilly things that kill immersion quicker than a pollaxe to the braincase.

Also no pollaxe is not a typo for poleaxe, its the same word only closer to the original meaning (poll=head).

 

[Mister K]

I used to be a big fan of katanas and swords in general.

I still like them, but they were moved to the 2nd place. It is all about my trusty mace now.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Swords, one-handed or two-handed makes no matter to me (though not really ridiculously oversized greatswords). I like the range and freedom of technique you can have with it. In fiction or real life, I love 'em.

Not much a fan of the katana, or rather, not much a fan of the ridiculous worship people seem to have for it. It's just a sharpened end of metal, just like every other sword, kids. And not particularly well-designed either.

 

[Groxnax]

Well, I'm a Swords and axes kinda guy.

 

[duwenbasden]

Warglaives [http://static-2.nexusmods.com/15/mods/110/images/8258-1-1328872430.jpg]. Ridiculously impractical, infinitely awesome.

 

[Broderick]

One of my favorites is the Sword/mace and Shield. While swords are nice, it isn't easy getting the hurt on an enemy that is heavily armored with it. So of course, that is where the mace comes in. I am also a fan of the Zweihander.

 

[The White Hunter]

Broadswords.

Or failing that a really massive warhammer.

One shot one kill and all that.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Spears and other polearms don't get nearly enough credit in fiction, to my way of thinking.

Hand me a poleaxe, and I'll conquer.

 

[Storm Dragon]

Spoiler: A more elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.

A more elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.

EDIT:

Warglaives [http://static-2.nexusmods.com/15/mods/110/images/8258-1-1328872430.jpg]. Ridiculously impractical, infinitely awesome.

That's not a glaive, this is a glaive:

Spoiler: A glaive

A glaive

 

[Princessbabe]

Knives. Close the distance. The knife animations from Assassin's Creed 1 and 2 were fantastic and I've been disappointed that subsequent games in the series either replaced them with the tomahawk animations in AC3 (which were great, but only with the actual axes equipped) or completely did away with them.

Letho from Witcher 2 carried two knives and won all of his fights because he was faster, stronger and smarter than his opponents.

A weapon I'd love to see more of in games is the Nepalese Khukri. The bastard child of a knife and an axe. The wicked curve and heavily weighted spine make them extremely deadly for their size. The Gurkhas were legendary among British soldiers who saw them fight. Apparently one such soldier went to Nepal after the war to learn about their fighting style, because they were nonplussed when asked about martial arts. When he arrived he realized why they were so deadly; Everyone uses Khukris. They use them like a machete to harvest crops and clear jungle, to chop wood, to prepare food, to slaughter animals (apparently a full sized one can decapitate a water buffalo in one swing) and are carried by police and military. They didn't need training to use a tool that is so ubiquitous in their civilisation.

Far Cry 4 features khukris, but due to reused animations it looks a little silly because they aren't really stabbing weapons.

 

[Something Amyss]

Remind me to never challenge you to a fair fight then.

I don't see why I'd do that. It seems doing the opposite would be in my best interest. ;0

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

A lightsaber with a crossguard, obviously! Crikey, like it even needs to be discussed...

Aside from that: any weapon that suits the environment and/or the opponent is the 'best' and favourite type of weapon. Everyone who has any actual experience with a weapon knows that they all have strengths and weaknesses, and sentimental favouritism is almost an irrelevance (I personally love longswords, but I recognise they're utterly useless against various types of weapons and attacks. never held a rapier, but I'd like to try 'em out). They're tools (or were), and so if it protects me from ye olde assailant, then it's all I'd ever need.

 

[Callate]

Longsword, kusari-gama, katana. I love the renowned sharpness and elegance of the katana, but if I was actually in a fight, I think I'd rather have the straight blade, longer reach, and extended hilt of the longsword.

Kusari-gama are great because your opponent doesn't know what to keep their eyes on, the sickle or the chain.

 

[ninja666]

I love the renowned sharpness and elegance of the katana

You mean the sharpness against anything but an enemy in any sort of armor but a paper one? Katana hype is way overexaggerrated. It's not a good sword at all, but thanks to Hollywood, many people think it's the best sword in the world, able to cut through armor, tanks and the Sun itself.

EDIT: And yes, I get the irony of my avatar vs that statement.

 

[Steve Waltz]

The unbreakable guitar from L4D2. Yea, you wish all your ninja swords and battle axes were as awesome as that thing.

 

[Callate]

I love the renowned sharpness and elegance of the katana

You mean the sharpness against anything but an enemy in any sort of armor but a paper one? Katana hype is way overexaggerrated. It's not a good sword at all, but thanks to Hollywood, many people think it's the best sword in the world, able to cut through armor, tanks and the Sun itself.

EDIT: And yes, I get the irony of my avatar vs that statement.

It's become popular to rag on katanas, but well-made ones do have a reputation for remarkable sharpness, even to some accounts cutting through metal armor and weapons like rapiers. Ironically, by similar accounts their sometimes brittle steel had more difficulty with thirteenth century Mongol armor, becoming trapped in thick layers of hide and breaking when their wielders attempted to wrench them free.

 

[Megalodon]

Unless you're talking about oversized power fantasy warhammers, you're not really gonna be able do any of this stuff. A real warhammer is basically a mace with a ridiculously long handle.

Not exactly, real world war hammers tended to be one handed weapons, essentially an evolution of earlier maces, and had handles of a similar size, though larger weapons did exist. The picture you posted though looks more like a bec de corbin.

http://www.discoverthemiddleages.com/?q=category/glossary/war-hammer
http://www.discoverthemiddleages.com/?q=category/glossary/bec-de-corbin

 

[ninja666]

Not exactly, real world war hammers tended to be one handed weapons, essentially an evolution of earlier maces, and had handles of a similar size, though larger weapons did exist. The picture you posted though looks more like a bec de corbin.

There were two variants of warhammers - a short, mace-like one for close quarters, and a long one for dispatching cavalry. The one I posted might be a bec de corbin, but I think it doesn't really matter that much, since the only difference between the two is the pointy, spear-like thrusting end. I focused only on showing how tiny the head of the hammer was to show that you can't really break bones and shake the ground with it

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

A toss up between a hand-and-a-half (bastard)-style sword (one that has a longer hilt to be used either one-handed or two but still short enough to be a one-handed) and the war-axe. An axe-fight between two trained axe-fighters is beautiful and brutal at the same time. There can be a surprising amount of finesse in an axe-fight, and it is a devastating weapon overall.
The bastard sword design is nice in its versatility, allowing for both styles to be used depending on the situation without sacrificing mobility. I've never liked true two-handed swords, they're unwieldy and unsuited for true melee combat.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I prefer the blade sort of weapons like sword, dagger and broadsword, that is as long I find it useful in combat (e.g. despite there are many blade weapons in Monster Hunter but I end up with the lance and shielf due to my fighting style).