"Real" Klingon Bat'leth Fighting - Let's TEST its Effectiveness!
Vložit
- čas přidán 24. 07. 2024
- Looking for cool Viking inspired jewelry, accessories, decor, etc? Check out epiclootshop.com/
You can use the free shipping code: SKALLAGRIM
Going into nerdy over-analyzing mode is all fine and good, but let's get a little more hands-on with the good old Bat'leth design. After I've tested a sharp steel version and had it modified into something I find more practical, it's now time to try out a synthetic trainer in actual practice fights against a resisting opponent.
Conceptually it fits well in the hands of "Viking space orcs" in the Star Trek universe. It's badass looking, intimidating, and unique. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that it did even better than I expected against another bat'leth.
In the next video we'll see how it goes against a different weapon (a longsword as well as a two-handed Dane axe, as a rough approximation to a Vulcan Lirpa).
If you're interested in messing around with it yourself (don't forget protective gear!), you can find these practice batleths at Purpleheart Armoury, listed as "future soldier battle trainer", under European Martial Arts - Basic Trainers:
www.woodenswords.com/?Click=1799
The follow-up video (bat'leth vs. longsword):
• Future vs. Past: Can a...
Previous videos about it:
The Klingon Bat'leth: Practical or Awkward? Smart or Stupid?
• The Klingon Bat'leth: ...
An Improved Klingon Bat'leth - More Practical?
• An Improved Klingon Ba...
** Time stamps **
00:00 - 00:55 You dare besmirch the great name of Kahless, petaQ?!
00:55 - 01:55 How it's going to be tested
01:55 - 02:38 Epic Loot Shop
02:38 - 07:06 Bat'leth sparring
07:26 - 10:56 Observations, pros & cons, tactics
10:56 - 11:55 Conclusion / opinion on its effectiveness
11:55 - 12:27 Teaser for part 2 (longsword vs bat'leth)
** Music credits **
“Dark Intro” by Nikke
opengameart.org/content/dark-...
CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain
“Dark Descent” by Matthew Pablo
opengameart.org/content/dark-...
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (CC BY 3.0)
“Imminent Threat” by Matthew Pablo
opengameart.org/content/immin...
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Outro:
"Highland Storm" by The Slanted Room Records
theslantedroom.github.io/stev...
Used with artist's permission
** Merch **
www.bonfire.com/store/skallswag/
If you want to join Bonfire to start selling your own merch: www.bonfire.com/welcome/07bb1...
** Support the channel **
Help fund future videos, get bonus content and access to an exclusive Discord server:
/ skallagrim
/ @skallagrim
www.subscribestar.com/skallagrim
Other ways to support the channel by shopping through affiliate links:
Kult of Athena, my favorite online store for reproductions of historical arms and armor, fantasy swords, etc:
www.kultofathena.com/?koa=259
Want to treat your face fluff? I highly recommend the balms and oils from Beard Sorcery:
beardsorcery.com/?ref=0UEFtHW...
Books about history, martial arts, swords, knives, video/audio equipment, and other stuff I recommend:
US - www.amazon.com/shop/skallagri...
Canada - amzn.to/2HeOCMA
** Social media **
/ _skallagrim_
/ skallagrimyt
/ skallagrim_yt
#skallagrim #startrek #weapons - Zábava
The batleth vs batleth bouts looked a lot like stags clashing antlers. Kinda cool looking.
The batleth supposedly started off as horns before they made them out of metal
very fitting for the culture when you look at it that way
Appropriate considering that batleth looks like oversized deer-horn knife from China
Just came here to type this, but you beat me to it. I wonder if the appropriate way to Bat'leth is to ram into, and throw yourself onto your opponent, and finish with a dagger? I believe most Klingons also had a side blade.
@@SolemnlySquid a three pointed dagger called the Dk'Tagh is pretty standard, it had a button activator to flare out smaller blades from the guard.
but Klingons weren't opposed to different knife varieties and carried smaller less robust blades regularly.
Seems like a weapon that's made for curbstomping a novice opponent. Very intimidating, several points to keep track of, excels at blocking unga bunga chops, slips guard easily, and you can almost use it as shield just to get in close and grapple.
Now that I think about it wow it fits that category perfectly
In Skalls first video on the Bat'leth years back, he talked about the Lore, and that was Basically the purpose of the Bat'leth. A weapon that would Take attention away from Klingons' Natural Strength, and force them to work on Technique.
SILENCE WORMS!
@@datdabdoe1417 You put capital letters in the most random places...
Which makes a lot of sense given Most enemies of the Klingon empire are not CQC trained.
Starfleet officers make use of some defensive martial arts & Vulcans are pacifists who rarely carry martial weapons. Most CQC oriented aliens in the Alpha quadrant often rely on brute strength like the Nausicaans. So the Klingons rarely engage well trained martial combatants.
This is a pleasant surprise, the bat'leth has a lot more subtlety to its attacks than expected and can hit from unexpected angles of attack.
It's unfortunate that HEMA practitioners are so rigid and unable to think outside what they know. Almost as disappointing as the people who believe everything they say as gospel.
I'd be interested in seeing a longsword vs bat'leth fight within the confines of a navy ship interior. As "realistically" that would be the kind of setting in which a bat'leth would see most of its actual combat use. Boarding another ship.
Most HEMA events that i've seen took place in the open air. No real danger of hitting the ceiling, never mind a wall mounted console made of the finest explodium that the federation has to offer.
@@fermitupoupon1754 *console explodes when someone bangs their hand on it in frustration*
@@fermitupoupon1754 Or maybe a one handed sword or other shorter weapon? Would be interesting to see how it fares against other weapons also built for the environment it's used in. Could still be a useful tool to be honest, cause while shorter weapons exchange reach for control, the bat'leth can at will swap the two, gaining reach and losing control, and easily swap back. Not that it's the only weapon that can do so, a dane axe for example (maybe a tad shorter) but idk it seems like it has the possibility to excel.
in the end it seems the main issue of the design is that the shape makes it very prone to twisting on impact (especially when defended) in a way that screws up the edge alignment.
A fan theory (Supported by an episode of Voyager) I saw on the internet was the Bat'leth was actually reinvented for defensiveness, so honor duels would last longer and test a warrior's resolve and reflexes further. That way warriors going 1 on 1 for prestige wouldn't slaughter each other immediately and thin the top ranks. Klingons do have traditional swords in their culture, the Bat'leth is considered a specialized honor weapon.
But it's iconic and the props departments has a ton, so they're overrepresented on the shows.
traditional klingon weaponry and their heavily specific uses/rituals give me life
Not exactly. Deathly duels also serve to eliminate the weak. And apparently there is no shortage of Klingons.
This is almost how and why they move ranks.
When Worf kills Duras he uses a Batleth but Duras uses what looks like a scimitar or tulwar.
I've long held the idea that they were designed to be difficult to use. Why? Because that would greater demonstrate the skill and prowess of anyone who mastered their use. Also, until the TNG-era, the idea that anyone would take one into actual battle was seen as ridiculous, as it's not a battlefield weapon. It is meant for dueling against someone else using one. But, some Klingons started using them in actual battles because of the honor associated with using them and the trend rapidly spread throughout the Empire.
In the books it is revealed that the bat'leth was redesigned specifically to fight the hur'q - an alien race that conquered them hundreds of year ago. Modern klingons keep the same design to honor those warriors who drove the hur'q from Kronos and saved the empire.
This was super interesting. Glad you didn't dismiss it off hand as useless with no real testing. You bring great honor to your profession. Qapla'!
There were times during the fight it almost reminded me of two deer locking antlers.
Good, I'm not the only one.
"Goat butts against hedge and his horns become entangled." - Egg Shen (Big Trouble in Little China)
EXACTLY!
agreed.
The batleth's forward curve might make it better at piercing helmets, or very thick Klingon skulls.
That might also explain how Klingon's got those thick bumpy foreheads in the first place hehe! :P
They're also good for reaching over and around shields.
I'm not sure about piercing skulls, the design looks a lot like a weapon of attrition in many ways where you could get a quick kill, but a lot of fights are more of bleeding each other out with cuts and gouges...which makes sense considering the redundancies and other things that klingons have that make them hard to take down.
Strike the 3rd percipatal lobe. Death is instantaneous
Or a stab to the gut
(I don't remember how many Klingons where killed this way during DS9 🙄)
If I remember the lore correctly, the Bat'leth dates back to a time where shooting any projectile weapons inside a sealed hull spacecraft was HEAVILY frowned upon. Which makes armoured boarding parties with what are essentially space cutlasses a very VERY good idea.
Kahless was pre space travel. It was in corridors in fortifications that the weapon was used
@@toomanyaccounts It does seem to be very well-designed for close-quarters battles in restricted conditions, rather than an open-battlefield weapon.
@@toomanyaccounts To Add to that: Specifically Armoured fighting in corridors I think is where it is optimised, unarmoured a rapier-type would probably be better.
@@Scuzzlebutt142 the klingons tend to have leather armor or heavy cloth and a rapier is a tad light when fighting Klingons whose superior strength and robust bodies would likely break the rapier.
@@toomanyaccounts Don't underestimate the rapier. The Rapier is still a sword and breaking it would not only require a lot of strength but also a good bind so you can apply that strenght to break the rapier. That's very unlikely. Unless you were talking about simply bending the rapier by attacking it with such force that parrying the Bat'leth would result in deforming the rapier. But my guess is that the hand of the one holding the rapier would break before the blade bends in any significant way.
Of course there is also the possibility that people don't talk about a rapier but an epee, which is made for thrusting only and therefore has a very thin "blade" without an actual blade. That thing is quite thin, but I think it's not a real weapon of war and more of a sports or duel thing.
Looking forward to part 2.
As to how honorable a Klingon would be in battle, I defer to Worf. "In war, there is nothing more honorable than victory."
worf was such a great character in late TNG and DS9
I will say this. The batleth exists in in a sci-fi setting where almost everyone probably prefers ranged weapons. In the rare instance of a melee, having troops capable of highly lethal CQC is a boon. Combat knives still exist for a reason.
And the reason is that they're extremely useful tools...
I really don't think even the super special forces dudes see them as weapons *per se*
We even have combat shovels now too that are actually highly effective. ALOT of troops even still use things like tomahawks sometimes
@@sirdeakia since they see EVERYTHING as a weapon, it would probably score a little higher in usefulness than a corkscrew, but only if that corkscrew isn't part of a swiss army knife 😎
@@nicolaiveliki1409 yeah, but if push comes to shove i'm sure they're pulling out pistols hahaha
Also pretty much every rifle has the ability to put the knife on it to turn the rifle into a spear.
Practically, I assume the Baleth was good for the TV show because it supported close in drawn out fights, requiring less stage space and asking it easier to keep both in frame.
It's also probably pretty easy to fake being good at.
@@Crazael Choreography can make anyone fake being good at anything, as long as it is that one set of movements in that circumstance which is being done. A good actor would be better at learning a given set of movements and adapting to changes faster, but even then it is the skill of the choreographer which is more important.
The bind seems really wild with these, Id be curious if there could be any techniques that could be developed to weave around in the bind better.
This looks like fun actually
It seems perfect for closing gap in the bind.
Go for a high, downward strike - let it be blocked in high bind
Use the bind to redirect the lower half of the weapons downward momentum into a forward thrust at chest level under their engaged bind defence.
The binds look really complex in a very fun way. Between that and the ability of the extra prongs and double-ended nature to sneak in little pokes and cuts past an imperfect guard, these seem like they make for really intriguing sparring.
One of the reasons that you're my favorite content creator in this niche is that you actually take these ideas from the philosophical to the hypothetical to the practical. I appreciate your scientific approach and when you share your findings with us. In addition to the sword, please also test it against axe and spear (and cat o nine tails)
"Nothing is more honorable than victory" for a Klingon, they have a different notion of "honor", so I definitively see them targeting hands if it brings victory.
Also the Klingon relation to Bat'leth is like sword for HEMA. A gun is more effective, but the traditional weapon of legends is way closer to the heart ^^
it reallt depends on the context. in a battle? sure, theyll go for hands, feet, even the crotch, but in a duel i dont think they would, since the point of a duel is to prove strength and prowess, not who can score the first cheap shot.
@@viysnjor4811 Traditional non-lethal rules for Klingon duels are for three knockdowns. A distracting injury like a hand wound would be a reasonable thing to inflict first round.
If you got it in your skilled, if you take it and win your tough.
Now imagine the only practical setting for deploying this weapon is in the narrow confined halls of a spaceship where there are lots of points for ambush. There's basically no room for maneuver. That practical limitation paired with hundreds or thousands of years of use as a weapon of ritual combat would make sense for how it's used
I could certainly see Klingon ships having more cornered hallways, to take away the advantage from ranged weapons in favor of CQC, like the trenches in both world wars.
It's lore that early spacefaring Klingon frowned on the use of ranged weapons aboard ships due to the risk of a stray shot causing explosive decompression, so they used melee weapons.
I almost imagine the original version of it was longer, probably straighter, much like Skal's redesign but maybe even longer. But when they moved to ships, they got shorter and more suited to close-quarters brawls, and eventually became monolithic in construction. Forward-curving spikes formed to suit puncturing armor in near-grapples, and once ranges weapons came back into favor the design became a matter of tradition: you didn't _need_ to use one anymore so the design stopped evolving, but if you _did_ use grandpa's old weapon to take down a room full of guys with disruptors _oh boy_ did you get bragging rights.
Very similar to the change from sabers to cutlass by real-world navies, and some of our own legends. Kind of like the stories of Lieutenant Colonel Jack Churchill taking a bloody greatsword into WWII, we _remember_ that kinda stuff.
I like how when you switch from two-handed to one-haded midswing it looks like a spring in the mousetrap or smth. Pretty cinematic.
I've always wanted a scene in Trek were a Klingon faces a properly trained human armed with a sword.
Even if it was on the Holodeck I think it would be fascinating to see how the series Warriors react to the styles and tools of humanities own warrior past.
They'd look at some of our weapons and love alot of our bigger nastier weapons like Naginatas or Halberds. An they'd love anything using strength an aggression like axes. They'd underestimate maybe our weirder weapons like scythes spears an most swords or be VERY suspicious of them until they find out just HOW deadly an skilled these are in the hands of properly trained an experienced masters and they'd be surprised what some our Grandmasters can do with some of these
Try the fight where Worf kills Duras. Worf uses a Bat'leth while the honoless ptaQ fights with a Sword.
@@momokochama1844 But with what's essentially an arming sword - a useful sidearm, but not a main weapon unless you also have a shield. I think people were talking about longswords and greatswords or duelling weapons such as the shortsword or rapier.
@Darth Revan are you sure? I admit, I'm no expert with blade weapons, but Duras's sword looks more like some saber or Messer (a short one 😄).
It looks a bit too short and too curved for a katana.
@@robertagu5533 scythe doesn't seem like a practical weapon to me either.
I did indeed find this both interesting and entertaining, and I'm looking forward to part two.
Somehow Skallagrim looks even better than usual with head bumps. :)
Didn't expect Bat'let fight to be as interesting to watch as classic HEMA fights and yet it is!
Great video Skall!
As a non-Trekky, and new to this, I'm amazed at how fresh & innovative it is. THANKS SKALLA, you rock as always.
I was not prepared for Klingon Skal! 😂
I think in cramped hallways or passageways aboard a vessel, the batleth would work quite well. You want to get into their space as quickly as possible, and have limited room to do so, anyway.
I think it requires some space to swing it around so for real cramped space i would pick a Mek'leth.
I think the segregated grips are an artifact of swinging a 5.2 kg weapon with that kind of strength as well. The added bracing on your hand would act as a kind of braking mechanism so you don't over-extend. That's my opinion anyways. Honestly, great video I really enjoyed it.
Thanks! Interesting idea, although I'm not sure it would really make a difference in that way. Generally the way to prevent over-extending is to keep tension on the wrist and use the forearm muscles to prevent it from collapsing under the load.
I'm more inclined to agree with the theory that the segmented grips is a byproduct of the material limitations of the original rubber props. Either that or to make it look cooler.
An honorable weapon for a more honorable time.
Kirk: come on Chang....put down the chicken shit disruptor....i know what you want....stick the knife in me and see what's going on in there when you twist it......
Chang: I'm not gonna shoot you between the eyes....i don't need no disruptor [tosses it aside and draws bat'leth]....I'm gonna kill you now!!!! [swings bat'leth wildly]
Kirk: [a large metal pipe skewers Chang in the fight].....let off some steam Chang!
Adm Kirby: did you leave any for us?
Kirk: just bodies
Adm Kirby: I'd like you to consider coming back..
Kirk: no chance [power station - we fight for love plays]
yes I melded 2 things into one sue me....lol
I dont like water, puny humans drink that.
The bat'leth seems like the most practical version of the fantasy/sci-fi "double sword" concept, by having both blade be curved and blunt on the back end to protect from the usual problem of cutting oneself. That and it's relatively short. Great video!
It is a lot more practical than Darth Maul's double bladed lightsabre if you think about how you actually use a staff in combat.
On the point of using blades instead of guns, it is pretty clearly established that while the Klingons do prefer melee, they're not stupid. They know that any sort of ranged weapon is better in most circumstances, and that's precisely why they like to use blades when possible, because of the challenge. Still, as Worf said once, in war, nothing is more honorable than victory
if it grants victory, they'll gladly shoot first, but they often switched to melee if the opponent was within 20 feet, because much shorter than that and ranged weapons become less effective, especially with the severe lack of anything approximating a shotgun in star trek
@@realmofrandom3696 Yeah, particularly in the tight confines of a starship or space station, it's very easy to close that gap before an enemy can bring a gun to bear. As for there not being any shotgun like weapons, it would be rather difficult to design something like that using a phaser or disruptor, judging by how they seem to operate, and gas operated weapons like what we would think of as a gun have a laundry list of problems when operated in anything outside of a planet's atmosphere. That's why even military space installations don't bother to give the crew or the station guns, because combustion is a bit weird without oxygen, if not completely impossible
@@filmandfirearms I do vaguely recall an episode of the original series where a phaser was used with a setting for a wide beam to clear an alley way, but I think that only happened once. On a separate note, firearms can operate in a vacuum to a certain degree because the propellant doesn't rely on oxygen outside of the casing to ignite, where things can get tricky is with self loading guns that are gas operated, something that doesn't rely on the excess gas to cycle the action would be better. But even then, why use a traditional gun when you can use a phaser that doesn't require bulky ammunition and is far more compact and versatile than any firearm?
@@realmofrandom3696
_"I do vaguely recall an episode of the original series where a phaser was used with a setting for a wide beam to clear an alley way, but I think that only happened once."_
More than once. Spock used it to clear a hall in _Whom Gods Destroy,_ and it was used in _Return of the Archons_ to clear the alley, and Sulu used it in _The Enemy Within_ to heat rocks. "Wide beam" phasers are used in other contexts, too, in every series. A quick google search reveals examples from Voyager and DS9.
@@filmandfirearms You clearly have no idea how gunpowder works. Guns work just fine with no ambient oxygen, the oxidiser is part of the powder. Guns work underwater, they would work just fine in space too. The lack of real guns is purely a stylistic choice, there is no logic behind it at all.
this is the kind of testing and input I've always wanted to see when discussing the Bat'leth's viability, *really* looking forward to seeing it against a conventional sword (wielded by people who know how to use them unlike TV) it's what I've been curious about for years
When you think about it, it's just a very pointy quarter staff.
So you are saying it's a Buck and a Quarterstaff...
@@paulkerr7320 Indeed, Daffy. Indeed.
A buck and a quarter quarterstaff.
Thank you SO much for actually testing this! Most YT people just glance at the bat'leth and dismiss it. I remember being very intrigued by one singular comment on some video claiming to be a HEMA-ish guy that routinely destroyed swords with a bat'leth, but, anyone can type that...
I’ve heard similar stories about this happening with other unorthodox weapons, and I wonder how much of it is just catching your opponent completely off guard with something they have no experience countering against.
Today on the holodeck
Shad's gonna have a conniption watching this, and made a 2 hour video rebuttal of this video
2 hours? You think he'd be that concise? :)
@@Skallagrim Two hours of rebuttal. The first eight hours are just him telling everyone that he's _going_ to rebut it.
@@Sableagle plus an hour-long Hello Fresh plug.
The problem with the earlier batleth videos is the fighters were trying to use the batleth purely as a sword or axe. If you want to use a sword or axe, get a sword or axe.
The batleth can be used as a sword, axe, quarterstaff, and D A G G E R, all at the same time. You can deflect a blow as if you were carrying a sword or staff, then either swing regularly like a sword/axe, or thrust the leading edge into the other guys stomach as if you were carrying a D A G G E R.
The real problem with the bat'leth is that it is inferior to a sword, axe, quarterstaff or even dagger, in their best aspects. All weapon design is a compromise. Try to produce a weapon that can do everything, and it will do everything badly. As a weapon that can cope with varied combat situations, I see the bat'leth as greatly inferior to the European Longsword. The Longsword also has a real combat provenance, rather than being a prop-maker's fantasy.
Looking forward to the longsword vs bat'leth! I was surprised that it ended up being as effective as it was, taught me a lesson here not to just dismiss some things out of hand
I’d definitely like to see that part II. Seeing them Vs each other whetted that appetite for me
+3:29 I can see dipping low and following with an upward rising strike with the lower blade being what one would find more effective here they just block high - you have them close and pretty much bound them with the forks and can - well "gut them" literally. and that is a simpler movement than what is shown here too.
I see like the batketh like a katana, mostly fighting against the same kind of weapons. And in Star Trek they are fighting unarmored non melee weapon wielding opponents
Also with an emphasis on fighting agressively, rather than defensively.
Katanas were backup weapons like arming swords...used as a last resort if you can't use your other better weapons like a polearm, bow, musket, mace, axe, or longer swords (longer longswords/claymores/greatswords, nodachis, etc).
@@Intranetusa in war they were backups weapons, but in use katana were a duking weapon .Also they Japanese didn't use longer swords. The Odachi was rarely used and was a footman weapon not a samurai weapon
@@Intranetusa seems like what a batleth is. obviously your first weapon is likely still going to be a phaser. But we can also look at the difference between klingon and federation ships.
Federation ships have wide hallways without much cover or sharp angles that allow for more comfortable transit and ranged combat. federation ships pretty much count on not being boarded and when boarded expect a gunfight.
Klingon ships have relatively cramped corridors and very sharp angles as well as bulkheads for cover every now and then as well as exposed conduits. This makes it much harder to use phasers or guns since a stray shot can burst a plasma conduit effectively killing everyone (including your boarding party) in the room and the tight corridors mean that it's hard to bring multiple guns to bear. Because of this it's very easy to use melee weapons or CQC weapons like a sword or a dagger. My guess is that the Batleth is the evolved form of a halberd but suited to combat in the tight corridors of a spaceship in zero g. It's light enough to be used in one hand (by klingons), can hook onto various handholds, and allows you to control the opponent's weapon. You still need to be careful with the Batleth but it seems like the ways you can control a melee weapon with the Batleth would do it preferentially so that the weapon wouldn't go on to hit exposed subsystems or go at a 90 degree angle towards the hull. The Mekleth is similar in that it doesn't actually have any real thrusting power instead the point is barred by a flat, likely to prevent hull puncture.
In other words it's very probable that the Batleth and Mekleth were in fact created when klingons first took to space and Kahless's story might actually begin around the same level of civilization depicted in The Expanse or Gundam. I can also imagine that technological development is quite slow in the Klingon Empire and details tend to get muddied after 1400 years.
@@anilin6353 In the very late era (eg. 1700s+) would katanas be duking weapons because longer swords were banned/no longer made and there weren't many battles anymore. During earlier eras of war, tachis were longer than most later katanas and are more practical than katanas too. Nodachis (and katanas) were used by both Samurai and non-Samurai. Many Japanese lords had their bodyguards equipped with nodachis as a display of strength.
At first they looked completely not used to the Bat'leth, then about 1 minute into sparing you guys got good, and accurately pro-traded how to use it. I would like to see you guys fight with the Mek'leth next.
Yeah, I really noticed that as well. As they learned, their fighting style changed a lot. I wonder what it would be like if there was such a thing as a Bat'leth system, backed by a history of use and training.
YEEEES! This is just awesome. Thanks for giving it a go for real. It's great to see people taking this weapon more seriously and really digging in. Qapla', Skall!
Definitely want part two.
Bat'leth vs sword and shield, since the bat'leth itself kind of does both jobs?
Bat'leth vs spear?
Bat'leth vs halberd?
Yes, can it hold up vs the mighty stick.
Overall a really good video, though there is one correction I have to make. Klingon Honor isn't like the popular concept of Chilvary or the stereotype of the Samurai; it's a lot more pragmatic. Any thing that gets you victory in battle goes so long as you actually fight. Even sending assassins to kill your enemies is okay, as it's expected that a true warrior should be ready to fight at all times. Something dishonorable would be poisoning your enemy, being taken prisoner without a fight, or in one specific case using economic manipulation to try to destroy a rival house so you can absorb all their lands. Ambushes, artillery barrages, snipers, espionage, etc are all fair game. The average warrior will accept an invitation to duel, but generally is content just shooting you.
Klingons have no issue using disruptors and do so regularly. We rarely see bat'leths in actual fights on screen outside of duels and the only real noncerimonial noncombat use we saw was during a boarding action with plenty of tight corridors and fighting getting into melee range.
Klingons are _not_ Space Orcs, they are significantly more complicated than that.
Samurai used guns, and inoghts possibly too. Do you think they did not have all kind of dirty tricks,
Chivalry is only against other nobles, and only really is there that if one noble might rebel, there is a code that does discentivise to join that. And that they fight each other without certain rules and maintain order, and "honor" is apealing to that really.
Like knights and samurai really could do what else with common people. That homor is more a code that nobles check themselves, against nobles, like the king, and dont get stupid ideas like rebellions.
So klingons are probably the perfect representation. Really honor of knights and samurai wasnt dissimilar, and very pragmatic, unless you go against nobles.
Another thing to remember Klingons are "between more than three times stronger but less then five times stronger then Humans". So that Batleth feels like a nimble little short sword to them and they can actually manipulate it 1 handed like it is 1/3rd of its weight compared to a human.
This was a very interesting exchange, I can't wait to see how it fares against longswords.
Another great video Skall, great Klingon impression!
Always wondered if this was practical in combat
I love these sparing videos, it's great to see you apply these theories. I'm also learning a lot in seeing your footwork and weapon handling.
As I watched all the reverse hits and wide flourishes it made me think of the culture and environment where these are used as well as their shape. I thought of tight corridors and a culture that glorified strength and charging weaker enemies in tight quarters to terrify and over power them. I thought of bulls charging through corridors and deer locking antlers and rhinoceros beetles trying to fling one another off branches. It makes me think a Klingon would want to use it like a bull dozer in a corridor to charge down the hall and gore everyone in front of him to cause enemies to flee and trample on another as they fail to shoot back. Minimal swings maximal pushing with slight back and forth motions would do the trick. Facing another Klingon would be them smashing into one another like fearless warriors and trying to push the other’s weapon out of the way through strength rather than swinging around it and keeping your distance like a coward…or someone with enough sense to not take a blade to a blaster fight.
One of the cons I noticed that I don't think was mentioned is that the batleth tends to twist in your hands when blocking attacks causing you have have to readjust your grip a lot.
Oh my
Edit: As I appear to have posted the first comment, I might as well ask you to do a review of fighting scenes in Alatriste (2006).
I can imagine Irish stick fighting to be be semi effective utilizing this sort of weapon. It's got the same capabilities of switching off hands as certain techniques in Irish stick fighting, and that martial art employes boxing in addition to striking with the weapon, which seems like it would suit a klingon.
I gotta say, i really love when you do bat'leth stuff :D
Great vid Skal, I always felt that it had a place n the confines of boarding actions for example and seeing your sparring really confirmed that for me.
I am following you with differing accounts for a very long time and i like, how you keep beeing yourself, whilest upgrading the quality of your content constantly. Keep it up!
Seems like it performs kind of like a sickle-axe hybrid. The curvature allows it to bypass blocks and it will be better than many weapons in grappling like a sickle, while the points focus the strikes in a small area for devastating damage like an axe.
Looking forward to see Bat'leth vs Longsword (As well as any other types of historical weapons you guys might try it against such as arming sword, spear, dane axe etc)
I remember an episode of DS9 where Kor, an old Klingon from TOS, said the first Bat'leth was used to farm Kahless's father's fields. With this in mind, how do you think it stacks up against farming implements in a fight?
harvest. it was also said to be used to carve a statue of Kahless's wife. Kor was using it as examples of the ordinary uses of the sword by Kahless
Kina like a big scythe. Which would be one of our closest equivalents. Which I bet some of our weapons of melee weapon some Klingons would find MOST interesting an surprising too. Like "I tested this Human weapon an looked into it's lore an I was honored to find this Axe MOST satisfying".. or "These Humans got the idea to put a knife on the end of a rope an swing it in circles really fast before throwing it at their enemies... You wouldn't think it'd be effective or that hard but it's really quite a challenge to work with an can be deadly effective" the Vulcan said...
An Quark said: "yes, yes now is there still a market for these an how much are the rare ones worth???"
@@robertagu5533 spot on
The line always struck me since the design itself seemed really well suited for harvesting wheat or sunflowers. The bat'leth would make a lot of sense if it was originally a farming tool that was used as an improvised weapon, especially given Kahless's humble origins.
This was really interesting. That and the recent sickle fighting videos definitely made very happy, looking forward to part 2.
Cheers for keeping an open mind and putting in the time and energy!
I like how the reflection of the green screen on the batleth makes it look transparent.
i think a twinblade would work as well Skall, more than people think but it should be used more like a spear.
Thanks, Skallagrim! Always nice to see critiques like this!
This was way more enjoyable to watch than I expected. Really looking forward to Part II.
And boy, it looks really stylish when you swing it around, and as you said, it's for a purpose and not showing off. As a fan it makes me happy to see it being more practical than expected. Event though a lot can be handwaved by it being a ritual/traditional weapon, much less handwaving than I expected is needed.
It would be interesting to see how two energy swards (halo) would interact. As the Sangheili have a similar warrior ethic and mentally.
That was interesting to see, but what I really hoped for was how well it works against something conventional, such as a straight blade, a shield, or a polearm. Also maybe consideration for weather it suits armored or unarmored fighting.
Comparable human fighting could easily best it if the Human knows what they're doing an up against reasonable. Our arsenal of Human choices is ridiculous compared to just about all the Trek races combined. An MOST other races that took an interest in Human Martial Arts I would imagine would be VERY impressed with just how long it can take a Human to go from day 1 novice to Grandmaster top tier Black Belt. An that there's often MULTIPLE levels of Master, Many different fighting Arts and styles of them, they ALL suit specific niches, an ALL even specialize in unique weapons while many oddly share alot of weapons too. Even a Vulcan might find it illogical that to a Trek alien its actually pretty simple to us Humans.
Very interesting and entertaining, indeed :) Really enjoyed your previous bat'leth videos and was hoping for something like this. Looking forward to part 2
You know, I've been watching this channel for years. And this is probably my favorite thing I've seen on here. Because to be fair, although I do love Star Trek and the Klingons are my favorite race, I am not obsessed with the Bat'leth like some are. But the notion that you'd take this seriously and actually give this thing a true attempt, and it's ability to hold it's own is truly incredible to watch in a real fight. Good job, this was very well done.
I still think it's more of a status symbol than a reasonable weapon due to the amount of steel just for it to be effective in battle.
Worf literally uses it in a duel to kill another Klingon
I always thought that the purpose of the weapon was to not be great so the skill of the warrior is the most important aspect
maybe it is made of titanium-scandium alloy with steel edges brazed in
@@LaughingCrowcorp the fact that it's a duel proves my point, though. There's nothing about the shape that makes it more effective against spears than a sword, but it somehow stuck around in a time of lasers and guns.
And even if you can argue that a batleth could win more duels than a sword, most militaries present and past don't actually care that much about having the best equipment. For example: many products targeted towards high end customers say they exceed mil spec, but you'll meet veterans who'll tell you mil spec simply means it's proven to be reliable enough without costing too much. The batleth fails at that
Any sort of even basicly advanced civilization that can produce good steel cost of it isnt that much to make it status symbol imho
Something interesting to note is that, while I don't believe it's directly stated anywhere, the Bat'leth is treated by Star Trek as a largely ceremonial weapon. It's used most often in one-on-one duels with other Bat'leth users for ceremonial purposes and is a weapon with deep ties to their culture. It still works in the setting as an effective melee weapon because nobody else seems to have melee weapons of any kind. Like, not even a knife.
Well you know that the Vulkans got a ceremonial halberd like weapon for ritual combat that looks like a staff with one end being weighted and bulbus and the other possessing a fan shaped blade?
I don't know enough Star Trek lore to really confirm or deny this, but I always had similar assumptions. I've always seen it as a weapon that is optimized to have a high skill ceiling and interesting combat strategies more than for efficiency on a battlefield. Something intended pretty specifically for duels with matched weapons. I think it's very plausible as a weapon you'd challenge a neighboring warlord with, in a context where the army you send when he chickens out would still have spears or disruptors depending on the age.
Excellent! So excited for part two!
This is one of the rare channels where mentioning a follow up video gets me genuinely excited. Looking forward to part 2!
I think a bat’leth may be most ideal in dealing with plate armor.
looks at Hur'k insectoid warriors..... seems legit.
my headcanon is that the bat'leth is smertical because klingons are most if not all ambidextrious or learned ambidextrious so this design makes it easier to switch grips and also keeps your enemy on his toes ... also the original design of the Sword of Khales with one continuos grip does seem like a weapon with defence in mind as much as offence (which is a major thing for klingons since they don't sue shield)
If the weapon is symmetrical, then the attack could come from any direction. If it weren't, you would know which side was more dangerous and be able to predict better just by watching it.
Thank you, Skall! Very interesting with unexpected twists. Looming forward to Pt.2
That was awesome spar footage.
You deflected and countered very well, and your feints were so dope.
mad respect for going back and taking another look at this
I do not comment often, but being a long time watcher of you channel & a huge Star Trek fan, I most state that I approve of this content.
Now, may you live long & prosper!
Really enjoying your recent videos, and very much enjoying seeing the sparring!
The weapon is pretty versatile. Despite the awkward shape it does force both fighters to be continuously aware of multiple defense and offensive opportunities at the same time while practicing.
Good practice weapon for building awareness.
I have wanted a proper fight test of the Bat'leth forever! This was a lot of fun to watch.
Can not wait see part two, great video Skalla Grimm👍👍
Wooohh SKALL :D you look very good in this fight, total different energy than the spear video.
fast, nimble, focused ready to bite!
not to downplay your sparring partner, you both do a great job to show us some as real as possible situations, thanks for the great vid!
Loved! Can't wait to see multiple sparring video with different weapons! Including the sickle! (at least for fun, a couple)
Man that was cool seeing y'all wield them in a more practical fashion. I did find the binds pretty interesting as the blades interacted up close
Great video! You two looked totally badass sparring with them
Glorious! Finally we get some quality footage of people actually trying that Bat'leth instead of dismissing it out of hand. I very much am looking forwards to part 2.
And thanks to Sindri for always being there to test out Skall's shenanigans.
Thank you thank you thank you for introducing me to that Epic Loot shop!!!!So many wonderful things to save up for!!Can't wait to order from it.Cheers!!!😁
This was awesome thanks for taking a second look can't wait to see the longsword versus bat'lith
Innovative material...!!!
Those releases are quick and more effective then I realized....
Amazed how many times the second spike held up in attack and defense !!!
I very much enjoyed seeing the sparring and actual use. I was really hoping to see a long sword in there to see how it compares so I am very much looking forward to your next video.
I know it won't be super fair as you have way more practice with the long sword and I assume your sparring partner does too. If the batleth even does okayish that will be a big win for it.
It was an appropriate study. For yrs i contemplated batleth strategy, specifically as a rebellion against skallagrim. After a yr not watching skallagrim, i see hes decided to muss about with batleth. You go.
This was really interesting! I can't wait for Part 2!
Really enjoyed that, looking forward to part two.
Great practical testing, thanks for that! Super excited for part 2
Seeing this pop up in my feed has reminded me that I actually found a book on how to fight with klingon weapons some time ago. It has full details on both the bat'leth and mek'leth, and had sort of 'kata' for each one.
The sparing was really fun to watch, also really like the background music for the sparing.
This is why you're so great. Instead of just sitting on your ass and saying it's not practical or whatever you actually give it a chance and test it in real life to see if it has any merits. Awesome video to be sure.
Always enjoy your first hand analysis especially the sparring
Part two is what I'm looking forward to. Can't wait.
Amazing video! I'm certainly looking forward to part 2 of this.
I'm glad your still making batleth videos 👍
There are people you could collab with who would be experts on the batleth.
I was a little bit hesitant, but loved the video. Skall never disappoints.
Definitely looking forward to that Part 2. I'm thinking that if the Bat'leth can get in close, it can easily get behind a sword guard, but if the sword user manages to keep at range then I think it'll fair better. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a lot of similarities to be found between Bat'leth vs Sword and the Sword vs Spear.
The sparring showed really how well thought out the Bat'leth design is, and whether by accident or intention, there's even 'evidence' of evolution; the curved tips to defeat the block for example. It can be forgiven a lot due to the Rule Of Cool, which let's be honest, will have been a significant motivation for the original design.
Great video. Loved the hard work you and your sparring partner put in.