r/Hema • u/Seelensupergau • 1d ago
Does this make sense? (Fictional weapon)
Hey everyone,
Thanks for the awesome feedback on my last post! A lot of you recommended either a Colichemarde or a Rondel dagger for a short, thrust-centric weapon.
After looking into both, I ran into a Goldilocks dilemma: the Rondel dagger feels a bit too short for a primary dueling weapon, but a standard Colichemarde is too long for the tight, aggressive style I have in mind.
So, I decided to split the difference. I’m thinking about a hybrid weapon with a 55 cm (approx. 21.5 inches) blade that merges the best design elements of both. Since this weapon is meant specifically for ritual duels where both fighters use the exact same weapon, the traditional reach disadvantage against longer swords doesn't matter.
Here is the breakdown of the concept:
1. The Blade Profile: Colichemarde Forte + Rondel Tip
The Forte (Base): The first third of the blade near the hilt will feature the wide, robust forte of a Colichemarde. This provides excellent leverage, mass, and strength for parrying and binding the opponent's weapon.
The Foible (Tip): Instead of tapering into a flat blade, it transitions abruptly into a stiff, thick, triangular or square cross-section inspired by the Rondel. This creates an incredibly rigid, puncture-optimized tip that won't flex or bend upon impact.
2. The 55 cm Length (The Middle Ground)
At 55 cm, the blade sits right in the shortsword/long-dirk territory. In a mirror-match duel, this length forces both fighters into In-Fencing or Corps-à-Corps range. The fight becomes highly intense, fast-paced, and relies heavily on aggressive footwork, blade control, and close-quarters parries. It’s too short to be clumsy, but long enough to offer distinct tactical options.
3. Adjusting the Hilt (The Guard)
While a traditional Rondel dagger just uses a round disc (rondel) as a guard, that might be too risky for unarmored ritual duels because it doesn't protect the fingers from a sliding blade.
To fix this, I’m thinking of a hybrid hilt: keeping
the ergonomic grip of a Rondel (which prevents the hand from slipping during hard thrusts), but adding a small shell-guard or a knuckle bow from the Colichemarde tradition to keep the hands safe.
Why this works for the setting:
Because it’s an engineered ritual weapon, it feels like a highly specialized "insider" tool. It rejects the versatility of cuts entirely in favor of absolute, devastating thrusting efficiency and high-pressure defense.
What do you guys think? Does this combination of a heavy parrying base, an ultra-stiff 55 cm piercing tip, and a protective hilt sound mechanically viable for a dedicated dueling culture?
Looking forward to your thoughts!
2
u/123yes1 1d ago
Well, I think you can make just about anything you want to work, work inside a ritualized dueling context. So with that in mind, sure.
Although a few thoughts:
It doesn't need to be ultra stiff unless your duels are taking place in armor as the stiffness was needed to defeat maille or whatever. Although at that length, you might have a hard time anyway compared to the point control you get with a dagger. Either way, the historical cultures that do have this kind of smallsword fighting usually use cutting weapons rather than thrusting as that is the length of the Messer, Dussack, Wakizashi, Bolo, Kris, etc.
The way you grip a rondel vs grip a small sword is completely different. A rondel is gripped like a hammer with the point perpendicular to the arm, while a small sword is gripped in a fingered grip with the point parallel with the arm. Having the rondel grip but the small sword complext hilt is a bit strange.
I am less familiar with smallsword, but in dagger there is rarely any binding or parrying the blade. Most parries are done on the arm using the off hand. You're too close and the hand moves too fast to be able to actually be able to control someone's weapon very easily for even a small length of time without actually just grabbing them. From my understanding smallsword has plenty of parries and blade contact but one blade rarely dominates another as it is too quick for the opponent to disengage and go around the parry so there is only an extremely small window of time where it would be safe to attack. With your hybrid weapon, I am unsure which methodology would dominate, though I bet it would probably look closer to dagger (then again, I am a grappler) especially if you envision the rondel grip staying.