Twin Spiked Ball Flail

Perhaps the most daunting of medieval weapons, the brutish looking flail could strike with crushing force and were often adorned with spikes or metal bars for increased armor pounding ability and sheer intimidation. A skilled user of the flail could keep his opponents off-balance with strikes that were difficult to predict and the chain of the flail could be brought upon the edge of an opponenets shield, hurling the weighted end behind his cover and striking the man behind.

The military flail evolved from a humble grain threshing farming tool. The farming flail was a typically two-handed tool, whereas the military flail was often a one-handed weapon. This is probably because a warrior using a flail would want to have a shield, for when the flail connects it loses much of its force and momentum because it imparts that energy directly into its unfortunate target. This causes a moment of vulnerability as the warrior brings it back into its momentum. A shield then is quite desired if the foe is not finished or in a situation with multiple combatants.

While the medieval military flail is typically a one-handed weapon, there were many two-handed variants that existed. These were largely a peasant weapon and could range from farming flails with additional metal bands or spikes for effect, to quite large two-handed flails intended to hit with overpowering concussive force. Flails such as these were used in great numbers by peasant combatants in the Hussite Wars, where they would strike from behind the cover of their wagons, literally swatting away enemies attempting to breach the defensive wagon laager. Though these are large, relatively unwieldy weapons, a Hussite peasant with a two-handed flail could rely on the protection of his wagon, as well as his fellow comrades to cover him as he recovered from a strike.

This twin-ball medieval spiked flail has two spiked balls of blackened steel, connected to a wooden shaft with a blackened steel chain. The shaft is accented by a spiralled leather grip.