I was wondering about fighting with unconventional and unwieldly weapons and it got me thinking about the Sledgehammer. Is there an effective fighting style with something so slow to swing? You are free to use it however you like. For example, you can throw it at your enemy, or even hold it with the handle out.
So here’s the scenario: You find yourself in a battle arena with an equally-matched opponent, both unarmed and motivated to defeat the other.
The arena is empty except for a single Sledgehammer. Do you sprint to the weapon, or prefer to fight without it? Which choice gives you an edge in combat, however slight?
Assume there’s no other viable options, so no “grabbing a torch” or “remove shirt and fashion a sling-type weapon using shoes” or “throw a handful of dirt into enemy’s eyes”, etc.
At home I have two sledge hammers. One has a long handle like an axe. The other has a shorter handle (like a regular hammer) and a lighter head. If the latter were the sledge available, I’d certainly rather have it than let my opponent have it. It’s not quite so obvious in the case of the larger one though.
Take the sledgehammer and get creative. Use the handle to choke; swing the handle instead of the head; use it with short jabbing motions, not swings, etc.
War hammers (mauls) were common weapons in the late medieval period. I’d certainly choose to grab it - you can jab with either end, use the haft to block, or swing as a standoff weapon.
It’s funny this topic comes up just now. Yesterday I was listening to some comedians talking on the radio (not even sure who they were) and they were discussing what they would do if a gig went really, really…really bad and people started to storm the stage. One of them said the he would grab the mic stand and swing it, but he added that he would just pull out the little 3 foot top section and swing it. The other one commented that he had also thought about this* and that he said he would pick the entire thing up and use the bottom (the stand) to push people away with it. That is, pushing the bottom of the mic stand, the flat part, right into their chest.
Taking a sledgehammer into a fight, your best bet might be short stabbing motions. As others mentioned, if you miss it’s going to be several seconds before you have any kind of a chance of making contact with them again and if they dodged the first one, they’ll dodge the second one.
Similarly whenever I hear someone say “Oh, I got grandma/mom a 4 foot pipe to keep in her bedroom because she refuses to use a gun” The first thing I always tell them is to make sure they teach grandma/mom to stab, not swing. You can’t swing a pipe in a hallway.
*I believe both these comedians were talking about the same night club when they were envisioning having to defend themselves against unruly patrons.
The issue with a sledgehammer would be that you have 10 lbs out at the end of a relatively long handle- even big 2 handed weapons like Dane Axes and pollaxes weren’t so end-heavy.
OTOH I think if you took one of those 5 lb one-handed sledgehammers and put a 18" handle on it, and you’d have a pretty fair modern rendition of a warhammer, minus the spike.
Almost any weapon is better than no weapon. You can use something like a sledgehammer in much the same way as a naginata, which is basically a heavy katana on the end of a staff. Choke up on the shaft just behind the head for close work, and use staff techniques to maneuver. Holding a naginata this way, you can use short-sword movements, albeit complicated a bit by the length of the shaft behind it. Heavy blows utilize momentum built by manipulating the shaft at more advantageous leverage points and letting the shaft slide out to a greater reach. Recovery can be through grounding the head and then sliding the hand back up the shaft, using footwork, or by maintaining motion if you miss the target.
There were some historical weapons I’ve seen both in person and in some books (nothing I can show you that’s online, searches crapped up with video game, D&D, and Star Wars references) that looked like a modern sledgehammer. Mauls were mostly used for siege warfare and more often used as tools than weapons, but they could be used effectively even if you’re not that burly.
One huge example that I got to play with had a shaft more like a small log, about 2–3 inches in diameter, with a wooden head bound with metal straps that was about the size of my head. It was about 60 inches in length. It could be used most effectively by holding it vertically and moving around the shaft, bashing with the head for short heavy blows using the grounded end of the shaft as a fulcrum, in a battering-ram type thrust, or by essentially letting the head fall while sliding your hand down the shaft to guide and add force. It’s hard to describe the movements, much easier to comprehend with video or pictures. We practiced a bit at various training seminars with some of the more esoteric and unwieldy medieval Japanese field weapons, and with the right technique they’re more maneuverable than you’d think.
Always be the guy with the weapon. That being said you have to know how to use one. I can use a stick and anything that resembles a stick. A hammer is close enough.
I’d probably grab it and swing the handle against an arena wall/column as hard as I could, hoping to break it. Then at least I’d have a sharp, splintery stick to poke with.
Like a huscarl with his axe; you keep it in fluid arcing motions not too far from the body using both hands. This takes both considerable endurance and training of course, but the overall idea was to create the impression of this wall of destruction that one’s attacker would hesitate to leap into – as the two-handed axe left the huscarl without a shield.
It’s easy to say you’d simply work in close with a blade and get to stabbin and slashin, but it is like a heavy weight champ vs a bantamweight champ – both are skilled, but one good shot from the heavyweight is going to ruin the little guy. There’s a psychological edge there.
If you did the opposite, held the hammer at the ready, and tried to pick and choose your swings in order to not fatigue yourself, you’re not creating that wall o’ destruction and since getting that thing going is slow, you’re left open to all sorts of speedier attacks.
If you hold it just above the head end, you can swing the handle end probably almost as well as a baseball bat.
Granted, you are lugging the weight of the metal head, but with a little care, you can swing the handle without actually having to move the head much.
So (assuming a fight to the death situation where I was actually committed), I’d swing the handle end at something vulnerable and delicate (the knee, the face, the wrist), look for opportunity to thrust/poke it at the throat, genitals, abdomen - with a general view to getting the opponent on the ground.
Once on the ground, smash the feet or ankles with the full weight of the hammer and you have won.
I once read a description of being under artillery bombardment in WWI. The writer said that it was like being tied to a post while a guy with a sledgehammer swung at you. And missed. And missed again. And…
