Wizard of Id by Parker and Hart for July 31, 2017

You just thought it was a sword. Actually it is a club in disguise.

If the only weapons in existence were clubs, those with the biggest sticks would rule — assuming they had the strength and skill to wield them.

I’ve always liked Teddy R’s comment “speak softly and carry a big stick”. This fellow just happened to have a dull sword which, being heavier,will hurt more.

That’s what happens when one buys swords at rummage sales.

necessity is the mother of invention

If you hack away at good chain mail with a sharp sword, you get a dull sword. Possibly you’ll also cut through the mail on your first strokes, but an extended battle with swords and armor would turn into men trying to bruise each other to death with dull steel rods.

That didn’t work very well, either. They wore a lot of padding under the armor. Knights were far more likely to die of natural causes than in battle. During large scale wars, the death rate accelerated quite a lot, but most of those deaths were unarmored peasants, and most of the knights that died succumbed to bad food, bad water, and camping out in all weather.

http://www.historicalfencingmalta.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Wallerstein_219.jpg

Pommel strike

Bad suggestion there Rod.