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Concept
Melee weapon
Summary
A melee weapon, hand weapon or close combat weapon, is any handheld weapon used in hand-to-hand combat, i.e. for use within the direct physical reach of the weapon itself, essentially functioning as an additional (and more impactful) extension of the user's limbs. By contrast, a ranged weapon is any other weapon capable of engaging targets at a distance beyond immediate physical contact.
The term melee originates in the 1640s from the French word mêlée, which refers to disorganized hand-to-hand combat, a close-quarters battle, a brawl, or a confused fight; especially involving many combatants.
The 1812 tabletop war game Kriegsspiel referred to the hand-combat stage of the game as a melee. Later war games would follow this pattern. From there, gamers would eventually begin to call the weapons used in that stage melee weapons.
Melee weapons can be broadly divided into three categories :
which cover spears, pikes, lances, and military forks. They typically have a sharp point designed to inflict penetrating trauma, even against heavily armoured opponents, and the length of such weapons gives a range advantage. Certain variants may also hook at enemies to disrupt and disarm them, or pull them from atop horses.
Edged weapons, which cover swords, daggers, axes, and war scythes. These weapons are designed to cause cutting, dismemberment, and exsanguination injuries, and are most effective against minimally armoured opponents. These are used to cut, hack, slash, thrust or stab.
Blunt weapons, which cover clubs, maces, war hammers, staves, and flails. These weapons are designed to cause blunt trauma, even through armour that would protect against penetration by pointed or edged weapons.
Many weapons fit into multiple categories, or fit in between them; many polearms such as halberds, lucerne hammers, and guisarmes add edged and blunt methods of attack to a spear base, and various hooked weapons such as billhooks, fauchards, falxes, and becs de corbin evade simple classification; while flexible weapons such as whips don't fall into any of these categories.
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