In a pinch, you could surely make a scythe into an effective weapon, but there are some issues. Mainly the blade is in a brilliant position for cutting wheat, but a deeply awkward position for fighting. Additionally, the way it is designed is suboptimal for defense, due to it's weighting and shape. That's my opinion on the matter, though you could learn to use a scythe as a weapon is you really wanted to
I explicitly remember from school in Poland on the subject of polish uprisings in XVIII century, that peasants used modified scythes with blades turn upward. I remember it specifically because i grow up on farm, and used scythe myself to cut grass. It was always funny to me when in games scythe is presented as weapon and its blade is not turned upwards, as if someone heard about war scythes and imagine it was being used to mow people like grass lol.
Here is image from Raclwickie panorama about Kosciuszko uprising, which saw use of scythemen (kosynierzy):
In a pinch, you could surely make a scythe into an effective weapon, but there are some issues. Mainly the blade is in a brilliant position for cutting wheat, but a deeply awkward position for fighting. Additionally, the way it is designed is suboptimal for defense, due to it's weighting and shape. That's my opinion on the matter, though you could learn to use a scythe as a weapon is you really wanted to
Also, this post is incredible and I appreciate it
I explicitly remember from school in Poland on the subject of polish uprisings in XVIII century, that peasants used modified scythes with blades turn upward. I remember it specifically because i grow up on farm, and used scythe myself to cut grass. It was always funny to me when in games scythe is presented as weapon and its blade is not turned upwards, as if someone heard about war scythes and imagine it was being used to mow people like grass lol.
Here is image from Raclwickie panorama about Kosciuszko uprising, which saw use of scythemen (kosynierzy):
http://fotoforum.gazeta.pl/photo/4/le/ja/2v70/PLf1GCgJInNLb3Q8aB.jpg
And some other pictures featuring kosynierzy (most from polish uprisings):
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Che%C5%82mo%C5%84ski_Modlitwa_przed_bitwa.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Bitwa_pod_Raclawicami.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Emila_Plater_conducting_Polish_scythemen_in_1831.jpg/1024px-Emila_Plater_conducting_Polish_scythemen_in_1831.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Kosy_i_piki.jpg/220px-Kosy_i_piki.jpg
edit: There is info about scythemen in english wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scythemen
deleted by creator
Thank you. This makes a lot more sense