how were throwing knives ever effective in combat

Question

Based on my limited experience at axe throwing venues, my take is that you can only get thrown axes and knives to stick in right if you’re exactly the right distance away. This seems impractical for a combat scenario where nobody is good to stand still at exactly the right distance for you.

In: Technology

Answer 1

I had some informal medieval weapon training and among the first lessons… don’t throw your weapon…

Why would you want to throw your weapon away, you would make yourself defenceless

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Now on the other hand, there were weapons that were explicitly designed to be thrown, including throwing knifes.

But those weapons were usually used in special stealth circumstances not on a battlefield. Like throwing stars for ninjas used for stealth

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There were no throwing weapon “batallions” in medieval warfare because of this. A melee weapon is not a good ranged weapon and a ranged weapon is not a melee weapon, that is why there is a sharp distinction between sword and shield units and archer units.