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.
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Who said it was ever effective?
Most throwing knives aren’t really meant to hit the opponent. Just as you say, they’re too unreliable for that. It’s hard to get them to hit, and they’re generally pretty easy to dodge as long as you’re aware of them.
Throwing knives were typically more tools of harassment and distraction than “weapons” as we typically think of them. The goal isn’t really to hit your opponent. The goal is to force the opponent to do something to avoid getting hit. If the opponent’s options for avoiding the knife are suitably narrow, then to some extent you can predict what they will do, and that can be a big advantage.
Knives can be thrown without spin with a pretty good amount of force. Other than that I think it’s mainly a distraction.
Throwing axes have some record in history, the franks were described using a throwing axe called francisca. They used it like the romans used the pilum, thrown en masse before a charge.
I’m not a cage fighter, but I am a combat experienced soldier.
Imagin yourself in a street fight and your opponent is fit and challenging. Now add a throwing knife and the millions of ways you could creatively use it but for the arguments sake we only use it as a throwing weapon.
You could use it to establish an opening. Best case a critical hit to the eye or weak spot and worse case it’s a slight half second distraction to get you close enough to engage the target or enough time to reload your primary.
Don’t look at weapons as a one fix all situation instead a tool for the right job. To a boxer a glove filled with liquid cement is enough of an advantage to seriously hurt someone in a safe sport let alone someone throwing multiple hatchets in a 10 on 3 engagement.
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.
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