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Over the course of history, there have been many polearm styles, especially in Medieval Europe. Soldiers would use anything from simple spears to bizarre polearms with hyphens in their names. Spears are, and have been, universal, so they have had the least differences. Cut-and-thrust polearms are the most diverse in design. Knights would use a poleaxe ore pole hammer of varying styles. The question is, which head configuration is best for a knight?
First, knightly polearms come in 2 basic categories. Poleaxes consist of an axe, a spike, and a choice of hammer or beak (sometimes a combination). Pole hammers consist of a hammer, a spike, and a beak. Next, the stances are related to those mentioned in the previous post. The contexts are twofold similar to the previous post. Firstly, they were used in the battlefield. Secondly, they were used in dueling such as the passage of arms, tourneys, and judicial duels.
The battlefield scenario is still more like single combat as formations were looser. Also, armour plays more of a role. Against armour, an axe blow will be sub-optimal compared to a hammer blow. Hence, a pole hammer is a better choice.
The dueling scenario is more liberal in that one may fight an opponent that may or may not have armour. The axe blade is better against an unarmoured opponent. However, most duels might not be to the death as seen with tourneys and passages of arms. With this idea, either may work as both can have a hammer.
Looking at weapon shapes. Axes come in 3 varieties: straight, curved, and inversely curved. Among these, curved would have more pinpointed percussive damage. Of hammers, the least lethal would be a large flat head as it would disperse force, ironically in tourneys, they typically used 4-point coronels.
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