The Thompson. You're doing it wrong!

A good man with a Thompson would make Swiss cheese out of a broad like that.

 

A real broadsword isn't that heavy. Even the hand and a half swords weren't all that heavy. I once did an analysis of those in the Wallace collection (at least those listed in the book with the necessary details) and hand and a half swords weight in about the same as rapiers with roughly the same length as well (about a foot longer than single handed swords). Now I'm thinking by broadsword you mean swords similar to the spatha, viking long sword, Norman swords etc and not the latter ones like the Scottish basket hilted broad swords. The average two handed sword in the wallace collection weighed in at around 7 lbs as I recall but one reason the average was so high was there was one sword that weighed in over 14lbs (almost assuredly a ceremonial sword). A katana isn't going to be much faster if at all than a broadsword when both are used one handed or a hand and a half sord when both are used two handed. It is designed better for cutting unarmored flesh though so would likely be a better choice vs zombies for that reason.

Or a langsax.

 

I collect swords in a small away. The last generation of cavalry sabers (before Hiram Maxim spoiled all the fun), are my favorites. You can pick up a Spanish 1908 for about a $100 on Ebay (that's how inexpensive they can be). The British 1908 and 1912 are very similar, but a bit more costly. The US 1913, the "Patton Saber" is quite the same design, but overpriced.because of the Patton Association. The French, Italians - all the Europeans - came out with similar designs from about 1895 to 1913.

The swords weigh about 2 to 2.5 pounds with the weight near the hilt. They are straight swords (actually sabers) designed to stick your opponent. To put it simply, they finally figured out that a man stuck with a sword was likely dead or at least out of the fight. A man slashed with a sword (consider the heavy wool tunics and two or three layers of clothing under that) was not out of the fight - he had a superficial wound.

Trivia: Most people think of a saber as curved design and a sword as straight. They are both swords, but in fact the main difference is that a saber is only sharpened on one side, while a sword is double edged.

Anyway, these last designs are quite long and have the weight near the fist and a solid guard, so if a man was within your point (you couldn't stick him), you just punched him in the face like a you had a huge pair of brass knuckles. The grips are quite ergonomic. The blades are strong enough to drive through bone, but will flex enough (and the grips are ergonomic enough (generally rubberized) that the blade will bend and withdraw even if you stick your opponent while passing. This was the big complaint of the "slashing" vs "sticking" schools prior to the last designs. Basically, with those older designs your probably would lose your sword if you stuck a guy. With the new design you probably wouldn't, but if you did hell, you had a revolver or a semi-auto on your belt so you were probably more dangerous without a sword than with one. Of course, you can still slash a guy with a straight edge, but the design and training is give him the point.

So the final flower of cavalry sabers (only the cavalry were still using fighting swords by then) came about in the decade before WWI. The Maxim and Lewis guns made them obsolete, though they had to slaughter a few thousand cavalrymen before they admitted it.

Anyhoo, if you want to get one look for the Spanish 1908 models on Ebay. You can pick them up cheap and they are similar enough to all the others to give you an idea of why these are such fine weapons.

Below is a Patton Model 1913. All the others are quite similar to this design.

 

Oh yeah, bring me my broadsword, and a cross of gold:
Jethro Tull
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEZQKrJ5_lk

 

Trumped by the Zombie Thompson gunner...
"Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner"
Warren Zevon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6s5Kjw5BEQ

 

**** yeah, Warren Zevon.
Funny how music connects.

 

Warren knew what he was talking about where Thompsons were concerned. His old man, Stumpy Zevon, was an LA gangster in the 40's and 50's. Stumpy was best man at Mickey Cohen's wedding, and one of the few members of Cohen's inner circle to survive.

 

That is friggin' cool Terry, if true.
Can you post a link or something.

 

http://mafia.wikia.com/wiki/Willie_Zevon

 

Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare's father, Edward J. "Easy Eddie" O'Hare was also "mobbed up."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_J._O%27Hare#Assassination

 

Damn. Love this place. Rock and war.

 

Rock and war go together like bacon and eggs. My SF Team would always listen to Zepplin's "No Quarter" on the way to our insertion, by helo or ground vehicle. My older son remembered this, when he went to Iraq. He got his unit started on listening to Tool's version on their way out of the wire, and it became a good luck ritual.

Good bass riff that gets in your bones and the last two minutes can get your blood pumping and ready to kill some shit!

"They choose the path where no one goes, they hold no quarter, walking side by side with death, the devil mocks their every step,"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJm8fZ6WS5Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo5tuQVW15w

 

The Zevons of New York. lo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangs_of_New_York

 

Some of the folk and filk songs can be fairly impressive in this regard as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av2-A-igOJk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTRqUvjwkac
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0zdKAV3v60
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFAzKJ9k_RQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPZFn1-AeWI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVi0fyx5BOU&list=PLFC3479969BE34007&index=7

Apologies to the southerners for this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-vZTogpwsA

 

A couple more decent songs but not very professional recording or performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX7OBQbrGdU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7TkCjvB6H8

 

Yeah, there are a lot of small Georgia towns along the route of Sherman's March where his name ranks right up there beside Satan.

To go with "Marching Through Georgia" you have the classic "The Night they drove ole' Dixie Down" which really surprised me in how it got so many minor historical facts correct.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jREUrbGGrgM

 

Still remember hearing about a Georgia national guard unit that was nationalized for WWI. Almost rioted from what I heard when the French welcomed them to France with a band playing "Marching Through Georgia".

 

They were talking about the Civil War and Robbie Robertson was Canadian and didn't know much about the dirty side of it all. Levon Helm lent him a book on the last year of the war covering Sherman mostly, but had a chapter on Stoneman's raid from Tennessee east to the Carolinas then up into Virginia in April, 65, where he destroyed the Richmond-Danville railroad. Robertson had already written the tune and decided he would tell the story of somebody in the path of all that.