This does, however, require fabrication of new blade mounting hardware and likely swapping out the snath with a straight staff. The contoured snath of an English/Nordic-style scythe would not work well.
Then, you have Austrian scythes that are even worse suited to combat as their blades would likely break as soon as any hard armor was encountered. Unarmored or soft armor like a gambeson could work well but, the thin blades would likely not last and one would likely be better served by a spear.
You’re not wrong. But you also have to take into account that most weapons of war were simply repurposed farm equipment.
Farmers and peasents would be forced to fight with whatever they had on hand and the most successful weapons were slightly redesigned to be better suited for combat. Hence the war scythe.
Eventually they evolved into things like halberds or billhooks and other polearms.
You probably already knew this but they did make scythes for combat.
Literally just rotate the blade so it’s in line with the handle and you have a war scythe.
This does, however, require fabrication of new blade mounting hardware and likely swapping out the snath with a straight staff. The contoured snath of an English/Nordic-style scythe would not work well.
Then, you have Austrian scythes that are even worse suited to combat as their blades would likely break as soon as any hard armor was encountered. Unarmored or soft armor like a gambeson could work well but, the thin blades would likely not last and one would likely be better served by a spear.
You’re not wrong. But you also have to take into account that most weapons of war were simply repurposed farm equipment.
Farmers and peasents would be forced to fight with whatever they had on hand and the most successful weapons were slightly redesigned to be better suited for combat. Hence the war scythe.
Eventually they evolved into things like halberds or billhooks and other polearms.
I always love learning about old weapons
Well you can count on me to bring up historical versions of fantasy weapons! It’s one of my hyperfixations 🙃