Club
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Basic Information

Arguably the simplest bludgeoning weapon a club is simply a piece of material - usually wood - used as a weapon. At its simplest a club verges on an improvised weapon - you can simply pick up a block of wood and start hitting people - but very often a club will be something more. At the very least it may be cut roughly to shape and have some kind of binding added as a handle and some cultures, particularly non-metal using cultures for whom the club is a significant military weapon, may well have carefully shaped and balanced pieces made from the densest and hardest wood available. These clubs may well be intricately carved and decorated like many Maori war clubs.

Some designs of club are also balanced for throwing as well as or instead of melee.

A club may also be upgraded by studding with spikes made from stone, bone or metal (the traditional "bit of wood with nails in it") but too much of this and it starts to turn into a morning star.

A club made of metal or stone is more likely to be called a mace.

In many cases clubs are issued as a less lethal weapon - often to police units (where they may be called a baton or truncheon) or to military units tasked with police type duties (where they may be called an "implement, crowd control"). A pickaxe or axe handle usually makes a perfectly good club.

Because of this role, a truncheon may well be a ceremonial symbol of office for a dignitary responsible for law enforcement.

The more refined sort of club tends to blend into a rod once it becomes properly balanced and more sophisitcated in application.

Sources

Bibliography
1. full source reference

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