What medieval weapons would HOBBITS, GNOMES and GOBLINS really use? 

Just to share my thoughts on slings. As many have mentioned slings certainly do compliment halfling characteristics and they would be able to get them to around the same power as a human due to momentum rather than strength, but the lethality potential of slings goes down drastically as soon as you add armor into the mix which make them a very poor battlefield weapon. A sling simply can't injure let alone kill a guy through a helm, plate, mail or even gambeson (baring a one in a million shot David vs Goliath style). Bows and crossbows on the other hand have far greater penetration capability though even they have trouble with armor, just not as much trouble as slings.

"A Child half the height of a human" Yeah. I always knew children were monsters.

"They are not built for throwing" I don't know about that. With enough strength you could probably throw them a pretty good distance.

“Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is.” -Yoda

"The only good goblin is a dead goblin. NOW LET'S MAKE THIS GOBLINS GOOD!!!" - Goblin Slayer

I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I took a hobbit to the knee.

I know this might be a somewhat weird question, but how's the armor in the crotch area of full plate? Obviously, the front is protected, but what about attack from below? If we're already fighting dirty, it seems like a good place to stab, unless the armor covers from directly below as well.

"I like to lick Frodo's feet." Please keep your LotR slash fiction out of this.

The groin is almost universally a weakness in armor, especially from below. Gnomes are perfect height for a spear thrust at a human's or orc's groin.

I was once an adventurer like you, until I took a halflings' sword to the knee

With the "go for the legs" tactics, I might consider some curved blade, like a sickle or even something meant for bringing down the opponent like a longer version of a flail (for the extra reach).

Don't forget about the square-cube ratio. In D&D at least, small class creatures have gear that's half as heavy but they can carry 3/4 of a medium class creature with the same strength score. Not real life numbers, but the idea still stands. Because of this when you adjust their equipment for size they can carry more and get tired more slowly as a result. They would likely use the roman tactics of short stabbing swords in testudo in a slow brutal slugging match. The fact they're so small means that they can also easily hit their enemy with ranged weapons in a fight, just fire over your guys heads at the guy towering over them. This also makes the sling a perfect weapon, as the normal issue of not having indirect fire is nullified by the enemy's height.

Pommels, Shad. They would use pommel magic, to end all foe, big or small, rightly.

hate to point it out, but groin is also a prime target... ouch!

I really appreciate this video. I'm planning on writing a few novels that center around the D&D variation of kobolds (little reptile men basically, around the size of the beings discussed here), and I was planning a battle in one of the later books that involved the kobolds fighting elves alongside some other allied races. I wanted to give them some accurate and useful weapons that would fit their size. I knew that I could rely on you to help me out in that area. Thanks Shad!

Ok, I’ve come up with two (two and a half?) cool tactics for goblins in their dens. The first, use a wall of goblins with hooked pole arms to hold the adventurers at a distance while a few try to hook their legs and bring them down, at which point the others use the bladed sections to hack the poor bastard to pieces. Another version uses this, but goblins on both sides, with a group that sneaks up behind the adventurers using goblin-sized tunnels. The other idea is basically armoured shock troops, where they run in and stab at the legs and thighs. There’s a major artery on the inside of the thigh, right next to the scrotum, which is pretty nasty to be stabbing at in the first place. Another quasi-tactic is simply attacking from above. That nullifies the enemy’s height advantage, especially if you can knock them down. And the mere fact that they are lighter and more compact makes landing on their feet easier.

I love those videos, just theorizing about fighting styles and how they would be adapted! But for that reason I have a little off topic question: Would you say, that in the roman fighting style, based on tight formations and short swords, a punching dagger or sword like the "Katar" would have been of use, or even an improvement? I am very curious and would like to hear some opinions! ;) Greets from Germany! =)

"I like to lick Frodo's feet." I died. That was too good, Shad! Thumbs up!

they can become... HOOOOG RIIIIIIDAAAAAASSSSS

I think you got it wrong on plate armour. *Half the size is NOT half the weight.* Doubling something in size contributes to a cubic increase in weight! To illustrate it, think of an average built human scaled to following size: cm kg 400 850 300 350 220 140 200 100 180 80 150 45 120 22 100 12 *The scaleability is problematic* however. A human cannot get any bigger than 3m without major anatomic changes. For the same reasons model planes can take on forms real planes can't and small animals can fall deep without hurting themselves. Armour is problematic too. Most medieval plate armour was around 1mm thick, with critical parts 2mm thick. The prior can be cleaved with an axe, or penetrated with some bows and crossbows in ideal conditions. *Giving goblins 0.5mm armour would allow humans to cut right throw it with their swords!* Giving them 1mm thick armour would make it incredibly heavy. If a normal human carries plate armour then he carries about 40% of his body-weight in armour. If a halfling does it it would be about 60%, since the armour shrinks only in two dimensions rather than 3.

I lost it when you said, "Boot the little guy."

Really liked the video, but I think you missed two points. we humans have used spears to kill way larger animals for millenia, and if someone is thinking about spears always exceding the reach of the animal, just remember mammoths. As long as they adjust weight by decreasing length of the pole, they would be great with spears, maybe a little shorter than human spears; but thew could get a great advantage with massai-like spears (short as swords overall). But one you definitelly forgot was the sling. Since it relies on accelleration, not strength, they could rely on them and use them without issues. Oh, and a sidenote, since they weigh a lot less, probably they can dodge like cats xD I'm loving this series man, do ogres or trolls or something like that!

Hey Shad! I’ve got to say, I really love your videos. This one in particular has helped me rethink how I would arm an anthropomorphic corgi. On this subject, I had a question about plate armor and anthropomorphic canines: In wearing full plate armor, would a creature who pants as its primary method of cooling off have an advantage in keeping cool over humans, who sweat to keep cool? Finally, may I suggest a video idea? Arms and armor for werewolves would be pretty cool to see! Would biting be effective against mail (biting through the mail)? Would a steel full jaw mouth guard enable them to pierce plate? What type of helmet would best accommodate wolf ears? Would a tail become a hindrance in a fight? Stuff like that. =)

On some other forum this topic was brought up. I suggested a ranged tactic : hobbits using Elf bows with the lying down method. Merry gets on his back, pushes the bow with his feet while pulling the string with both hands, Pippin loads the arrow. Not for precision, but several Hobbits doing this together would make for a surprising barrage.

Wow I want that castle shirt because IT HAS ALL THE BELLS AND WHISTLES

Indeed with halflings/etc the only thrown weapons which would be useful are ones based on poisons or explosions which do not require the force upon impact. Sneak attacks with crossbows however are proven tactics which we still use today. In the end i'd say as a smaller fellow you would be best off engaging in mental activities such as magic/science if applicable or the payment of mercenaries to fight for you. Money is a great weapon.

If someone doesn’t have a codpiece the halfling can also cut off/stab their no-no parts

You pretty much broke down my gnome/halfling variety Shad, well done. My gnomes favor poison, bombs(all sorts), slings and gorilla tactics. I am also working on a martial art for the "little people" Love the series my friend. Would you try and break down beast-men next? Animal like humanoids.

I'm actually in a 5th edition D&D campaign in which everyone but one player is a halfling. The last guy was a goblin with a hook for a hand. Their mission is to infiltrate a new goblin/hobgoblin "city" One character, who was a monk of shadow, cast silence in a room of hobgoblins, and we all chose to sneak-attack each of the hobgoblins, taking them out before they knew what was even going on. Later in that same session, an ambush was staged by we the players, to take down two other monks. Two characters shot crossbow bolts into one, killing it, while the party monk fell onto the other and used an ability to attack four times in a row, instantly just punching the poor guy to death. The monk that was beaten to death by fists was also first grappled by the goblin who stabbed his hook into the enemy monk's leg, and grappled them, paralyzing him with the toxin covering his hook. In short, I agree that avoiding "direct combat" is the best way to do it, as it allows the fewest chances to be hit. (Then again, that's true for a halfling just as much as it would be for an orc or a giant.)

What about slings, blow darts, and maybe using a atlatl all for range weapons.

Love it. It remembers me my fighter/thief halfling in Dungeons & Dragons OnLine (flopped and very underrated IMO because it precisely allows to create characters like that far from the killer builts that are not helpless but fun to play) and I did just that, circle around the big bullies dodging their heavy wings while hacking their legs and piercing their asses... It did take some time to bring them down, but I did not even need some tank to front them. :-)

There are some types of goblins with tails, which can function similarly to a monkey's. So they can grasp things with it and swing and hang from it as well. This not only adds to their dexterity, but enhances how they can use tactics, and wield weapons. Say their hands are disarmed, well they can still grab another weapon with their tail, or perhaps they have a piece of armor on it, that has spikes which they could use as a small mace like bludgeon. Just something to think about Shad.

Another great video! With how dirty they would have to fight, a sword, dagger or mace to the family jewels would probably be their first approach when fighting a man. Talk about a quick, but painful death. If you don't mind me asking, are you planning on doing ogres, trolls and giants on the next part of this series? Speaking of which... Talk about terrifying. Give them a bow, and you probably have a walking ballista right there. Depending on what kind of ogre, troll or giant it is of course, since there are many variants out there.

Bombs that have pommels inside! The ultimate weapon!

There is an error in your estimates. If someone is half the height, he is even less surface area (and therefore less area to protect with armour) and evel less than that volume and mass. So armour for hobbits/gnomes could be either lighter or thicker (with same mass to height ratio as for humans).

@shadiversity I think you left out an excellent weapons for the small ones: a re-sized polearm, and forgive me for not knowing the technical term, but it would be the combo hook/hammer (with a very small, hammerhead). Most of the armors that they would be going up against would have the soft-spots behind hard armor, hence the hook (get's around the hard parts and then yank back to sever through the soft spots). Now, that wouldn't quite work as well against hard plate, for example, hence the hammerhead side, and you want a very small hammerhead, but not a point, so that they can crush the armor, or bend or deform it in someway, rather than pierce or penetrate. Do that, crush the plate around the knees or the shins, and you can kill or incapacitate your enemy, or maybe just bring him down to the halfling's height with severely limited mobility. So...hammer/hook polearm, resized for hobbits. What do you think?

My impression for Halflings is that they have heightened sense to their surroundings, and have a bonus in sneak. So they are often dungeon scouts. thieves, spies and assassins. Maybe they can do these things for a war to get an advantage: - Train their men to adapt fighting in area filled smoke, caltrops and other traps. Equip them with smoke bombs and caltrop bags. - Try to cover as much of the battlefield as possible with smoke, or fight during night. When Halfling fight in a place filled with smoke and traps, their opponent should suffer much more from it, especially if the Halfling is trained to fight in such condition. - Wolf riders should be cheaper and easier than horse cavalry. They may be good against enemy foot soldiers. - Build their castle and/or town as an underground dungeon maze. Also on 1v1 fights, maybe the kusarigama sickle chain is a good choice? It has range, versatility and maybe doesn't require too much strength to use.

I know it's been a while since this video went up, and I do agree fully with most of what's been said. (About the tactics and approach to combat that these creatures would have), and in the case of most of the D&D games that I've run, I would tend to have these races favoring such approaches to combat as noted. Goblins -- Rely on ambushes, numbers, and ranged combat, often scattering when things start to go badly for them. Halflings -- Generally being friendly and avoiding conflict whenever possible. If forced into combat they would opt for crossbows and a more stealthy (guerrilla tactics) approach to battle. Gnomes -- Playing off the innate magical abilities and favor of the illusion school to sow chaos and discord among an opposing army rather than engaging in direct combat.

little dude flying the bird was awesome lol

Listening about the range weapons, what about bolos? They don't require much strength to throw, and they don't have to be lethal as they are used to immobilize an opponent. Throw the bolos, preferably at the legs, and once the target falls run and stab or whatever you would normally do.

Hobbits would be great slingers and scouts I think. Good skirmishers too.

*On the note of throwing:* the Aztecs actually have a solution for the wee folk, the atl atl. It's a long stick with a notch at the far end from the handle, the notch is for the butt of a spear of javelin to sit in. The atl atl doubles the throwing distance and helps make the launch a bit more powerful.

Yeah I was thinking that they can use chained hooks or scythes to run in between someone's legs, stab the hook in a vulnerable spot and either tie them up or drag them to the floor, this will work if they are ganging up on the target, one distracts while the other stabs and then between 2 or more pull the target down

Something you mentioned about humans in the centaur episode applies here: wee folk have an advantage against humans in rank-and-file infantry formations, in that you can fit more combatants per square metre. If a human and a halfling infantry formation were to meet head on, then each human could expect to be facing two or three halflings. Providing they're sufficiently armoured, one of those little bastards is going to get his legs. A halfling army lacks range and mobility, however, so they'd really rely on ambushes and mounted infantry (not cavalry).

i love these videos! i think about this stuff all the time lol you've given me some great ideas for writing with them. keep up the awesome work!

2 interesting points, first, heavy crossbows and such, they could still used, even full sized though they would likely be "crew served weapons". with 2-3 halflings working in groups to carry, set up a bi or tripod mounted cross bow, then 2 operating the crank, yes its strength based but with mechanical advantage, levers, gears, cranks, they could still draw a 200 pound string, then load and fire. The second is one you keep seeming to dismiss. Close quarters combat in confined areas. Picture your average door way... you can't SWING your sword in an area the size of door, your stuck to thrusting... a spear might have better reach but you might not be able to even "turn it round" let alone get it around a corner. So these little guys, tunnel fighting with a roman small sword and small shield... using hit and run tactics they could slow down, blunt larger human side people trying to move through said tunnels. a perfect real world example of this was the Vietnam war, and the tunnels there.

In the book version of Prince Caspian, the Talking Mice had the tactic of waiting until an enemy engaged one of the other Talking Beasts, then went in using speed and stealth, and mass attacked the feet with rapiers, which inevitably led to the enemy losing balance; either the original opponent would finish the injured fighter off, or the mice would.

I love this series, it's really interesting

If I was a Hobbit or a Gnome or a Goblin, I'd probably use an AK-47 :-/

I agree with the use of slings and crossbows. The amount of protection a shield or armour would offer them has to be lower, because to make that light enough for them to wear it would also need to be relatively thin. Getting in close to hit your opponents legs with short weapons would in my opinion be really dangerous. An opponent wearing greaves can be really hard to injure while the smaller races are pretty much hopeless when in comes to grappling. If the bigger opponent grabs hold of you shield you are immobile and unprotected.

Another advantage they'd have from crossbows is that crossbows can be loaded further ahead of time than the equivalent for bows or ranged weapons, so they synergize better with the ambush-style tactics that are ideal for these races.

OK shad, I have some notes: I think it would be helpful to take into account the races cultures in determining what kind of weapons they would use, at least as important as physical characteristics. Gnomes and Hobbits are usually depicted as being farmers, artisans, and merchants (and occasionally tinkerers) and only rarely are they shown as warriors and practically never a blacksmith (which makes sense considering their strength disadvantages). That would mean you would probably see a lot of improvised weapons and a lot of tools adapted or modified to be effective as weapons, much like you would see with pre-industrial Japanese peasantry. This also ties well into the notion that their enhanced agility and smaller stature making it easier to sneak, drawing comparisons with the ninja. I'm thinking sythes and hoes and pitchforks modified into being effective pole arms and having smaller contingency weapons such as daggers, utility knives, and maybe hunting knives, which brings me to a second point: being especially small of stature and light weight along with their superb agility and manual dexterity makes gnomes and hobbit especially well suited for horseback riding. Have you ever noticed noticed that jockeys in the real world tend to be small people? There is a good reason for that. I think gnomes and hobbits would make for a great missile cavalry, armed with crossbows and/or slings. This is also supported by their culture, considering farmers and artisans with reduced physical strength will have even more reliance on beasts of burden such as horses, and merchants will need them for traveling. This would also give insight to another good role for them in warfare, off of the battlefield, in being on the supply lines, driving cars drawn by oxen carrying ammunition and goods to the brave elves and dwarfs on the front line. Purpose made weapons of war for gnomes and hobbits would likely be imported dwarven or elfish goods passed down in wealthy families as an heirloom, much like 'sting' from the hobbit and lord of the rings, and in rare cases even dwarfish suits of armor that would have been especially expensive because they would need to be custom made. Now goblins, on the other hand, don't seem to make anything at all, except in the warcraft universe where they are tinkerers, and almost of of their equipment seems to have been either improvised, stolen, or looted from corpses. Given the company they keep you might see them fighting with a lot of orcish knives and shields, daggers, knives and swords looted from victims, slings, sharpened sticks, and so on. I haven't watched your other fantasy races videos yet, but I look forward to watching them and no-doubt having notes on them. I enjoyed this video very much.

A few points i feel you may have missed. so i wrote the side not first, but its not the main point i wanted to make. seeing as these guys -are- as short as they are, FULL plate armor wouldn't be as needed, you would really only need to cover the top half, maybe as low as the torso, they could leave the legs unarmored or light armor like leather or even thick cloth. this would give them a defensive and offensive advantage. they would be quicker and more agile then most other opposites having a better time dodging and striking quickly. now you talked about daggers and swords being good weapons, but looked over Rapiers . Rapiers even made to size on these guys, being properly armored and at GROIN level with most opposites... would have a significant advantage! (most armor having a weak point near the groin/ inner thigh... next to an artery...) as they are fighting dirty... run in stab stab run away,, dead man walking. ALSO this type of fighting would get a good amount of attention.. the IDEA of fighting some one ( let alone an army ) that's main fighting style is to run in like an armored turtle stab you in the groin and run away while his friends shot you with bolts from every hiding place they could find would be daunting,.. and might cause an army to lose moral before ever getting to battle.. SIDE note: so considering these guys are basically full grown adults i would say they would be nearly as strong as a humans.. with out trying to be crude , they are similar in this way to midgets (not a joke.). That being said strength isn't so much the issue as length of arms and legs, i agree pole arms and bows would be a poor choice but something like a butchers cleaver would be scary.. not altogether the most effective choice but scary.

I always liked the idea of pole hooks for goblins. I mean they tend to be ambush fighters in fantasy. So group of adventurers going through the forest or ruins of an old fort. Goblin slides the pole hook out, hooks the ankle (does not take much to trip a person, less if surprised). Hooks the shoulder if they are above them. hooks the weapon arm, etc. Down goes the adventurer/s, and they are set upon by goblins with clubs, daggers, and spears.

I liked my shin lunges with a sword) A lot connected! People were surprised, talking about wondering what went wrong and why they start constantly collecting leg hits all of the sudden;) And hit in a bone makes nasty sound and quite unplesant bruise.

Could've mentioned some more advantages like the bigger opponent getting tired faster, smaller making them agiler, faster reflexes due to shorter nerves, better balance due to lower center of gravity, bigger opponent takes longer to swing sword due to more distance needed to move arm etc...

Odo: You'd shoot (stab) a man in the back, Garak? Garak: It's the safest way, isn't it?

If you are so small and already in range from which you can strike unprotected areas on legs, attacking groin just straight away from below with pointy sword/dagger would be the most effective way to get rid of your opponent I'd say.

I wouldn't compare the small races to the strength of a child. I would never think a little person IRL is the same strength of a kid his size. Kids dont develop muscles like a matured adult. Dwarfs are just as short but have tons of strength. Sometimes even stronger than humans. So size isnt really an issue in fantasy because it's just that, fantasy. Amazing video tho, as always. I'm now gonna make a halfling warrior that has only a shield, helmet, and a sword for my D&D campaign.

one thing you need to bear in mind with scaling down plate armour is that to get that reduced weight, you'd not only have to scale down the pieces in terms of fitting size, but the thickness of the steel. reduce everything by 50% (by weight), for example, you reduce the weight and the length of the arm and leg pieces, but also the thickness.

"GO FOR THE LEGS, BOO! FOR THE LEEEEEEEEEGS!!" Minsc to Boo if he were an Miniature Giant Space Halfling.

Shadiversity I love how shamelessly nerdy your merch is lol

far as spears/pole arms they could just use like think a reverse prong trident fork kind of weapon meant more for catching hooking an stabbing into the leg as you pull and hopefully making the enemy off balance and fall from the weight of the armor and gear. You'd thrust between the with of the legs an try to catch the back of the legs where there isn't much armor depending of the type like you said.

In war they could definitely benefit from building their castles with their size in mind. Smaller rooms will let you have more rooms in the same size castles but also because other races would be too large to effectively fight or even fit into the doorways and hallways even if an enemy scaled the walls they would have to take apart the castle to kill everyone

I'm actually working on the idea for a halfling with a crossbow, for all the reasons you mention here!

In my fantasy world Goblins can jump very high because they're so light and agile, and the muscles in their legs are (proportionally) quite strong, so they usually like to stay in the trees and avoid the dangers down below, and their main tactic for killing or even just scaring something is to drop rocks on them. High up+heavy object=lots of damage.

This video actually brings me back to my earlier thoughts with the giant but for entirely different reasons. In single combat i have to wonder how effective the Kama would be at crippling humans/elfs tendons such as the Achilles tendon, i picture a scenario with a light to medium armored sword wielding human thrusting forward while the gnome dodges left and forward and swings the Kama to knick their Achilles tendon. Again, as you said strategic fighting is their best bet and as dwarves fighting giants, take out the knees! Or tendons lol. today i learned so much! Like... apparently i am fascinated with the Kama!

Thanks, these videos are helping me making good stories.

What about bolas for tripping up their taller foes and bringing their faces into stabbing range?

On spears, maybe a spetum? Those have two fairly large projections at the base of the blade. Maybe they have cutting potential or they probably actually don't but, while it may be more difficult to nail the narrow shape of a leg with the tip of a spear, maybe racking someone in the kneecap with one of those prongs in a solid thrust might hurt to say the least. Might put them off their footing, maybe even land them on their arse. I don't know for sure; I've been in exactly zero fights. EDIT: Oh, and if fighting in formation were ever called for then I imagine a wall of these things, giving fighters of shorter stature a hefty amount of reach to cover each other from advancing and physically stronger opponents, would have merit over other options.

I play a halfling as part of a D&D campaign... I think pretty much everything we fight could kill me in 1-2 hits, so dirty tactics are the name of the game... The mechanic of being able to hide behind other creatures of larger size helps with this a LOT.

I would say the lowered strength would depend on the type of Shortie. The Redcap which depending on setting/myth are goblins, gnomes, ect are small but they are equivalent or greater strength then a normal human.

At 3:10, I just realized how stupid the guard is on the "Mountain's" sword, its about two inches thick, alot of extra material on there..

I’d say their biggest advantages would be agility and stealth, especially for halflings/hobbits, due to their big feet. Agility wise, i would expect a halfling to be more agile than the bigger races, and thus would be able to dodge many attacks any get close enough to slash tendons and arteries (much like ankle slicers from narnia), or punch someone in the groin, thus i would say that some good weapons would be, knifes and daggers, short swords, machetes, and even brass knuckles. I also think that small, throwable spears would be very useful, aswell as small bows, and hand crossbows. They would also be beasts with slings, slingshots, or even an atlatl for the spears. Blowdarts might also be useful, but darts in slings and slingshots can be deadly (to be fair slings can be very deadly in general).

The way I handled weapon usability by the smaller Races in my game world was based upon their Height & Strength limitations. For example a Pixling of 2' 2" using a Pitchfork would be very akin to a Human wielding a polearm type weapon. However in contrast those few Races that are 7' or taller in height can use most 2-handed Human-sized weapons with just one hand...

Bolo's even if It just gets 1 leg it is a going to hinder , Stiletto , Yari or spike spear for armor piercing , curved cutting spears for the pull cut / stab .

I know I'm late to the party, but I feel like a spiked shield would be a great weapon- like the celts used. If somebody is above them, they'll be leaning forward to reach above the shield, meaning that they have to go into range of the shield.

Excluding magic. Gnomes sometimes are favored with intelligence and "sense of technology" beyond any other race. In context of warfare can be the case of they are in some point of the segment of: Fire lance/Hand-cannon/Flintlock Rifle. So, orc and bows are a bad omen. But gnomes with muskets...

The goblins are usually portrayed as using the outnumber tactic. Gnomes though, depending on the lore seems to be everything between a meter and a few centimetres tall, and that greatly affects what they can do.

In regards to spears make them use something like a crescent blade perpendicular to the shaft. It would help getting the legs.

How about a Quarterstaff? Blunt "force" to get them on their knees? And yeah, Slings as has been mentioned.Actually, I think Lindybeige once made a quarterstaff/sling combo/crossover. That might be cool for them

Regarding melee combat, since they would be going for the legs a lot in 1v1 combat, I feel like a short axe or war pick would go great with a shield for the halfling, especially if the opponent has armour on the legs.

I would have thought the best thing for halflings and goblins would be pits and spikes and traps, things they can carrfully avoid tripping that would really mess up taller people.

Well the small people of Southeast Asia seem to have preferred a short slashing sword with a medium concave round shield (after spear and shield of course).

I saw last year , a children's Smallsword. So maybe that can be a potential suggestion

one idea for the series: undead. while not actually being a race it might be quite relevant to medieval combat. for example dead tissue, and by extension undead tissue would behave very differently when being hit by a sword than someone who is still alive.

In the words of Eomyr, "it's not his courage I doubt, it's the reach of his arm". This is more significant than many people think. When humans started using pike formations, pikes ranged from 15-25 feet. Sad reality is, even with the proper strength, no one without the proper arm length could use something that large. Its a matter of leverage. Skallagrim once noted in one of his videos (I think it was him anyway, I watch a lot of these and it has been a while) that "Sting" and other short swords would be a poor choice for a hobbit as they would require something to compensate their short reach. Sadly, while I agree with his point, I don't think that would be physically feasible.

Tight pike formations might be good for small races. Yes, each pike will be shorter, and each pikeman weaker. But a wall of sharp pikes should discourage larger enemies from closing, and if they do close, they'll be locally outnumbered. Pikes should also work well with crossbows.

Please do: Best setup for (realistic) rogues/assassins.

Crossbows would also be good for assassin/sniper type tactics. They can load, then wait for an hour or two, and then hit and run. Half-sized fighters could do well with stick fighting, too. Without the heavy warhead of a halberd, they'd be light and balanced, not to mention as versatile as a longsword. Maybe a small, light spike on each of the ends to help with penetration.

If we were going to stretch the inclusion of medieval weapons to include early firearms like hand cannons and early matchlock guns, the little guys could possibly use them with the only likely issues being their recoil and weight. I know that in at least some settings, gnomes are depicted as cleaver little devils, and they might be able to engineer some sort of gun.

I think the only real way these races (hitherto referred to as midgets) would be able to engage enemies would be as low-key and informally as possible, as you mentioned any fight would have to be stacked in favor of the midgets to even be fight able. This would involve formal duels culturally replaced (between races) by getting jumped by a midget and his friends or a silent knife in the dark, military strategy/battles being moot and replaced by guerrilla/partisan fighting against occupiers involving largely improvised weaponry (axes, clubs, knives), ranged weapons and hit and run tactics. The more time spent underground would create an advantage for the midgets, and fights in tunnels would create a powerful genetic advantage for being as short as possible, a human in a 3 foot tunnel will be nothing but knife practise for a midget. Being hunched over on hands and knees would make the humans almost incapable of combat.

I think kusarigama would be interesting in the hands of a hobbit or goblin. You can get a lot of momentum with the steel ball at mid range and the kama would be good for sneaky kills.

All dwarves need is a decent shield and a good charge to take most opponents off their feet. Their centre of gravity is a lot lower meaning anyone they come up against without a proper guard will stumble. Their weight also becomes an advantage in mounted combat. If you've ever seen a jockey they're not big. If not properly protected an attack to the groin area is lethal. There's arteries down there that when cut will bleed you out faster than your throat. Dwarves and goblins have almost direct access to these areas so a short spear and maybe a buckler will open up crit spots

Sounds to me these guys need to invest some time and energy into perfecting gunpowder. Love these videos.

Another thought: they're built like jockeys. In a mixed race army they'd be a natural fit for chariot drivers. Also a hobbit chariot driver with two crossbow wielding hobbits and a third to help them cock the bows might be on par with a human driver and archer (until they had to do any fighting outside the chariot).

In topic of bows, what about composite bows? The same type, or alike as the ones which were used by Mongols? Composite bows used in eastern Europe excel other bows in power, some tests show that they could be even better than English Longbows, in terms of power and penetration of course, and they are very small, just like hunting bows, because Mongols, or later Poles, used them from horseback. I would be glad if you answered my question Shad :).

I imagine that halflings and gnomes would be smarter and more technologically advanced than their contemporaries. If you can't outdo your fellow creatures in the local fang, claw, and muscle competition, then you need to get creative in order to survive confrontation. Thus, in warfare, they would need to not only be able to out-strategize their larger counterparts, but they would need better tools to compensate for their size. They might have some sort of padded helms (basically armored motorcycle helmets) that can absorb a greater deal of impact, meaning they could focus their shields on defending the rest of their body, making their guard nearly impenetrable. They would also likely develop sophisticated ranged weapons to help keep the fight out of the realm of melee. Such weapons would also need to be easily used by someone of diminished strength. Their loading mechanisms for crossbows would likely be very advanced for the timeperiod, allowing them to use larger, stronger crossbows with ease. Maybe they'd even develop a sort of proto-firearm, if you're willing to play a bit fast-and-loose with the setting. Regardless, they'd likely be somewhat ahead of the curve when it comes to military tech and strategies.

Love these videos Shad. I'm writing a fantasy novel and my world has Giants as one of the races. I'd be curious to know your thoughts on what sort of weapons and armor giants and generally taller creatures would really use.

I'm going to play some squash with a buddy. "I didn't know that involved swords?"