why red horse hair tassels on spears

[cheng]

ever wondered why their spears are decorated with bright red horse hair tassels?
Its true some armies only reserve their use for their elite troops.
However, besides being decorations, they have two important purposes;
1) when moved rapidly, tassels help to confuse/distract their opponents' vision
and 2) stop blood flowing down to the shaft.
their long spears are anything from 14 to 21 feet.

[tahra]

So nice Master cheng

And thank you for the lesson - never thought of that. Would never think of the second one, though AFTER we know, it's one of those.. DUH.

[Pynedor]

Cool customs and information, cheng. I've seen similar things on a guandao.

[Birdie]

Creepy about the dripping blood 

[Rasputin]

Nice customs once again Cheng. They turned out great. I found your explanation interesting, just a simple flashy clump of hair is enough to distract the enemy, the enemy must have been... well dim witted. The blood diffuser makes sense seeing as a bloody handle on a long spear would have become slippery. Reminds me of knives with the grooves so the user can easily slip it out of a stabbed body.

anyways looks like a nice attition to your growing asian army

Thanks for sharing

[cowabounga]

Surprisingly enough, I thought of the second reason first. Though the distracting effect makes sense too.
Nice customs, BTW! 

[cheng]

thanks playmofriends!!
...imagine the spear thrusting towards your face while he twists his wrists clockwise-couterclockwise repeatedly or waves the spearhead rapidly but just slightly left and right...the tassel opens up in your face...you can parry it off with a weapon but grabbing the spear by the neck would become a guess work  

[Rasputin]

thanks playmofriends!!
...imagine the spear thrusting towards your face while he twists his wrists clockwise-couterclockwise repeatedly or waves the spearhead rapidly but just slightly left and right...the tassel opens up in your face...you can parry it off with a weapon but grabbing the spear by the neck would become a guess work

This is similar to what our rooster does when he is attacking us  It reminds me of the frill-necked lizard action. Staying calm and striking with precision is how you grab the throat or in this case like you said the head of the spear. Animals can and have taught humans so much

I would imagine the one you are describing looked even more gruesome once drenched in blood. As the user twirled it in their grip the blood would fling off, nice effect . Who ever said playmobil did not have violence   

With weapons like these guns seem so ....civilized 

[DrDalek6]

Nice work again those uniforms are looking good like the choice of hair and background the work on the spears finishes it off nicely thanks for the info 

[cheng]

This is similar to what our rooster does when he is attacking us  It reminds me of the frill-necked lizard action. Staying calm and striking with precision is how you grab the throat or in this case like you said the head of the spear. Animals can and have taught humans so much

With weapons like these guns seem so ....civilized 

Interesting anology indeed...thanks for adding to our knowledge