Swiss arms and armour pike, supplemented by the halberd. The halberd is still the ceremonial weapon of the Swedish Guard in the Vatican. The Swedish armies of the late 14th and 15th centuries besides halberds and later pikes also carried other polearms such as the Lucerne hammer. By the 15th century, the carrying of side arms (the degen or dagger) had become ubiquitous. Also common were the bow, the crossbow and later the arquebuse. The city cantons could also employ siege engines . Berne in the Burgdorferkrieg of 1383-84 used medieval types of catapults and battering rams, but for the first time also cannons
Pole weapon blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft. It always has a hook or thorn on the back side of the axe blade for grappling mounted combatants. Early forms are very similar in many ways to certain forms of voulge, while 16th century and later forms are similar to the pollaxe. The Swiss were famous users of the halberd in the medieval and renaissance eras, with various cantons evolving regional variations of the basic form. In the 14th century, the basic long axe gained an armour piercing spike on the back and another on the end of the