Chapter 3: Polearms & Reach — Silhouette and Formation Reads

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Polearms & Reach — Silhouette and Formation Reads for Weapon Concept Artists

Polearms are geometry turned into crowd control. A long shaft and a purposeful head create a visual promise: hold the line, hook and pull, cut on the approach, or punch through armor. In solo hero work, the polearm must read its leverage and maneuver path at a glance; in formations, it has to tessellate into grids of threat and safety that a camera can parse. This article gives both concept and production artists practical tools to design polearms—and long‑hafted axes, hammers, and maces—whose silhouettes remain legible in motion, in groups, and at distance.

Why reach is a visual language

Reach is not a number; it is a relationship between hand position, head projection, and the opponent’s space. On screen, players read reach from three cues: how far the head sits ahead of the forward hand, how much the shaft projects past the rear hand, and how the head’s business end aligns with the shaft axis for thrusts or swings. A credible polearm shows these cues in profile and in plan. When a formation deploys, those individual reaches overlap into a lattice of zones—the visual logic that prevents friendly fire, telegraphs roles, and supports enemy AI perception.

Silhouette fundamentals at three distances

At long distance, only big shapes survive. The head must collapse to an iconic emblem: a triangle for spears, a rectangle with a spur for polehammers, a crescent for glaives, an axe wedge plus top spike for halberds. Shafts should present clear tapers and butt shoes; pennons or tassels can act as species markers.

At mid distance, secondary reads carry intent. Show the midrib on thrusting heads, the beak alignment on polehammers, the rear hook on halberds, and the belly on glaives. The hand spacing and stance anchor are now visible—ensure the grip index and palm swell do not blend into costumes.

At close distance, micro‑architecture matters. Fuller terminations, socket seams, rivet patterns, and wrap transitions prove construction. Even here, avoid over‑texture; long weapons need clean planes that catch moving highlights without clutter.

Heads that broadcast formation roles

Polearm heads are role glyphs. A spear with a diamond section and pronounced midrib screams thrust wall. A halberd with a modest axe bit, centered top spike, and rear beak reads as multipurpose: cut, thrust, and hook. A glaive with a deep belly and thick spine telegraphs sweeping cuts and control. A polehammer with a square face opposite a stout beak promises armor defeat. Long‑hafted axes emphasize a broad bit and beard for bite and weapon control; maces show outboard mass with flange or knob rhythm for crush lanes. Keep heads proportionally small enough to avoid comedic inertia in formation, but large enough that their silhouettes read through overlapping ranks.

Shaft length bands, spacing, and the grid of threat

Formations work because weapons interlock. Consider three canonical bands. Short poles (about the wielder’s height to 1.6 m) suit skirmishers, urban guards, and tight terrain where lateral clearance is scarce. Medium poles (2–2.5 m) define line infantry; they reach over shields and set staggered thrust lanes. Long poles (3 m and above) form pike blocks and anti‑cavalry hedgehogs; they demand dense spacing and rigid drill. In design sheets, visualize these bands with ghosted silhouettes at ranked intervals, checking for head occlusion and negative space between shafts. The goal is to see a repeating lattice—point, gap, point—rather than a noisy forest.

Negative space and “lane” design

Readable formations rely on lanes: open columns for thrust, diagonals for hooks, arcs for cuts. When placing hooks or beaks on halberds and polehammers, keep them within the weapon’s lateral envelope so neighboring weapons do not interlock in idle. For glaives and bardiches, design belly curvature so the forward third clears adjacent shafts during sweeps. Draw a few stills of the line at rest, braced, and advancing; ensure the negative space forms a pattern your eye can memorize. That pattern becomes a subconscious UI for the player.

Orientation, indexing, and hand choreography in ranks

In groups, everyone’s hands must be legible. Put subtle index bands behind sockets and at the mid‑shaft to anchor forward and rear hands; these become rhythm markers in drill animations. A shaped palm swell near the butt prevents slip in a push, while an oval section keeps edge alignment consistent across the rank. For two‑stage weapons (hook then thrust), ensure the off‑hand can slide cleanly—avoid studs or ornaments in the slide zone. In callouts, show the grip cadence—where hands rest in “brace,” “advance,” and “recover”—so animators can sync ranks.

Formation types and how silhouettes support them

Spear wall / shield line: Heads should be narrow and centered to avoid snagging on shields. Midribs catch highlights for camera readability. Butt shoes can show rank alignment by touching ground marks.

Halberd block: Mix of cut, hook, and thrust. Design rear beaks that align with shaft axes to read as controlled levers rather than chaotic spikes. Axe bits should not extend so far that adjacent ranks clip during overhead chops; keep bits shallower and emphasize the top spike for thrust.

Pike square: Extreme length needs simplified heads. Tiny leaf or spike tips with bold pennons provide species recognition without silhouette clutter. Shafts should show a consistent taper and periodic binding wraps to unify the grid.

Glaive skirmish line: Big bellies and pronounced spines sell sweeping arcs. Keep socket shoulders stout; they read like hinges in motion and protect against a “sheet metal” feel. Add tassels at the guard to telegraph arc direction in motion blur.

Polehammer shock troop: Faces and beaks must read from oblique camera angles; over‑chamfer faces so speculars outline squares. Beaks align straight forward to imply precise armor punching.

Camera, occlusion, and crowd readability

Third‑person cameras hate tall, dense forests. Keep head silhouettes asymmetrical so the eye can track an individual’s weapon in a crowd. Break the upper third with pennons, tassels, or colored wraps sparingly to avoid visual noise; one accent per rank or unit is often enough. In over‑the‑shoulder views, chamfer butt caps and collars so highlights separate the player’s weapon from the formation behind. If your game supports FOV changes, test silhouettes at 60–100 degrees; long weapons compress at wide angles, so rely on strong midribs and flanges rather than micro‑edges.

Collision, spacing metrics, and formation proxies

Give production teams numbers. Define a “formation cell”: center‑to‑center spacing of soldiers, lateral clearances, and forward thrust travel before collision. Provide a simplified swing capsule for each head type and a thrust ray aligned with the midrib. For pikes, include staggered lengths per rank so tips form a stepped comb rather than a flat wall—this reduces Z‑fighting in LODs and reads more authentic. Supply alternate proxies for idle vs. brace states; the line tightens in brace, loosens in advance.

LOD and material strategy for distant ranks

At distance, materials carry more legibility than tiny geometry. Brighten midribs and face chamfers slightly to keep heads visible. Reserve darker roughness for sockets and bindings to separate them from shafts. Collapse flange counts early but keep flange tips crisp; keep beak outlines sharp even when blocks simplify. For shafts, maintain taper and butt shoes in LODs; these anchor vertical rhythm.

Environmental fit: urban, open field, forest, shipboard

Environment decides reach practicality. In urban alleys, specify short to medium poles, lateral flats on shafts to pass walls, and minimal hooks to avoid snagging. In open fields, long pikes and halberds dominate; design butt shoes that bite soil and show packed‑earth wear. In forests, limit outboard mass and hooks; emphasize thrusting tips and narrow bellies. On ships, show rope lanyards, tarred wraps, and anti‑slip butt caps; heads prioritize hooks for rigging and boarding over heavy bits.

Faction language through formation hardware

Constrain identity to a few structural signatures so crowds look unified. One faction might use twin‑rivet conical sockets, square butt shoes, and chequered hammer faces. Another could favor banded sockets with ring hangers, teardrop butt caps, and crescent glaive bellies. Keep these rules structural rather than purely ornamental; they survive LOD collapse and silhouette overlap. Rank can appear as subtle chape shapes, pennon cuts, or wrap colors at index bands without shattering formation cohesion.

Polearms and friendly‑fire safety reads

Players subconsciously ask, “Where is it safe to stand?” Shape the negative space to answer. A spear wall’s tips form a plane; a halberd line’s hooks leave pockets behind the beaks; a glaive arc clears an S‑shaped lane at hip height. Design guards or lugs that act as visual brakes—small forward quillons or collars that stop the hand before the head—so bystanders trust the motion. On long axes, keep the beard’s inner corner chamfered; sharp inside corners look like cloth and ally traps.

Animation beats that sell collective intent

Formation animation magnifies small choices. A tiny forward lean in brace, synchronized tip dips on cadence, and a shared micro‑twist of ovals in the hands can make a static line feel alive. Architect heads with planes that catch these beats—a midrib flash on a dip, a beak highlight on a cocked hammer. Ensure sockets and collars are thick enough to display a “hinge” read when the line loads and flexes.

Orthos and formation sheets for production

Provide more than solo glamor shots. Deliver a formation sheet: front and quarter views of four adjacent soldiers with ghosted neighbors, showing tip overlap, hook clearance, and butt placement. Include a top‑down lane diagram with thrust and sweep arcs. On the weapon ortho, mark hand indices for brace/advance/recover and the balance point. Add socket wall thickness and pin locations; these control survivability in simulation. Document LOD priorities: head outline, midrib/chamfer, socket silhouette, shaft taper, butt shoe; all else can collapse early.

Stylization without breaking the line

You can push heads graphic—bold crescents, squared hammers, serpentine glaives—if you anchor them to believable sockets, stout collars, and practical shaft ovals. Keep exaggerated hooks within the lateral envelope so formations don’t tangle. Use color and roughness breaks instead of micro‑greeble to maintain crowd clarity. When in doubt, simplify the head and dramatize the socket, collar, and butt shoe; structure sells better than filigree in massed scenes.

Closing thoughts

Great polearm design is choreography made visible. In the hand, reach is a promise about where force will land; in a formation, reach becomes geometry that orders a battlefield. Prioritize iconic head silhouettes, honest sockets and collars, deliberate shaft ovals and indices, and a repeating pattern of negative spaces. Your line will read as intelligent, lethal, and—most importantly—legible from any camera, in any crowd.