A hot topic of debate between me and my friends in junior high was what all the different polearm weapons in AD&D actually were. There was something called a Bill, AND something called a Billhook. The word "Guisarme" appeared as a modifer to other undefined terms. All we knew for certain was that they involved long poles and could be used to kill things.

This essay in Kobold Quarterly helps immensely by describing what these things looked like and how they were typically used. This is a tremendous relief: parts of my brain are still dedicated to various unresolved questions like these, and as I read Alex Putnam's descriptions of medieval polearms, I could feel a small part of me stop agitating over what a Bec de Corbin might be and settle back with a happy sigh.