You watch in amazement as the barbarians dance around one another
clacking their weapons together and trying to score a hit on one another.
     "Not bad, but mahbe they'd do better tryin' ta hit one another instead
o' hitting each others weapons, eh?" chuckles a voice from behind you. You
turn to see a short muscular figure with broad shoulders, black studded
leather armor, and one finely crafted sword strapped to his back. After
watching him scratch his medium length, dark brown, and well groomed beard
for a moment, you realise that he is a dwarf!
     "Wha...?" you start to say...
     "Ah know, ah know, what tha heck is a dwarf doin' with some barbarians?"
He chuckles and than regards you with his crystal blue eyes. "Personally ah
dun think its none o yer business mate."
      You start to stutter a apology when he raises a hand to stop you. "Ahve
been asked by a friend o' mine ta help ye out in da ways o' fightin."  He
then bends down and picks up a shield that was lying in front of him and that
you hadn't noticed before."Come, follow me. Ah've written everythin down on a
scroll in a hut down the road a bit."  He then turns and walks off, not
waiting for a response.  You scramble off, trying to catch up with him, and
you finally see him go into a nearby hut. You rush into the hut and pause to
catch your breath.. While you're blinking to adjust your eyesight to the low
lighting, you realize that you don't see the dwarf anywhere!  In the middle
of the hut on a table with two candles lit around it is a scroll.  With a
shrug, you step forward and open the scroll...

It reads:

     This is merely a tactic on how to kill polearm wielders without getting
limbed or kilt.

     First off assess how your enemy is standing.  Try to figure out by the
way he shifts his weight if he is a left handed or right handed fighter.
More likely the wielder is a right handed fighter although don't always
presume this.
     Confused yet?  Good.  A pole arm wielder will always try to take out one
of your legs first, then try to take you out from a distance.  It's one of
the most common forms of fighting with polearms - "Leg 'em an leave 'em" or
rather "Leg 'em and pick at 'em till they die."  One of the most useful
tactics when fighting a polearm is to rush them when they are shifting their
balance from one foot to another.  This almost always catches them off guard.
Now I don't usually fight single sword so I can only tell you this from the
standpoint of someone using sword and board or dual swords.  Using your
shield or other sword, pin or bash downward at an angle to move the polearm
AWAY from your legs, then using your other weapon, hit hard and quickly on
your oppenent.  Depending on how much armor the person is wearing depends
where you concentrate your blows, of course. I recommend on taking out the
polearm wielder's other arm if the person isn't wearing any armor {not many
people at all can fight with a polearm one handed}.  If the person IS wearing
armor, concentrate on a quick kill and hit them in the torso area fast.
     If you can't get angled enough to pin the weapon to the ground or bash
it hard enough to move it away from your feet, I will give you one last
tactic to try.  This tactic has helped me out in a situation one too many
times.  Hop. Yes - HOP.  When rushing an opponent (and this is when knowing
if your opponent is left or right handed comes in handy), if they are right
handed, they will usually try to take out your right leg first and then the
left.. When rushing, I do recommend hopping high enough to get both legs in
the air and under you fast enough to prevent getting clipped in the foot
while in midair, which WILL cost you that limb, if ya didn't know.
     Now I hope y'all find this handy... and to any of da newbies out
there who try this and get kilt, remember that practice is the key.

May ye never find your blade too far away from yer reach, 

STEEL