Yes war/military flails are likely to not have been used, or at least not to any discernable degree, in real life. Which is why I didn't mention it. The flail, however,
have much more historical documentation, up to and including instructions on usage and defence in martial art manuals (and there's also the nunchuck which, though ceremonial as it might be, is still a flail repurposed for martial arts). Whether or not it is smart to use over other tools available is another question entirely -- people are not 110% rational beings and desperate people use what they have at hand, not what they coulda shoulda woulda gotten.
And you know, that was just one weapon. Are you also denying the use of bills, voulges, war scythes, and the others I mentioned? Or, say, of the Dacian Falx, the South Asian kukri, or the kama -- all sickle weapons?
