I think where I stumbled is that the character you are creating is at the start of their life and not necessarily a rounded character.
Filling in the blanks is part of the game and I get that now.
In the Professional Soldier Subsetting (pg.187) the Foot Soldier has both Appropriate Weapons and Brawling listed as available lifepath skills. The Archer lists Brawling and Bow. While the Scout list has Appropriate Weapons but no Brawling entry.
This definitely suggests that Brawling is kept separate from the Appropriate Weapons skill. (Sadly, it doesn’t seem like Throwing would be allowable either. I had a Peasant Born, Hunter, Soldier, Strider that did that. I thought Throwing wpuld be an Appropriate Weapons skill as he was throwing his knife (doesn’t seem too outragous, but a rule is a rule)
Couldn’t some Brawling Weapons also be used with the Cudgel skill? (I could see a marine grabbing a Belaying Pin to repel some pirates off the ship)
And a fair number of clubs can also be used with the Brawling skill.
, True, but as Brawling can’t be taken as a Appropriate Weapons skill, I though Cudgel might be a good fit. (assuming it works for most any bashing weapon)