According to Ross Hassig, flower wars were pretty much the same as other conflicts. The exception being is that armies would not make use of projectiles. Part of this reason is that projectiles can easily kill a person, but projectiles are also impersonal in that you cannot easily make claim to a captive. Instead they made more use of shock weapons (Hassig 1988:128-132).

Shock weapons included thrusting spears ( tepoztopilli), swords (macuahuitl), and clubs. The spears were about 1.87m long and could be used to thrust as well as slash and could parry at a distance. The spearhead was a triangular, ovoid, or diamond shaped head with stone blades embedded in the edge forming a nearly continuous cutting edge.

The sword came in two varieties, one-handed or two-handed. They were usually made of oak and were about 7.6cm to 10.2 cm wide and over a meter long. The sword had two grooves carved on either edge that allowed for stone blades to be placed sometimes being glued in. The macauhuitl can be used for a downward slash as well as a backhand cut. Parrying was probably done with the flat of the blade to avoid damage to the stone blades.

There were several types of clubs that were used by the Aztec. There were simple wooden clubs, clubs with stone blades (huitzauhqui), clubs with a spherical ball at the end (cuauhololli), and clubs with protruding knobs of wood much like a morning star (macuahuitzoctli) (Hassig 1988:81-85).

As for general tactics, fighters were grouped into combat units and were rigidly led into or out of conflicts. During battle they would form a solid front against the enemy, but only deep enough into order to maintain that front rather than having large blocks of fighters. This focused the battle into a face to face fight. When the opposing sides met, battle units would skirmish with one another on an individual combat basis while trying to maintain a cohesive front. If a unit's front broke, a rout was likely. The Aztecs tended to either surround their enemies from all sides or attack from the flank while engaged in a frontal assault (Hassig 1988:100-101).

Hassig, Ross

1988 Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. University of Oklahoma Press