One of my hobbies is heavy weapons combat in the Society for Creative Anachronism. This is a martial art/sport that is meant to simulate medieval combat, with swords and maces and polearms. We use rattan (like solid bamboo) sticks to wallop each other, and wear armor to keep from getting concussions and broken limbs.
Many of us choose to fight "sword and board" - that is, with sword and shield. You learn pretty quickly that Your Shield is Your Friend. My friend is an "escutchon" - that's the "shield-shaped" shield with the flat top and pointy botton. Other folks use round shields, kite shields (long, narrow shields that cover just about the whole leg), or large rectangular shields.
If I had to pick one, single piece of protective gear to go into a swordfight with, it would be my shield. Without having much talent or skill, I can still block a lot of blows with it. It's better than armor. If someone gets through your shield defense with a hard enough blow, it can go through whatever armor you're wearing. Shields keep blows from getting to you at all.
Blocking with a shield is an active defense. If you just let your shield sit on your arm, you will get clocked upside the head. You have to move it around, by moving your arm, your shoulder, and your feet.
Unlike wearing armor, using a shield is a real skill. You need to know how to get it where it needs to be. You don't want to overcompensate - if you throw it up really high to block a shot to the head, the next blow will be to the legs. It's kind of like in fencing, where the idea is to always keep the rapier more-or-less in line with your opponent. You want to move your shield as little as possible, while always moving it enough. This is not a trivial thing.
AD&D 2e gives a trivial +1 bonus to those using a shield. I heartily disagree. It's not a passive defense as a blanket bonus implies, and it surely improves defense more than 10% of the basic armor range. Many - more than half, I'd say - of the blows that get through my shield defense qualify (under SCA rules) as "killing blows." The shield is the bulk of my protection.
Not everyone fights with a shield. Some folks use two-handed weapons (polearms, spears, greatswords) and some use two swords. (That's called "Florentine.") After all I've said about how great a shield is, how can these people possibly survive on the field of battle?
1) Skill and 2) Range. Florentine fighters will often use one sword to block your blows and then kill you with the other one. (This is hard, in my opinion, sort of like patting your head and rubbing your stomach). The two-handers will try and kill you while you are far away. At that range, they can kill you but you can't even touch them. If you get under their range, though, your odds get a lot better.
Note: This is why a bunch of guys with polearms and spears usually stand behind a shieldwall made of lots of guys with swords and shields. When two formations like this meet, the shieldwall folks try to protect the spearmen, and the spearmen try to kill the other spearmen and the shields protecting them. In a melee combat, it's generally thought that a lone spearman without a shieldman is a dead spearman (if a swordsman can get in under his attack range, that is).
Shield-punching isn't allowed where I fight, so I can't say much about it. But we are allowed to use our shields to trap an opponent's weapon next to his body. Or, you can try and push his swordarm out and back so he can't swing at you. In melee combats, you can try to break shieldwalls by angling your own shield and hitting the wall at a run, dropping down low as you hit.
If you fall on the field of combat, you can pull your shield overtop of yourself and 300 pound knights can walk on you, and you won't be hurt.
I've seen a "Scottish targe" for sale in some "weapons" catalogues. This purports to be a Scottish round shield with a big spike in the middle. I have no idea if this ever existed, and if so, when. My guess is that the idea is to shield-punch the fellow and impale him with the spike. Since (and now I'm sort of extrapolating, since I haven't been taught to shield-punch) the shield-punch is most likely to hit the other guy's shield and knock him off balance or create an opening by moving his shield, it seems to me that you'd end up with your shield nailed to his. Not bright. But maybe you could use it against unarmored footmen or horses.
So that's my thoughts on shield use. Got a beef? Got a question? Go ahead and email me.
Back to the Combat Page.
Back to History for Fantasy Role-Playing Gamers.