Re: (TFT) Shields

[David Bofinger <bofinger.david@gmail.com>]

My understanding:

Small shields, like bucklers, are for parrying. Bucklers were too small to
be any use against missiles. In principle you could use them as weapons,
for punching people, but they have no reach or edge so they aren't
optimised for that, I think it would be very much a secondary role.

Large shields in formation semi-passively block arrows. This is a critical
role: even troops equipped with two-handed weapons, like Anglo-Saxon
huscarls, carried a shield (it had a spike on the bottom so it could be
thrust into the ground in front of the soldier when fighting). Locking
shields is a skill so we can still make it talent dependent or rook
dependent.

The other big role of the large shield is not hit but shove. When your line
and theirs come into contact both sides are trying to (a) push opponents
backwards (two reasons: so he stumbles; to break lines) and (b) push the
other guy's shield back in contact with his body (also two reasons: to
handicap his movement; to make it easier to kill him with a short stabby
thing thrust between the shields - a strong left arm was an important
qualification).

How much of that would happen in a skirmish I don't know. Even a few people
might lock shields to some extent. Probably there wouldn't be much shoving,
unless they are standing in front of the hellmouth trying to stop you
getting to it.

How good a large shield would be against missiles in a skirmish I'm not
sure either. Certainly some use. But these things don't cover everything if
there's just one shield so the archer solo have something to aim at.

There's multiple shapes of large shield and some are probably better for
missiles while others are better for melee.

There's also the knight's shield, with a pointy bit down the bottom to
protect the legs, mostly for fighting mounted. I guess that falls into the
category of more concerned with melee.

Really big shields like tower shields and pavises can probably be safely
ignored. Spike shields are mostly a curiosity.

---
David
On 02/12/2015 3:51 AM, "Marc Gacy" <marcgacy@gmail.com> wrote:

> A question I've always wondered is how exactly does a shield work in
> skirmish combat. There seems to be a lot written about its effectiveness 
in
> large formations and in stopping missile fire, but I've not been very
> successful in finding anything about shields in skirmish melee. I think i
t
> might be as Jay said that some shields deflect, some absorb, and some hit
.
>
> I took down my weapon creation system (wasn't well received), but I may
> revisit it to address shields, but I'd like to have a little referential
> meat behind it.
>
> - Marc
> ᐧ
>
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