With all the talk about shields lately, I've started to wonder what a real shield fight looks like. If it's more than a stage or film fight. So I started to scour Youtube a bit, and found this one for example. Even if it's a left hander against a right hander it gives some idea.
Notice how the fighters use their shields to fix their opponent, and force them in a corner? With some luck you could push your foe off balance.
What that would have to mean in a game system, I don't know yet. But it sure makes me think once again.
Just saying you'll use your shield AND your weapon in attack seems a bit simple. Though that might do the trick.
Here's another SCA training, buckler vs shield. See how the buckler is at a real disadvantage. Be patient for the flurries or speed ahead.
Shields (and to a lesser extent, bucklers) would be a real game-changer. You could argue that right now the slant is in favor of two-weapon fighters or just single-blade katana twirlers. Yet I doubt it would be a good thing to give the slant to shield-users. The golden grail here would seem to be a system tweak whereby *both* styles would have benefits and drawbacks. AFAIK D&D 3.5 Edition came perhaps closest to this with its shield Feats (allowing fightery types to shield bash etc.)
ReplyDeleteEither that or it's back to Action Points I guess.