Re: [dq-rules] Re: Compiled Shields

[Esko Halttunen <esko.halttunen@luukku.com>]

> Shields
> 
> I only have a problem with tower shields.  I think of a tower shield
> as something that covers the entire body and is essentially something
> you shelter behind whilst reloading your crossbow (an example is a
> parvase)  Could you rename it scutum or large rectangular?

I suppose we could add a shield like that (which is basically a portable wall) as its own category, but how useful is that in a setting like this, since the action focuses on small group and individual combat rather than massive armies?

> 
>  The legionary shields, your tower shield, (and the earlier shields
> they were based on) I have seen are wood, just like the rest.  There
> are several preserved in deserts (the Fayum shield) or bogs (a large
> oval Celtic shield); they're essentially plywood with a painted leather covering.

I know. I was a bit ambivalent about that, but the shields section really didn't get much of an overhaul, and I went with what the DQ 2E book said about that. I disagreed with it and agree with you, but it is easy enough to change later.

> This seams to have been the standard way the ancients made their
> shields, the ply stopped the entire shield splitting along the grain
> of the wood.  Metal would have been either too heavy or too thin to
> have been of use.  There are a few metal shields found by
> archaeologists, but in all cases they have been re-interpreted as ones
> for ceremonial purposes or the wooden core they were actually built
> around has rotted away

I know full metal shields would be damnably heavy. Layered wood, hide and metal (thin layer) have been used, afaik, at least that's what e.g. the Iliad describes for the ancient greeks. I'm not much of an expert on the material construction of shields, and I think the descriptions pretty much reflect this. Their purpose is to give some idea about what the things look like, not be a detailed treatise on the subject.

Edi

*************************

dbarrass_2000 wrote:
> Shields
> 
> I only have a problem with tower shields.  I think of a tower shield
> as something that covers the entire body and is essentially something
> you shelter behind whilst reloading your crossbow (an example is a
> parvase)  Could you rename it scutum or large rectangular?
> 
>  The legionary shields, your tower shield, (and the earlier shields
> they were based on) I have seen are wood, just like the rest.  There
> are several preserved in deserts (the Fayum shield) or bogs (a large
> oval Celtic shield); they're essentially plywood with a painted
> leather covering.  
> This seams to have been the standard way the ancients made their
> shields, the ply stopped the entire shield splitting along the grain
> of the wood.  Metal would have been either too heavy or too thin to
> have been of use.  There are a few metal shields found by
> archaeologists, but in all cases they have been re-interpreted as ones
> for ceremonial purposes or the wooden core they were actually built
> around has rotted away
> 
> David
> 


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