What an outrageous over-sight... I forgot to mention that you could perfectly well hold a dagger with an ice-pick grip in the same hand that holds the shield handle. That would seem like quite a good idea, not just for downward thrusts but also for defense. The dagger blade could help block attacks that might otherwise pass under the shield. Anyway, since I already have your attention... Check out these videos too: Arm Blades & Spiked Shields: Better Than You Think? ruclips.net/video/WW-006LogY0/видео.html Which Shield Type is Better? - Pros & Cons ruclips.net/video/xLuRHCaIcb0/видео.html Trying Out the Chinese Hook Shield (Gou-Rang) ruclips.net/video/RXYltNPlMaM/видео.html Shields! - Top 5 Pros & Cons ruclips.net/video/I1LScbpp9vM/видео.html
Hi Skall! Unrelated thought: you've mentioned that going back to any historical time and place would suck, what with the disease and the lack of technology and the paranoia and the religious persecution and the disease and the lack of medicine and the disease, but that brings up a question: what super-power would you need to make going to some historical time and place with Cara an attractive prospect? Immunity to disease? Regeneration? Eternal youth? A flask of infinite pure water, a flask of infinite 95% ethanol, a flask of infinite pale ale and a flask of infinite dark ale? A bowl that fills with freshly-boiled oatmeal on request? Perfect memory of everything you've ever seen, heard or read (including every lesson and every textbook, oh yes)? Invisibility? Levitation? Telekinetic elemental purification so you can pull iron bars out of piles or ore and rust with the power of your mind? Kilowatt ultra-violet laser beams projected from your fingertips whenever you do "finger gun" gestures? What's the minimum set that would make it worth it, and where and when would you go?
Separate question, from someone else in the side-chat a few streams back: if a long spear, partizan, halberd or similar gets broken off about 20 - 25 cm below the head, is the head with the much-reduced haft still a useful melee weapon, or would you be better off just using the rest of the haft as a wooden spear?
hey skall this is just a though but what if instead of the grip and you turn it into some kind of oversized bracer or something (replace the grip with a second strap that you can tighten and fasten) wouldn't that give you much more protection when using a two handed weapon?
i once was in amsterdam and saw a "ping pong show" where two naked women duelled with 2 foot dildoes, the winner was the first to knock the other unconscious, it was rather fun
This shield is actually shown in multiple 15th-16th century germanic, polish/Czech and hungarian artworks. However they are usually a lot bigger, for battlefield purpose. From heater shield size to pavise size, with the spike resting on the floor, serving as the main line of defense against projectile. Underated design.
Do you know of any specific treatise this might be in? The design is fascinating to me. It would seem like a very practical design for a man at arms in good, comprehensive armor.
I know it’s way more work but I absolutely love the direction of this channel with focusing on actual trying out unusual weapons in a semi realistic (safe) context
Cool! Nice Hajime no Ippo reference at the end! I definetly think that ease of draw was the reason this wasn't used in civilian life. Also, if we think about duels (In the sense of a honor fight), it is suposed to be equal, so you might as well both use easy-to-carry bucklers, since everything will be equalized in the end. (same reason why people used smallswords)
This was a really cool video! I really enjoyed the sparring with the instructor (I think I recognise him but don't remember his name...). It's also great to see someone at a high level fight, and the mix of both the POV cam and side cam was really nicely done. There's something really engaging and enlightening about watching someone at a high level from that POV perspective.
It's funny to see that the second sparring partner (with the fancy pants) quite clearly has his background in saber. Just goes to show that weapon skills are highly transferable and that overall fighting experience is much more important than specialized technique for a certain weapon!
Aww, and here I was anxiously awaiting the examples of dual wielding shields, the dynamics of ending them rightly, and the guarded forbidden history of the ancient and powerful toaster flail
Well, Skall already did videos about dual wielding shields. And I'm sure you can find something about thrown pommels too. I don't think he did anything about toasters yet, though.
Skall, I hope you don't mind this bit of input here: I'm actually practiced with these shields, and while I hardly consider myself to be any better than mediocre, I can see a few things with your use that are counter to how I learned to use it. Unlike other shields you have to think of it as being only half or three quarters defensive, and the other part it's really a punching dagger. Try intentionally binding against your opponent to get into punching distance. I know this runs counter to how we're taught, but I've found that that is actually pretty effective. Bind, close, and strike, don't bother with the hollywood struggle for control. We're used to having to focus so much on keeping our primary weapons between us and our opponent, but it's worth letting your sword move to the side if it takes your opponents with it and opens them up for the spike.
Oughta do more sparring with that hema instructor, that footage was REALLY interesting, from the first person view the fights felt completely different from usual. He looked slippery as an eel, no binding, super tight small movements, always looks like he's standing upright too. And that sneaky false edge cut at 8:11, that's just beautiful. Never did any hema myself, just fencing and kendo, but still it just felt like the guy had little to no openings.
I was literally doing research on this exact type of shield just 2 days ago (partly because im hungarian). What a chance you just decided to make this video about it, thanks a lot Skall!
The best shield for dueling is a powerful magnet with a handle on it, stick the end of their sword to it, maybe sandwich the blade between the magnet and their plate armour if they're wearing it, its perfect.
This sort of reminds me of Lion-O's Claw Shield from Thundercats, though it functioned more like a gauntlet with a lot of armor. The claw shield also functions as a scabbard, interestingly enough, so I think there is something to combining all of those functions into one. It also reminds me a lot of Cap. America's Wakandan shields in Infinity War and Edward Elric's arm blade. I'm really looking forward to the follow-up video. If you were to combine this shield with a katar or claws and maybe even a spike on the other end, you'd get something that really lets you utilize more hand-to-hand techniques against weapons. Some big ol' armored greaves might help too, for a little extra "kick."
The spiked pavise would be something I'd love to see Skallagrim talk about. Shadiversity made a video on it and it would be perfect for having the same utility of an offense/defensive spike but bigger too.
i think adding something like a "scorpion stinger" at the back will add the ability to catch the enemy sword instead of making it slide off and potentially hit you while changing direction mid air
I'd almost say to have swordbreaker-style ridges along the spine of the shield to potentially catch an opponent's blade or disarm them with a twist. Not sure if it would work in practice though
One thing I noticed is that all users had the habit of swinging the shield towards the oncoming blow. This caused the sword to get past their guard. I think if rather than swinging, they did a static block and then pushed the sword away there would be less chance of a fatal error. At least with a static block the blow gets stopped, then you can worry about the blade from there. That said, amazing video! It was awesome seeing something that childhood me had thought of being used historically and in this particular video. Great job skall!
Seeing this video i remembered that The Hero Class in Fire Emblem Awakening also uses an Armshield. But one that protects everything from the hand to the shoulder. I love it when fantasy games have some neat ideas for combat in real live
There are many modern version of this type of shield sold as tactical weapons,even for pretty cheap,like 60, made of some sort of aluminium alloy. It would be a nice theme for a future review. One thing i would love to see is how effective would be such type of weapon be alone.
So edward elric was onto something here! When he turned his prosthetic arm into an arm sword in the show, it basically functioned like a spiked arm shield.
@@nevisysbryd7450 A Pata is swung with motions from the wrist, a Katar has the prongs to align the blade with the forearm and restrict any motion form the wrist, they are used very differently.
It reminds me of how in some video games like NeaR Automata, there are entire classes of weapons that are literally just you punching people, but there are some metal around your hands so it’s totally more effective.
Hope your channel is doing better, saw several posts where videos weren’t doing as well. I’ve actually been getting all your vids in my feed lately so that’s awesome
This is so cool to watch! I would love to see more videos of this format where we can see you duel someone and test stuff. Obviously as safely as possible
This is actually really useful to me. I was already thinking of a similar concept in a story; while it’s not quite the same (my rough idea was less intrusive on movement, more easily concealed, and strapped to the arm so the hand is mostly free) this provides an excellent reference for the dynamics and movement in combat. I absolutely will use this, thank you so much for uploading
"maybe even..... pomels" ending him rightly gets me everytime hahaha "of course you can, you can do whatever you want. You can pick up a toaster and swing it like a flail" absolutely died laughing, can't wait for part two of that XD
I wonder if there were sword breaker notches cut in it if it might allow the user to catch the blade of the opponents sword and move in for a thrust more easily.
The best dueling shield i can think of is a small category of rather unusual shields,that i call parrying shields. The chinese Gou Rang is one of those ,another would be the indian madu,but the most striking example would be an aboriginal one,basically a long stick with and handguard,used to parry and deflect attacks,and maybe as secondary weapon. Since it is meant for a closed enviroment it is almost useless for ranged weapons,defeating the most common purpose of a shield.
I feel like if you use a perrying dagger with the sheild it could work given how ridged your grip becomes. Then given the attacks close in with the dagger become an option at that point and aren't really hampered by the ridged grip.
Unrelated to the shield, but I've been watching your videos for probably around eight years now and every time I see a new sparring video I think to myself about how much your skill has developed. Very well done Skall =)
12:50 You should do a video where you explore what weapons and weapon configurations would be best for if you're jumped. Like for example you're sitting at a bar in medieval Europe and some suspiciously armed characters begin approaching you. What weapons and configurations would allow you to draw and get in a defensive position the fastest. I know getting jumped is not ideal already but what gives the best possible chance of survival in that scenario?
about the carrying: I made a pnp caracter who dual weilds those shields after seeing your first video on this subject, and i thought a lot about how he could carry those. I came up with two solutions: 1. Put a hook on the iutside of the shield, roughly at the hight of your elbow. This way, if you hook it in to your belt you can easyly reach down through the strap, grap the handle and draw it. This works because the grip is free, instead of beeing sandwiches between your leg and the shield itself. The hook can also help catching offglancing blows. 2. Tailor some sheaths for the shields. They could give you enough room to just slip through the strap and grab the handle.
@@Skallagrim FYI: Someone is spoofing your icon to try pfishing your followers on here. I received one, as well as at least two others declaring us on "a shortlist of winners. Kindly send a direct massage Above to acknowledge your prize.......❤.." I reported them. If this truly was you, then let me know how to send you a "direct massage".
Wow, I'm surprised you found my new design I've been talking about. I definitely like the length with the balance, might go for more of a more of a triangle than bladed point, with wrapped, x grip carbon nanotube handles, and should stay on after letting go sometimes while easier to grip things or maybe nylon or kevlar straps wouldn't be too bad either, as I should have some 1/8" shocktec air2gel foam coming pretty soon, the 1/4" steel 4x12"s on the way, are looking a little too small with fitting into some of the smaller forges, I'll have to guesstimate the length later on, looks pretty cool though.
Something fairly similar to this did actually see military use. Large, left-hand gauntlets which covered the forearm were reasonably popular for cavalry in the mid-17th century, e.g. during the English Civil Wars. They didn't have the offensive spike (which doesn't seem very useful anyway), but they could be used in quite a similar way defensively. This was at the point where full plate armour was falling out of fashion, but steel helmets and cuirasses remained in common use. The right hand needed to be free to fire and load pistols or carbines, and would be given decent protection by a basket hilt during melees, but wearing a gauntlet on the left allowed it to control the horse's reins but also block sword cuts in combat.
I really like this shield design. I used it in larp; it was light and easy to carry (A fundamental consideration when your day job is a desk jockey). The larp arrows are so heavy with low-power bows for safety that it is easy to block or deflect arrows with the small shield, and it wasn't a "spell catcher" (Our larp group rules shields don't block spells/effects, so massive tower shields were less common as its harder to dodge spells with it.) I hope to get back into larp again.
Actually I have an idea how to improve an ease of carry for these. It may sound strange at first, but bear with me. So, we remove the handle, attach a loose enough strap in its place, and make two quite large holes in the sides of the shield where the attachments for the handle were supposed to go. Then you wear the shield on the upper part of your arm, where it stays out of the way of your hand. When you need the shield - you just shake your arm for shield to drop down, and then... Remember those holes we made? You insert your dagger in those, and grab it with your hand, so the dagger is now serving as a handle. Having your dagger handle up on your belt, just a bit of practice, and you can arm yourself in a one fluid motion. Surely it will somewhat restrict a choice of your clothing, so the shield won't snag on anything, but other than that I see no major downsides to this method.
Huh. I was worldbuilding a while back, and while I never knew this existed IRL, I came up with pretty much the same general design for a fantasy weapon. I'm pretty glad that there is some historical basis for such a design, now I don't have to be kept up at night for having a "weird, impractical design." Thanks for the demonstration!
1:50, Skall you can actually shape the shield handle so it allows a recess , or have a curve to the handle so it projects beyond the parts connecting to the shield, that way it will be even more secure. I think there are versions of Indian Dhal, or metal buckler which have that. This so that one can wear a fist dagger and a normal dagger behind the Dhal projecting outside the shield, this gives 'V' shaped setup also allowing to trap opposing weapons apart from blocking and gives more offensive ability to the offhand. I think there is a Shatravidya episode on it.
I can see some ways to improve the design of that arm shield. First, that solid grip, make it somewhat concave, so that the off hand weapon can actually fit into the grip itself and you can fully wrap your fingers around it. Second, put that solid grip on a wheel or pully. Something like that, you know, it's flat ish, rocks back and forth when turned slightly? I don't have the name for that right now, so that's why the description. I'm not trying to be or sound insulting. Third improvement. Make the shield wider slightly. Forth. It could be extended to the shoulder by giving it a flexing pin at the elbow. Of course, a larger, wider pauldron would serve the same purpose. Fifth idea is to scrap the solid handle idea altogether and make the grip a glove instead. With the back of the glove attached to the wheel you'd have the ability to extend your wrist as needed and grip your weapon. Sixth idea is to simply extend the metal spike. Make the spike longer.(that's what she said) perfect place to put that joke.(second that's what she said joke) with that, you would be able to stab and slash using the spike. Parry, deflect, block, or guide the opposing weapon safety to the side so that you can step around their own guard. So, if you think any of these ideas are workable, why not try them out? It would be interesting to see you using them for sparring videos.
In danish that shield is called a "Slag-Skjold" or "Boxing/Boxer Shield" although it has no spike (spikes are nasty!), in reenactment you use it in combination with a short weapon (preferably an axe or mace) and hold it up like a typical boxing stance with both hands on each side of your head a little away from yourself. The technique we used was to advance on your opponent and beat the snot out of him in close hand to hand, like almost grappling distance, it almost looked like two boxers (although with weapons and plate armor) Hella funny way to fight. Probably my second favorite shield to use, sorry but a tower shield (Roman scutum or a big kite shield) is the funniest! As a LARP'er this Dueling Shield is also really fun to use, and if used proper can be a god tier shield in duels and skirmishes. Total satisfaction when you bat an arrow out of the air with one of these :P Love your vids Skall! Keep it up :D
Seems like something you'd see more often in a D&D or fantasy setting with adventurers. Useful, and solves a lot of problems they'd have with regular shields (you could also hold a torch or something while wearing it).
Agreed, though I think its also got more potential for 'real' historical warfare use than Skal does, for much the same reasoning - its not a full shield, which is obviously to be preferred, but it is a seemingly very effective defensive and offensive tool in the melee with the rather major bonus that its no more of an encumbrance than the sword/armour you would have anyway - wouldn't be the goto for most frontline troops but for the scouts and archers it is I think a decent compromise between going without and the difficulties a full shield would bring. Would love to see somebody try to shoot with this on, I doubt it would get in the way at all looking at it...
@@foldionepapyrus3441 I wonder too if, with some adjustments to the grip as Skall said, it wouldn't be usable while wielding something like a pike, or another long thrusting polearm. Having something that can offer a bit more hand protection, and also have you with a shield if the pikes go down sounds like a cool compromise for the lack of missile protection. Not something that was ever done, but in a "what if?" scenario, or fiction I think it's plausible. Archery could be neat, though it would hang heavy on the arm which might make aiming harder, though not impossible. Even just having it on your belt could be really good if you have to fight hand to hand. It's a really neat design, and it's interesting to think of all the applications if it had taken off.
@@Lurklen Indeed I don't think you would want to wear it and shoot your bow all the time, but if you can slip it on in anticipation of need and still shoot with it that is a big gain when the melee is joined for little cost while you have the time and ammo to shoot.
Oh man, I've designed quite a few of these types of shields on paper! Always loved to idea of the katar weapons and there's quite a lot of configurations you can do to these shields.
Well, i am about to start drawing a comic in a medieval world with a very little magic, and main character will mostly fight by sword, and i planed some scenes where he will have to face multiple opponents. I actually planed that he will take down opponents one by one very fast in these fights, not because he is much more skilled in sword fight then his opponents, or his enemies are just dumb, but because he just has a inhuman strength. After this and few other of yours videos i decided that my character will have to take down one enemy practically in one move, in order to keep up with other attackers and he will have to very carefully control whole fight and this how many opponents are actually able to attack him at the time to after all, survive. Only for my fulfillment i wanted to create a story with a realistic hand armed fights, and thanks to your videos on RUclips i feel that i am closer then ever to accomplish this. Thank you for your work, and have a good day.
The rare but dreaded dual messer appearance. Spiked my envy with the short one first and then finished me with the big one. Sword envy is eating me like a carnivorous bacteria.
The ottoman/persian/indian bazuband(lower arm guard) was used in the same way worn on the left lower arm up until the first World War for close combat in combo with a variety of sabres.
Every now and again I'm struck by how good Skal's editing is. I've been wondering for years how one of these paired with a conventional shield would work.
So its as simple as I imagined it. Probably the first shield ever I designed as a visual artist was a fantasy-styled (not too much though, not a fan of this over the top stuff) one that had the concept of this one. Never saw a shield like this befor and that was at a time were I didnt know too much about the topic, so I'm kinda proud that it's not completely stupid.
It was fascinating watching them fight against the second opponent, the distancing and efficiency in movements was great. No offence to Skallagrim. As someone who practises unarmed martial arts, those shields look very fascinating. Cant wait for the second video.
This scambot's profile picture has a bear instead of a beaver? That's... so strange. I would think it's creator would just copy Skal's pic exactly to be more convincing.
Interesting video. I did notice a few opportunities that the spike could have been employed offensively in your sparring. I'm assuming that it being a new thing it would take some time getting used to having that option. After watching this I makes a lot of sense that this shield would be used in duals.
I still play a lot of Neverwinternights 1&2. I dunno about the graphics design but parry daggers can already be done by throwing a damage penalty on the off hand weapon and add a parry bonus. This would be a step upp from that. In any case, years ago when I DM'd a fantasy campaign there was a npc/DM character that had a bit larger version of thease shields. That was not in the culture of the area and that individual had migrated there from another part of the world. Nice to see that thease things existed for real so my idea wasn't totally wierd.
I've actually been working on a story with a character that uses a similar style shield. Only it's built into the left gauntlet with no handle required allowing for two handed fighting. Instead, a raised handle sits just over the fingers, which when grabbed and pulled down (via wrist motion) extends the spike into a roughly 10-inch blade (tucked within the shield), turning the arm shield into a sudo-katar in a way. The idea is though it limits two-handed fighting, it's good for being more offensive in situations with less room to move a larger weapon. Least that's my concept anyway.
So glad to see you test this, it always seemed to me like a both cool and practical design, which as you know is hard to find. Minor criticism; the weapon aspect seemed overlooked, and I didn't see any overt attempts to leverage it as a way to get inside a guard. In both sparring sessions it seemed both people were only using it as a shorter range buckler, and especially in the first session there were several times the spike could've been used and an opening was available, but both participants kept trying for sword cuts at clumsy range. Is this because using it as an engage tool or a weapon when close is impractical for reasons I missed, or more because it's difficult to stop thinking with the sword when it stops being the best option? What are your thoughts on dual wielding these shields with similarly sized plates on the upper arms (spike-side-up like arm pauldrons)? Does that provide enough coverage that with some light armor, leg plates, and a helmet someone could reliably linebacker rush and throat-punch anyone not ready for it? Edit; Also, can the shield be a scabbard? If loosely hanged from a belt where a sheath would normally be, grabbing the sword (or long-knife) hilt could lift the whole thing, then grabbing the shield handle with your left hand would allow you to draw the blade. Can still do a drawing slash if you instead hold the shield down with your left hand (which many people do with a scabbard anyways) but gives you more options if you don't need immediate aggression, right? It looked like there was padding between your arm and the outer shell, is there a significant downside to that being thick enough to hold a blade?
That's really interesting. If u ask me, I will add something on top of the shield, pins or hooks to prevent the opponent blade to slide towards your body... blocking his blade and giving you some advantage to strike back.
What an outrageous over-sight... I forgot to mention that you could perfectly well hold a dagger with an ice-pick grip in the same hand that holds the shield handle. That would seem like quite a good idea, not just for downward thrusts but also for defense. The dagger blade could help block attacks that might otherwise pass under the shield.
Anyway, since I already have your attention... Check out these videos too:
Arm Blades & Spiked Shields: Better Than You Think?
ruclips.net/video/WW-006LogY0/видео.html
Which Shield Type is Better? - Pros & Cons
ruclips.net/video/xLuRHCaIcb0/видео.html
Trying Out the Chinese Hook Shield (Gou-Rang)
ruclips.net/video/RXYltNPlMaM/видео.html
Shields! - Top 5 Pros & Cons
ruclips.net/video/I1LScbpp9vM/видео.html
Hi Skall! Unrelated thought: you've mentioned that going back to any historical time and place would suck, what with the disease and the lack of technology and the paranoia and the religious persecution and the disease and the lack of medicine and the disease, but that brings up a question: what super-power would you need to make going to some historical time and place with Cara an attractive prospect?
Immunity to disease? Regeneration? Eternal youth? A flask of infinite pure water, a flask of infinite 95% ethanol, a flask of infinite pale ale and a flask of infinite dark ale? A bowl that fills with freshly-boiled oatmeal on request? Perfect memory of everything you've ever seen, heard or read (including every lesson and every textbook, oh yes)? Invisibility? Levitation? Telekinetic elemental purification so you can pull iron bars out of piles or ore and rust with the power of your mind? Kilowatt ultra-violet laser beams projected from your fingertips whenever you do "finger gun" gestures?
What's the minimum set that would make it worth it, and where and when would you go?
Separate question, from someone else in the side-chat a few streams back: if a long spear, partizan, halberd or similar gets broken off about 20 - 25 cm below the head, is the head with the much-reduced haft still a useful melee weapon, or would you be better off just using the rest of the haft as a wooden spear?
Something like a dirk?
Wait a minute this video says you posted it 11 minutes ago, but this post is 7 days old. Yt be tripping.
hey skall this is just a though but what if instead of the grip and you turn it into some kind of oversized bracer or something (replace the grip with a second strap that you can tighten and fasten) wouldn't that give you much more protection when using a two handed weapon?
It would also allow a realistic niche for the two-sided dagger portrayed in DND
You mentioned that judicial dueling would often entail unusual practices and equipment you wouldn't normally see. I'd like to see a video about that.
Big agree here
i once was in amsterdam and saw a "ping pong show" where two naked women duelled with 2 foot dildoes, the winner was the first to knock the other unconscious, it was rather fun
Improvised weapons and armour; I'd like to see that!
Same
Yes, indeed.
This shield is actually shown in multiple 15th-16th century germanic, polish/Czech and hungarian artworks. However they are usually a lot bigger, for battlefield purpose. From heater shield size to pavise size, with the spike resting on the floor, serving as the main line of defense against projectile. Underated design.
Do you know of any specific treatise this might be in? The design is fascinating to me. It would seem like a very practical design for a man at arms in good, comprehensive armor.
@@alexcue6509 Look up "hand pavise shield" or similar query to yield the results you may be looking for
Makes me wonder how well it would be paired with a Hungarian saber style
I saw the same thing when I researched this shield. This has been my favorite shield for years now!
@@taianonni ngl they don’t look similar
I know it’s way more work but I absolutely love the direction of this channel with focusing on actual trying out unusual weapons in a semi realistic (safe) context
Yes
Yes
It's definitely more work, but I'm glad you enjoy it so much. :)
I agree
Was going to post this comment myself. The perspectives and editing are great.
Glad to see more of the unusual stuff from manuscripts applied in sparring, keep it up Skall and Co. Your work and effort are appreciated!
Thanks!
Cool! Nice Hajime no Ippo reference at the end!
I definetly think that ease of draw was the reason this wasn't used in civilian life. Also, if we think about duels (In the sense of a honor fight), it is suposed to be equal, so you might as well both use easy-to-carry bucklers, since everything will be equalized in the end. (same reason why people used smallswords)
Dude those shields look so dang cool in practice, aesthetics-wise I think they may be my favourite shield design
Omg the dual-wielding shenanigans 😂
The mmo fist monk
@@thegk-verse4216nioh fist weapon
@moderna spider no u
This was a really cool video! I really enjoyed the sparring with the instructor (I think I recognise him but don't remember his name...). It's also great to see someone at a high level fight, and the mix of both the POV cam and side cam was really nicely done. There's something really engaging and enlightening about watching someone at a high level from that POV perspective.
I agree! I love watching sword duels and find it so fun to watch
It's funny to see that the second sparring partner (with the fancy pants) quite clearly has his background in saber. Just goes to show that weapon skills are highly transferable and that overall fighting experience is much more important than specialized technique for a certain weapon!
Not gonna lie, I want those pants.
Aww, and here I was anxiously awaiting the examples of dual wielding shields, the dynamics of ending them rightly, and the guarded forbidden history of the ancient and powerful toaster flail
Don't despair, technically he did promise the toasterflail for part 2. 😉
Well, Skall already did videos about dual wielding shields. And I'm sure you can find something about thrown pommels too. I don't think he did anything about toasters yet, though.
Like any offensive/defensive device, practice makes you as good as possible (no one is ever 'perfect'). Thank you for this informative video.
Skall, I hope you don't mind this bit of input here: I'm actually practiced with these shields, and while I hardly consider myself to be any better than mediocre, I can see a few things with your use that are counter to how I learned to use it. Unlike other shields you have to think of it as being only half or three quarters defensive, and the other part it's really a punching dagger. Try intentionally binding against your opponent to get into punching distance. I know this runs counter to how we're taught, but I've found that that is actually pretty effective. Bind, close, and strike, don't bother with the hollywood struggle for control. We're used to having to focus so much on keeping our primary weapons between us and our opponent, but it's worth letting your sword move to the side if it takes your opponents with it and opens them up for the spike.
Damn boi. You're content is getting better every day! It's awesome to see you hitting your stride again!
The "dance" at the end is fantastic! A remix is needed...
Oughta do more sparring with that hema instructor, that footage was REALLY interesting, from the first person view the fights felt completely different from usual. He looked slippery as an eel, no binding, super tight small movements, always looks like he's standing upright too. And that sneaky false edge cut at 8:11, that's just beautiful.
Never did any hema myself, just fencing and kendo, but still it just felt like the guy had little to no openings.
I was literally doing research on this exact type of shield just 2 days ago (partly because im hungarian). What a chance you just decided to make this video about it, thanks a lot Skall!
Your thumbnail game is getting better, this caught my attention instantly. Well done!
The best shield for dueling is a powerful magnet with a handle on it, stick the end of their sword to it, maybe sandwich the blade between the magnet and their plate armour if they're wearing it, its perfect.
This sort of reminds me of Lion-O's Claw Shield from Thundercats, though it functioned more like a gauntlet with a lot of armor. The claw shield also functions as a scabbard, interestingly enough, so I think there is something to combining all of those functions into one. It also reminds me a lot of Cap. America's Wakandan shields in Infinity War and Edward Elric's arm blade.
I'm really looking forward to the follow-up video. If you were to combine this shield with a katar or claws and maybe even a spike on the other end, you'd get something that really lets you utilize more hand-to-hand techniques against weapons. Some big ol' armored greaves might help too, for a little extra "kick."
The spiked pavise would be something I'd love to see Skallagrim talk about. Shadiversity made a video on it and it would be perfect for having the same utility of an offense/defensive spike but bigger too.
Man thanks again for turning me onto the beautiful world of HEMA . Reign in glory Skal
That parry-riposte (?) at 6:30 is a thing of beauty quite apart from the titular subject matter. Just, dang.
i think adding something like a "scorpion stinger" at the back will add the ability to catch the enemy sword instead of making it slide off and potentially hit you while changing direction mid air
I'd almost say to have swordbreaker-style ridges along the spine of the shield to potentially catch an opponent's blade or disarm them with a twist. Not sure if it would work in practice though
@@OverlordIntecris probably not, since the further you are from your wrist the lest control you have
@@OverlordIntecris like Batman
One thing I noticed is that all users had the habit of swinging the shield towards the oncoming blow. This caused the sword to get past their guard. I think if rather than swinging, they did a static block and then pushed the sword away there would be less chance of a fatal error. At least with a static block the blow gets stopped, then you can worry about the blade from there. That said, amazing video! It was awesome seeing something that childhood me had thought of being used historically and in this particular video. Great job skall!
They are trying to intercept and parry but lack shield specific experience and the right stance to make it work.
Nice piece, i'd definitely have one of those shields in my arsenal
Can wait to see the dual wielding test
I love the amount of sparring you have gotten to do recently! Hope you are having fun.
Cool video! I really like all the sparring footage you're uploading recently
I love the design of this kind of armament. Lookin forward to the next part!
Seeing this video i remembered that The Hero Class in Fire Emblem Awakening also uses an Armshield. But one that protects everything from the hand to the shoulder.
I love it when fantasy games have some neat ideas for combat in real live
Ngl I wasn't expecting the spike on that shield to do much, but it saved you quiet a bit.
There are many modern version of this type of shield sold as tactical weapons,even for pretty cheap,like 60, made of some sort of aluminium alloy. It would be a nice theme for a future review.
One thing i would love to see is how effective would be such type of weapon be alone.
Yeah, I've been eyeballing one of those.
Your approach of "Talking is cheap..." is awesome! This was always the reason why I follow you since idk 2013 or so.
So edward elric was onto something here! When he turned his prosthetic arm into an arm sword in the show, it basically functioned like a spiked arm shield.
More like an Indian pata, really.
I always thought ed's spiked arm was more based on the katar, but this also makes sense
@@nevisysbryd7450 A Pata is swung with motions from the wrist, a Katar has the prongs to align the blade with the forearm and restrict any motion form the wrist, they are used very differently.
I really enjoy this kind of practical examples of weapons
It really helps drive the point you are telling
It reminds me of how in some video games like NeaR Automata, there are entire classes of weapons that are literally just you punching people, but there are some metal around your hands so it’s totally more effective.
You Nierly spelled Nier right
Hope your channel is doing better, saw several posts where videos weren’t doing as well. I’ve actually been getting all your vids in my feed lately so that’s awesome
Man, fighting the instructor almost felt like a scary duel 😂
Very interesting topic and entertaining sparing.
I'm am looking forward to part 2 Very Much.
Can't wait to use this on elden ring
This is so cool to watch! I would love to see more videos of this format where we can see you duel someone and test stuff. Obviously as safely as possible
A vid exploring attacks with this type of shield when used with a one handed sword would be good.
This is actually really useful to me. I was already thinking of a similar concept in a story; while it’s not quite the same (my rough idea was less intrusive on movement, more easily concealed, and strapped to the arm so the hand is mostly free) this provides an excellent reference for the dynamics and movement in combat. I absolutely will use this, thank you so much for uploading
"maybe even..... pomels" ending him rightly gets me everytime hahaha
"of course you can, you can do whatever you want. You can pick up a toaster and swing it like a flail" absolutely died laughing, can't wait for part two of that XD
I love this style of video, good balance of history, fencing theory and practical application
I wonder if there were sword breaker notches cut in it if it might allow the user to catch the blade of the opponents sword and move in for a thrust more easily.
So Batman's scallops?
TV series Andromeda (2001) had the Nietzscheans with forearm spikes as a weapon too
Going to be honest, I always did love the Uruk Hai shield design from the Peter Jackson LOTR trilogy.
The best dueling shield i can think of is a small category of rather unusual shields,that i call parrying shields. The chinese Gou Rang is one of those ,another would be the indian madu,but the most striking example would be an aboriginal one,basically a long stick with and handguard,used to parry and deflect attacks,and maybe as secondary weapon. Since it is meant for a closed enviroment it is almost useless for ranged weapons,defeating the most common purpose of a shield.
Sparring parts are always so cool and you do them very well. Great video.
I feel like if you use a perrying dagger with the sheild it could work given how ridged your grip becomes. Then given the attacks close in with the dagger become an option at that point and aren't really hampered by the ridged grip.
Or just punch them. There's a spike for a reason.
@@shadowmancy9183 true but how fatal is that gonna be? Ya it'll hurt but a dagger in the gut or lung is gonna do a lot more.
Unrelated to the shield, but I've been watching your videos for probably around eight years now and every time I see a new sparring video I think to myself about how much your skill has developed. Very well done Skall =)
12:50 You should do a video where you explore what weapons and weapon configurations would be best for if you're jumped. Like for example you're sitting at a bar in medieval Europe and some suspiciously armed characters begin approaching you. What weapons and configurations would allow you to draw and get in a defensive position the fastest. I know getting jumped is not ideal already but what gives the best possible chance of survival in that scenario?
Dagger and buckler. You're not playing defense anymore, granted, but it'll be out the fastest.
I enjoyed the sparring as always. Thanks for posting this :)
Thank you! This reminds me of that Dwarf named Thorin Oakenshield from The Hobit.
The stiffest hammer grip you can imagine
about the carrying:
I made a pnp caracter who dual weilds those shields after seeing your first video on this subject, and i thought a lot about how he could carry those.
I came up with two solutions:
1. Put a hook on the iutside of the shield, roughly at the hight of your elbow. This way, if you hook it in to your belt you can easyly reach down through the strap, grap the handle and draw it. This works because the grip is free, instead of beeing sandwiches between your leg and the shield itself.
The hook can also help catching offglancing blows.
2. Tailor some sheaths for the shields. They could give you enough room to just slip through the strap and grab the handle.
Now I'm curious how it would be in a duel with this shield vs longsword
You'll see some of that in the next video (scheduled for October 7).
@@Skallagrim FYI: Someone is spoofing your icon to try pfishing your followers on here. I received one, as well as at least two others declaring us on "a shortlist of winners. Kindly send a direct massage Above to acknowledge your prize.......❤.."
I reported them. If this truly was you, then let me know how to send you a "direct massage".
@@greggs1067 I know, I've reported that scam account multiple times, and RUclips won't do anything.
Really enjoying the two part videos, keep it up!!
Sword-chucks are the future.
I like swords
@@johnduquette7023 If you know, you know.
@@clivedoe9674 Welcome to Corneria!
I think my favorite part was where skall pussied out of a bind like twice in a row in one of the clips. We love to see it
Hey skalla? Have you tried to attack an opponent with THE POMMELL of your sword????
Absolutely not, he's never heard of such a thing.
So dishonorable
Footwork is such a big component in combat sports, and is a great measure of someone's skill and familiarity with the techniques
Wow, I'm surprised you found my new design I've been talking about. I definitely like the length with the balance, might go for more of a more of a triangle than bladed point, with wrapped, x grip carbon nanotube handles, and should stay on after letting go sometimes while easier to grip things or maybe nylon or kevlar straps wouldn't be too bad either,
as I should have some 1/8" shocktec air2gel foam coming pretty soon, the 1/4" steel 4x12"s on the way, are looking a little too small with fitting into some of the smaller forges, I'll have to guesstimate the length later on, looks pretty cool though.
These backyard videos are great....give us more
Love it. Its very nice that you spar so much lately. THAT ENDING BRO XD!
Amazing video, and quite impresive shield too. Love how you got your ass handled to yourself on the second fight, that guy's defence is damn good.
Something fairly similar to this did actually see military use. Large, left-hand gauntlets which covered the forearm were reasonably popular for cavalry in the mid-17th century, e.g. during the English Civil Wars. They didn't have the offensive spike (which doesn't seem very useful anyway), but they could be used in quite a similar way defensively. This was at the point where full plate armour was falling out of fashion, but steel helmets and cuirasses remained in common use. The right hand needed to be free to fire and load pistols or carbines, and would be given decent protection by a basket hilt during melees, but wearing a gauntlet on the left allowed it to control the horse's reins but also block sword cuts in combat.
This has been one of your best videos yet. Thanks for making it.
I really like this shield design. I used it in larp; it was light and easy to carry (A fundamental consideration when your day job is a desk jockey). The larp arrows are so heavy with low-power bows for safety that it is easy to block or deflect arrows with the small shield, and it wasn't a "spell catcher" (Our larp group rules shields don't block spells/effects, so massive tower shields were less common as its harder to dodge spells with it.)
I hope to get back into larp again.
Actually I have an idea how to improve an ease of carry for these. It may sound strange at first, but bear with me.
So, we remove the handle, attach a loose enough strap in its place, and make two quite large holes in the sides of the shield where the attachments for the handle were supposed to go. Then you wear the shield on the upper part of your arm, where it stays out of the way of your hand. When you need the shield - you just shake your arm for shield to drop down, and then... Remember those holes we made? You insert your dagger in those, and grab it with your hand, so the dagger is now serving as a handle.
Having your dagger handle up on your belt, just a bit of practice, and you can arm yourself in a one fluid motion.
Surely it will somewhat restrict a choice of your clothing, so the shield won't snag on anything, but other than that I see no major downsides to this method.
Huh. I was worldbuilding a while back, and while I never knew this existed IRL, I came up with pretty much the same general design for a fantasy weapon. I'm pretty glad that there is some historical basis for such a design, now I don't have to be kept up at night for having a "weird, impractical design." Thanks for the demonstration!
I came for Skal’s amazing commentary, but I stayed for the beautiful orange pantaloons
Yes! More sparrings! And more sparrings with cool stuff!
1:50, Skall you can actually shape the shield handle so it allows a recess , or have a curve to the handle so it projects beyond the parts connecting to the shield, that way it will be even more secure.
I think there are versions of Indian Dhal, or metal buckler which have that. This so that one can wear a fist dagger and a normal dagger behind the Dhal projecting outside the shield, this gives 'V' shaped setup also allowing to trap opposing weapons apart from blocking and gives more offensive ability to the offhand.
I think there is a Shatravidya episode on it.
I couldn't believe my eyes and ears when I saw you doing a Dempsey Roll while double-wielding shields! I can't wait to see part 2!
Man those spar demos look dangerous, great to know you got good gear
I can see some ways to improve the design of that arm shield. First, that solid grip, make it somewhat concave, so that the off hand weapon can actually fit into the grip itself and you can fully wrap your fingers around it. Second, put that solid grip on a wheel or pully. Something like that, you know, it's flat ish, rocks back and forth when turned slightly? I don't have the name for that right now, so that's why the description. I'm not trying to be or sound insulting. Third improvement. Make the shield wider slightly. Forth. It could be extended to the shoulder by giving it a flexing pin at the elbow. Of course, a larger, wider pauldron would serve the same purpose. Fifth idea is to scrap the solid handle idea altogether and make the grip a glove instead. With the back of the glove attached to the wheel you'd have the ability to extend your wrist as needed and grip your weapon. Sixth idea is to simply extend the metal spike. Make the spike longer.(that's what she said) perfect place to put that joke.(second that's what she said joke) with that, you would be able to stab and slash using the spike. Parry, deflect, block, or guide the opposing weapon safety to the side so that you can step around their own guard. So, if you think any of these ideas are workable, why not try them out? It would be interesting to see you using them for sparring videos.
In danish that shield is called a "Slag-Skjold" or "Boxing/Boxer Shield" although it has no spike (spikes are nasty!), in reenactment you use it in combination with a short weapon (preferably an axe or mace) and hold it up like a typical boxing stance with both hands on each side of your head a little away from yourself. The technique we used was to advance on your opponent and beat the snot out of him in close hand to hand, like almost grappling distance, it almost looked like two boxers (although with weapons and plate armor) Hella funny way to fight. Probably my second favorite shield to use, sorry but a tower shield (Roman scutum or a big kite shield) is the funniest!
As a LARP'er this Dueling Shield is also really fun to use, and if used proper can be a god tier shield in duels and skirmishes. Total satisfaction when you bat an arrow out of the air with one of these :P
Love your vids Skall! Keep it up :D
Seems like something you'd see more often in a D&D or fantasy setting with adventurers. Useful, and solves a lot of problems they'd have with regular shields (you could also hold a torch or something while wearing it).
Agreed, though I think its also got more potential for 'real' historical warfare use than Skal does, for much the same reasoning - its not a full shield, which is obviously to be preferred, but it is a seemingly very effective defensive and offensive tool in the melee with the rather major bonus that its no more of an encumbrance than the sword/armour you would have anyway - wouldn't be the goto for most frontline troops but for the scouts and archers it is I think a decent compromise between going without and the difficulties a full shield would bring. Would love to see somebody try to shoot with this on, I doubt it would get in the way at all looking at it...
@@foldionepapyrus3441 I wonder too if, with some adjustments to the grip as Skall said, it wouldn't be usable while wielding something like a pike, or another long thrusting polearm. Having something that can offer a bit more hand protection, and also have you with a shield if the pikes go down sounds like a cool compromise for the lack of missile protection. Not something that was ever done, but in a "what if?" scenario, or fiction I think it's plausible.
Archery could be neat, though it would hang heavy on the arm which might make aiming harder, though not impossible. Even just having it on your belt could be really good if you have to fight hand to hand.
It's a really neat design, and it's interesting to think of all the applications if it had taken off.
@@Lurklen Indeed I don't think you would want to wear it and shoot your bow all the time, but if you can slip it on in anticipation of need and still shoot with it that is a big gain when the melee is joined for little cost while you have the time and ammo to shoot.
I really enjoy watching dueling/sparring. I like seeing strategies implemented. Unlike the over dramatic choreographed swordplay you see in movies
Oh man, I've designed quite a few of these types of shields on paper! Always loved to idea of the katar weapons and there's quite a lot of configurations you can do to these shields.
Well, i am about to start drawing a comic in a medieval world with a very little magic, and main character will mostly fight by sword, and i planed some scenes where he will have to face multiple opponents. I actually planed that he will take down opponents one by one very fast in these fights, not because he is much more skilled in sword fight then his opponents, or his enemies are just dumb, but because he just has a inhuman strength. After this and few other of yours videos i decided that my character will have to take down one enemy practically in one move, in order to keep up with other attackers and he will have to very carefully control whole fight and this how many opponents are actually able to attack him at the time to after all, survive. Only for my fulfillment i wanted to create a story with a realistic hand armed fights, and thanks to your videos on RUclips i feel that i am closer then ever to accomplish this. Thank you for your work, and have a good day.
The rare but dreaded dual messer appearance. Spiked my envy with the short one first and then finished me with the big one. Sword envy is eating me like a carnivorous bacteria.
These videos are the reason im subbed to youa i loved this theory, test, summary!
The ottoman/persian/indian bazuband(lower arm guard) was used in the same way worn on the left lower arm up until the first World War for close combat in combo with a variety of sabres.
Really good series!
Please, keep on!
Every now and again I'm struck by how good Skal's editing is.
I've been wondering for years how one of these paired with a conventional shield would work.
So its as simple as I imagined it. Probably the first shield ever I designed as a visual artist was a fantasy-styled (not too much though, not a fan of this over the top stuff) one that had the concept of this one. Never saw a shield like this befor and that was at a time were I didnt know too much about the topic, so I'm kinda proud that it's not completely stupid.
These are the coolest things ever. First one I saw was in FF Crystal Chronicles.
That Hajime no Ippo Dempsey Roll at the end 🤣🤣🤣 love it
That fencing work with the misteurious fencing-instructor was very entertaining and interesting. 👍
It was fascinating watching them fight against the second opponent, the distancing and efficiency in movements was great. No offence to Skallagrim. As someone who practises unarmed martial arts, those shields look very fascinating. Cant wait for the second video.
I especially enjoy moments like 4:02 where you explain what the effect could have been vs. what it actually would have been.
This scambot's profile picture has a bear instead of a beaver? That's... so strange. I would think it's creator would just copy Skal's pic exactly to be more convincing.
I dont know if you read the comments but I think your content is improving. I like watching sparing of this kind. good stuff man.
Interesting video. I did notice a few opportunities that the spike could have been employed offensively in your sparring. I'm assuming that it being a new thing it would take some time getting used to having that option. After watching this I makes a lot of sense that this shield would be used in duals.
yo, I like the duelling footage lately, good job :)
I always loved the idea of dualwielding an arming sword in the mainhand and a dagger in the offhand, you could test it too.
I still play a lot of Neverwinternights 1&2. I dunno about the graphics design but parry daggers can already be done by throwing a damage penalty on the off hand weapon and add a parry bonus. This would be a step upp from that.
In any case, years ago when I DM'd a fantasy campaign there was a npc/DM character that had a bit larger version of thease shields. That was not in the culture of the area and that individual had migrated there from another part of the world. Nice to see that thease things existed for real so my idea wasn't totally wierd.
I've actually been working on a story with a character that uses a similar style shield. Only it's built into the left gauntlet with no handle required allowing for two handed fighting.
Instead, a raised handle sits just over the fingers, which when grabbed and pulled down (via wrist motion) extends the spike into a roughly 10-inch blade (tucked within the shield), turning the arm shield into a sudo-katar in a way.
The idea is though it limits two-handed fighting, it's good for being more offensive in situations with less room to move a larger weapon.
Least that's my concept anyway.
So glad to see you test this, it always seemed to me like a both cool and practical design, which as you know is hard to find.
Minor criticism; the weapon aspect seemed overlooked, and I didn't see any overt attempts to leverage it as a way to get inside a guard. In both sparring sessions it seemed both people were only using it as a shorter range buckler, and especially in the first session there were several times the spike could've been used and an opening was available, but both participants kept trying for sword cuts at clumsy range. Is this because using it as an engage tool or a weapon when close is impractical for reasons I missed, or more because it's difficult to stop thinking with the sword when it stops being the best option?
What are your thoughts on dual wielding these shields with similarly sized plates on the upper arms (spike-side-up like arm pauldrons)? Does that provide enough coverage that with some light armor, leg plates, and a helmet someone could reliably linebacker rush and throat-punch anyone not ready for it?
Edit; Also, can the shield be a scabbard? If loosely hanged from a belt where a sheath would normally be, grabbing the sword (or long-knife) hilt could lift the whole thing, then grabbing the shield handle with your left hand would allow you to draw the blade. Can still do a drawing slash if you instead hold the shield down with your left hand (which many people do with a scabbard anyways) but gives you more options if you don't need immediate aggression, right? It looked like there was padding between your arm and the outer shell, is there a significant downside to that being thick enough to hold a blade?
That's really interesting. If u ask me, I will add something on top of the shield, pins or hooks to prevent the opponent blade to slide towards your body... blocking his blade and giving you some advantage to strike back.