[Low-Tech] Caged Bucklers

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by RGTraynor

I was wondering much the same. That bit in the video where the buckler snagged the spear? What went through my mind was that it wouldn't take much for the spearman to have ripped the buckler right out of the fencer's hand ... or if the fencer was so stupid as to try to hang on, would yank the fencer badly off balance at the least.

Mentioned in passing in the video is that fact that the Partizan used in the demo has a nylon blade, so it's thicker than a steel blade would be. A well-made, highly flexible blade (e.g., any decent 16-17th c. rapier) is going to really get stuck, especially if it's got the combined forces of a deadly blow against a full-speed Block pushing on it.

In the half-speed duels used to test the targa, you can see how blades bind with the shield occasionally pulling fighters off balance as they try to break the bind.

In my proposed write-up for the Blade Trapper I think I got the problems of the weapon and shield getting bound together about right. They're loosely adapted from the rules for Pilums from GURPS Low Tech/Martial Arts.

I also hold that shields with blade trapping frames are an improvement over earlier blade trapping spikes, since they grip a trapped weapon more firmly and might have been easier to mount than a whole bunch of spikes.