[Castellum] Shield as a Weapon (1st mini Horde) *guide*

[Gauls]

Cycle 2, in the Month of Imperos, in the Season of Autumn,
Era II of the Celestine Mandate,
Era XIV Post Fractum

Fresh from their cycle learning basic shati (spear), the 1st Mini Horde was back on the training field ready to start their next lesson. Their favorite instructor, a vysstichi named Kruel was already on the field waiting for the 3500 orcs in his class to arrive.

: Pointing to a row of carts piled high with round wood shields :

"Pick up a shield as you come onto the field!" he yelled as the throngs of orcs approached. "This cycle we learn shield-as-a-weapon!"

A roaring cheer came up from the students. This was the first horde to train at this facility and they were highly motivated. It seemed everything they did from the mundane to the not so familiar was cause for excitement.

Kruel waited for all the orcs to get into place on the field before he started the lesson.

Secrets : All lughorn signed up at the Recruitment hovel in Ire may take part in this thread

[Gauls]

The 1st mini horde orcs that were now filtering onto the field were fresh from their recent training class on basic spear. Though the class was basic, the skill they learned was going to be augmented by this next lesson, shield-as-a-weapon. The orcs mingled on the training field here at the Castellum with their training spears and shields in hand. They were short spears that were not much good on a battle field anymore. The round shields were bronze and so the faces of them were dented from past training collisions.

After the orcs had paired up, the vysstichi knew it was time to start.

Shield Basics

"You see that you now have a round shield. The types of shields developed along different lines depending upon the mode of fighting and what kind of protection and mobility was required. Light hand-held shields were better for man-to-man combat with hand weapons, and for mounted warriors, tall shields set on the ground offered more effective defense in large battles. Special shields were required for archers, who needed both hands to discharge their arrows. Shields could be made of wood, bark, basketry, leather, skins, shells, or metal."

The orcs looked on and glanced at their gear as Kruel spoke. They just wanted to get to the action part.

"Look at your shield on the inside. Do you see that? Round shields are of two classes - "bucklers" and "targets". How do you know which one you have?"

Kruel paused to see if anyone knew how but there was no answer. "You can tell by the way they were held, bucklers having the handles in the middle which were grasped with the hand and held at arm's length, while targets had two widely separated handles through one of which the arm was passed while the other was held in the hand. Sometimes you can modify your shield so that it has three loops placed so that they could be used either as targets or bucklers. The inside of the shield is the back and the side that faces the enemy swords is called the face. The handles on the inside of the shield are called "enarmes", and the sling by which the shield could be hung from the neck the "guige". The edges can be reinforced with decorated metal strips, and a wooden reinforcing spine can be ran through the face, broadening out to form a boss or UMBO in the center."

Power & Distraction

The orcs stood around looking at their shields for the first time noticing that every piece of the shield had a name. Who knew?

"Now, look at the shield face!" Kruel shouted. He looked to make sure that the orcs could tell which side the face was. Seeing that the majority looked at the correct side, he knew that they were learning. "The surface of a shield is an obvious area for embellishment. You urak need to get creative and decorate your own shield when you get ready to go into battle. You might think this is elf talk but it isn't. It is actually one of the ways that you can use the shield as a weapon!"

Now Kruel had their attention. How could painting a shield help in battle. the orc is always looking for aides in battle and any little thing will be noted.

"As you know, the urak depends upon Orok to protect him in battle..."

: The orcs roared at hearing the name of their old God Orok :

"... and because the shield protects its bearer, many of the decorative designs also have protective properties. Consequently the shield is often regarded, as among the urak, 'not only as a weapon of defence, but also as a religious instrument ... it is full of magic power, and when it is painted in a particular way, Orok will allow his protections."

: the orcs roared again at the idea that Orok will be with them in battle :

"The shamen of the Great Horde will make sure that your shield first of all, gives you the power of the spirits of all the slain urak of the Great Horde. This power from your ancestors will fill the enemy with fear!"

It was as if Kruel was preaching rather than teaching but the orcs loved it.

"The Shamen will paint upon your shields to give it powers causing the enemy to shoot at the shield rather than at the exposed parts of your body."

The orcs cheered again invigorated by the words of their teacher. Nobody cared that the real reasoning why the enemy would shoot at a wildly painted design on a shield is simply a natural occurence that attracts the opponent's eye.

[Gauls]

Redirection

"Now, when you need more than Power and Distraction to subdue an enemy, the shield itself can be used as a weapon." Kruel grasped his round shield on his left arm then assumed a basic attack stance with his shield in front of him. "You can use the shield to redirect the blows that are coming at you just like you would normally see in a defensive shield class but..." Kruel paused to exclamate his point here. "...it is how you redirect those blows that changes your shield from a defensive tool to an offensive weapon."

The class just looked on waiting to hear how this was possible. Kruel displayed this by taking a step forward and at the same time, thrusting his shield upward to where his left arm was fully extended over and slightly in front of his head making an umbrella over himself with the shield.

"Like this, you can take any strike that is coming from the enemy's waist level or above coming toward you and push it up and over you. This in combination with the step that I took forward now enables me to assault the wide open mid torso or legs of the enemy!"

The class nodded in approval. Kruel then returned to a basic attack stance with his shield in front of him. He took another step forward this time swinging his shield straight out in front then left in one motion.

"Here you see that I am pushing any thrust that the enemy makes toward my torso away to my left. It is important that you remember a key point about this move..." Again Kruel paused. Now the class was getting the idea that when he pauses, there is something worth remembering afterward. "...you MUST ensure that you make the step forward before you make the thrust left with the shield. If you forget this, you could be out of range when you thrust left thus exposing you to the enemy's attack. Once the thrust is made, you now have open access to the enemy's front or left side depending on which way he was attacking when you redirected his momentum."

"Why don't you try these two redirects..." Kruel again took a basic attack stance and allowed his class to do the same. He then executed an overhead redirect, then recovered. His class did the same. He then executed a left redirect and waited for the class to mimic this.

"Good, you can also do a right redirect. This one is easy as you simply grasp the enarmes tightly and execute a punch right using your left hand (stepping forward) and keeping the shield facing the enemy. It is a shorter redirect so make sure that you have made the step forward before you make this move. Doing this one will push the enemy's blow right and allow you to spin around and strike the exposed enemy's flank. This is a tricky move so we will go further with the right redirect in later skill class."

The class was now following along as Kruel demonstrated so he was free to look on and make sure that all were executing the various redirects correctly.

[Gauls]

Shield Strikes

Kruel was liking what he saw. The class was doing well. "Next, I'll teach you the shield strikes. Shields are not just for defense blocking the opponent's blows. You can make sttrikes of your own. Watch..."

Kruel lined up in front of an orc in the front row. "See what happens naturally when I do this..."

Next, he took a step forward and at the same time, raised his shield arm up over his head then brought the edge of the bottom part of the shield down upon the orc in front of him. The orc naturally raised his shield to block the strike.

"You see that he raised his shield to block. Now there is a huge part of his body that I can attack. And what will I attack with????!!!" Kruel was throwing in a question to make the orcs think. One of them yelled out "Wit' da Sapat!"

After the orc said that, the class cheered. Though the orc loved the axe, this time they were wrong.

"NOOOOOO!" Kruel replied. The orc grew silent. "Sheesh, this is a sheild as a weapon class. What do you think we will strike the enemy with????"

The class now threw up a loud reply "Shield!"

Kruel nodded. "Yes, the shield. You will use a combination of "shield strikes" to keep the enemy off balance and unable to attack after his block. Be creative! Use two, three, or more strikes with your shield to keep the enemy guessing! If you are constantly slapping him with your shield, he won't have time to respond after the combination strikes for a few seconds. That is enough time for you to now make a strike with another weapon."

Some voices from the group could be heard, "Aaaaahhhh...."

Kruel now demonstrated these strikes. "First, my overhead strike..." Kruel repeated the overhead strike that he did before slowly so the class could watch and learn. "Next, my backhand strike..." he then followed the first strike with a backhand motion that sent the left side of his shield edge into the face of the shield of the opposing orc. "Third, I will strike center..." This time the step foward and thrust of the shield straight out in front of him where the bottom part of Kruel's shield struck the orc's shield. "And last, I will top it off with a right strike..." the final strike, Kruel threw his shield back along his left side then swung it outward in an arch where the right side of the shield edge struck the orc on the sword arm. It did not hurt as Kruel was still moving slowly but now came one more in normal time...

"I'm not playing this time! Defend yourself!" Kruel cried as he first took a couple steps back then took a step forward with an overhead strike, this was quickly followed by a series of center, backhand, then right strikes. The final right strike was so quick that the orc actually yelped a bit as the shield edge struck him.

The class roared with enjoyment. They now saw how this flurry of strikes can disorient an opponent and actaully cause pain in the process if any of the strikes made contact.

"And that's not even the best part." Kruel added. "Orcs can sharped the edges, add spikes, horns, metal knots, etc. to cause more pain to an opponent.

The class roared.

[Gauls]

"Now, pair up and then do the strikes one at a time against an opponent."

Kruel looked on as the class performed each strike. Some orcs began to get carried away and started with combination strikes when they saw how fun it was.

"Cut it out!" Kruel snapped. "Get the individual strikes down pat first. If you don't do them right here then you won't get them right on the battlefield!"

The orcs continued until Kruel saw that each orc had successfully completed at least three turns giving and receiving strikes.

"Good, now try the combination strikes I showed you."

Now the orcs were excited. They were doing the strikes perfectly and always on the final strike they looked as if they were trying to break a shield on their opponent.

"Alright. That's enough. Good work urak. I think you have mastered the basics of shield as a weapon. Come back here at least twice and I will review your training to make sure that you are ready to use this new skill before heading out to battle. I look forward to seeing you out on the battlefield!"

With that, the class roared. They had just completed the basics but it was enough to give them a little edge in battle when the time arises.