[Castellum] Basic Shield-as-Weapon (13th Fury 5th LU)

[Ralzari Malian]

As the 13th Fury made its way onto the field to begin their basic shield-as-weapon class, they all heard the instructor yell,"Grab a shield from the wagons as you come onto the field." The frsh new recriuts were egaer to begin their training so they could get ready for battle as soon as they could. The dark elf instructor Kruel, stood at the front of the field waiting for the recruits to get their shields and get into position. Ral made his was over to the wagon, picked up a shield and walked over and stood iin the front line, so he could get the full feel of the class.

As all of the recruits, with their training shields and spears in hand, had gotten into position Kruel was ready to start the class. Although their equipment was'nt exactly fit for combat, it would serve just fine for their training. "Alright maggots pair up," Kruel barked at the lughorns. Ral looked at the orc to his left and vice versa, "Look like we partners," Ral said to the orc. After all of theorcs had paired up it was now time to begin the first lesson.

"Alright lughorns the first lesson is the shield basics. The shield all of you have is the round shield, its better for mobile hand-to-hand combat with hand weapons. But mounted soilders need tall shields for more protection while in battle, due to their lack of manuverability. Archers need specialized shields that allow both of their hands to be free. Shield can be made out of wood, bark, basketry, leather, skins, shells or metal." As Kruel paused Ral looked down at his shield to examine it briefly, quite eager to get to the actual fighting, because he had been wondering how they were to use a shield as a weapon.

"Everyone look at the inside of your shields, round shields have two different classes, bucklers and targets. You can tell the difference in the two by the way they are held. Bucklers have the handle in the middle and is grasped by the hand and held at arms length. While targets have two widely seperated handles, through one in which the arm passes and the second handle is held by the hand. One could also modify their shield to have three handles so that it could be used as either a buckler or a target. The inside of the shield is called the back and the side that faces your enemy is the face. The handles on the inside are called enarmes and the sling by which the shield can be hung from the neck is the guige. The edges could be reinforced with decorated metal strips and a wooden reinforcing spine could be ran through the face, broadening out to form a boss or UMBO in the center."

[Ralzari Malian]

All of the orcs stood around starring at their shields still going over all of the different pieces of it. "Now everyone look at their shield's face. This is the part of the shield that you embellish and all of you urak need to decorate your shields. This may not seem very orc-like to all of you, but this is actually one way that you can use your shields as a weapon." Now Kruel really had the lughorns attetion, because they were all curious to see how a simple painting on a shield could be a weapon. Ral knew that anything that would give him a little more of an advantage in the upcoming war would be very useful, so he paid close attention. "All of you of course know who protects you in battle..." without having to say anything else, all of the lughorns roared and yelled the name Orok. "...The mighty Orok, just as Orok protects you in battle, so do your shields. So many designs on various shields can have protective properties. And this is why the shield is not only seen as a weapon of defense, by you urak's, but its also seen as a religous instrument. When your shield is protected in a particular way, Orok blesses you all with his protection." The thought that Orok would not only be watching over and protecting Ral in battle, but he would also be fighting next to his side filled Ral with a great sense of pride.

"How do you all know what you need to paint on your shields to get Orok's blessings you may wonder? Well that's when the shamen come into play. They'll make sure that your shield give you the power of the spirits of your ancestors and all of the urak slain in the name of the Great Horde." Hearing this gave Ral an even greater sense of pride, so Ral could'nt help but let out a massive roar of pride. Upon hearing Ral's roar, all of the other lughorns begun roaring and yelling, chanting the name Orok. "The shamen paint your shields so that you have a secret power. This power causes your enemies to shoot at your shield rather than shooting at your exposed body parts." Everyone seemed to be uncaring of the fact that seeing a painted shield tends to distract the enemy and make them aim at the shield, rather than shooting at them. But it did'nt matter, at least this way they would go into battle with a little more confidence and pride.