Obviously shields reigned supreme on historical battlefields, at least until the height of plate armor. Bucklers and parrying daggers dominated off-hand use in civilian self-defense and formal dueling. And dual wielding swords is the edgelord king of fantasy combat. But what about something more unusual?
Sometimes we see spears and swords paired in fictional scenarios. You may think of using the spear in the main hand, but what about the other way around? Let's do a deep dive into parrying sticks, off-hand spears, and hooked / spiked bucklers!
To explore how practical this is, David and Clark from @SellswordArts make an appearance, testing the effectiveness in full-contact sparring. Thanks, guys! It's been a fun collab.
*** Sources & Credits ***
For more info about African martial arts, check out @DaMonStith
https://www.traditionalsports.org/traditional-sports/africa/nguni-south-africa.html
https://johnnyclegg.lima-city.de/artikel/zulu_sticking_fingers.htm
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_turtle_formation_on_trajan_column.jpg
https://www.ashokaarts.com/regions-tribal-regions/rare-indian-steel-shield-with-spike-and-hook/
https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Gladiatoria_(MS_KK5013)
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/22978
Outtakes music:
"Little People At Work" by Horrorpen
https://opengameart.org/content/little-people-at-work-loop
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (CC BY 3.0)
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