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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Roetroc" data-source="post: 2489863" data-attributes="member: 35309">Right, whilst not an expert I have been using steel swords, axes, spears etc for the last 7 years and have experience in both unarmed and armed Japanese martial arts and limited experience with some other EMA.  I have fought and trained with two weapons and with single weapons and single weapon with shield. When fighting one-on-one, these combinations have their advantages and their disadvantages.  Eg a single-handed weapon can be extremly good against a two handed piercing weapon like a spear as they can be used to drive a person onto the back foot and then grasp the shaft. Against a two-handed that has a slashing option halberd, poleaxe it is less effective as grasping the shaft now becomes much more difficult. The crux however is that a shield of any significant size really negates the benefit of having a second weapon particularly when it is small (like a dagger). Against a buckler you can prevail as you only have a small area to overcome, but it is highly mobile. Against a small shield (as long as it is bound to the arm like a heater) whilst a larger area is now covered it is not as mobile. A small shield with a centre grip is a complete pain to get around, expecially as with your small weapon you remain in range of a sword or spear longer. With a large shield (like a Viking shield), it is rare that you will prevail and it's usually against the inexperienced, unless one of your weapons is an axe and you are hooking. An experienced shield user does need to move their shield much (with a big shield), can use to to batter away your primary weapon when you attack and bind your weapon when they attack. They can remain static and defensive by simple holding out their arm (which effectively increases the size of their shield) and also use to to hide where their attack is coming from.  That said, that's one-on-one. In massed combats or even two on two. Two weapons are a big sign that says, "Hit me. I'm easy to kill". Any TWF in a shield wall are usually dead within seconds and is usually done by those who wish to go out in a glorious death. A person with a spear in two hands can pick off a TWF in a shield wall in seconds as you can't watch everyone at once and TWF are the obvious gaps in the wall. Even fighting two-on-two you are the weak point and will be targeted as the first victim. This is just in my experience where we fight a lot in small skirmishing groups, shield walls and one on one.</blockquote>

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