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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bluenose" data-source="post: 6251640" data-attributes="member: 49017">As teh narrator says, the group that lost cohesion first was in trouble. I've been in a few fights that size and larger - the Hastings re-enactment weekend often had them when the public aren't around - and that's something I'd expect. It's very hard to break up a solid formation that stays together, and attempting it on your own is a good way to get put out of the fight. Also, an attack from an unexpected direction, like that one spearman performed, is really hard to guard against. Not impossible, but really hard. Although a few people have such good awareness that it doesn't seem to work on them. One other thing it shows is just why ancient battles often have such one-sided casualty totals, because the beaten side really canbe cut down at very little risk by the winners.I've tried it, but never really got the hang of it myself. I know someone who found it very good at deflecting thrusts and cuts from lighter weapons, and very handy at close quarters. In my experience it's too light to be fully effective parrying larger weapons, but given that it's certainly been used with/against some large swords I suspect there's a way of using it that we didn't uncover.I've climbed slopes with a shield, and it certainly does affect your balance. Enough that I wouldn't be willing to do so under melee attack if there was any choice. If you can use your weapon to help climb with it's a lot more effective, and then you can keep your shield raised as preotection from missiles, or at least the bean bags that were being thrown last time I tried it. I'm inclined to agree about swords as more effective than axes and spears if you haven't a shield, but I think that my vary depend on the exact technique being used with the spear as there are Asian fighting styles that use one two-handed as duelling weapons. And my personal opinion is that a poleaxe is more effective in single combat than a two-handed sword.</blockquote>

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