Shield

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A Scutum (Roman Legionary's Shield)

Straddling the line between body armor and weapon is the shield. A shield is a hand held barrier used to deflect or otherwise stop incoming blows. Usually a shield would be carried in the user's secondary hand while the favored hand would carry a weapon (the right hand in most cases). Shields have been in use since at least the neolithic period, and have been used by people from Europe to Australia to the Americas. Shields have been constructed from a variety of materials, including woven reeds, animal hides, and textiles over frames made of wood, bone, or metal.

Shields in Warfare

While swords and axes gets all the glory in fantasy literature, the humble shield is probably the most ubiquitous piece of equipment that could be found on the battlefield. If you look at any ancient depiction of a battle you will see plenty of different weapons around, but nearly everybody that was not using 2-handed weapons would carry a shield, from the knight in shining armour to the lowly peasant.

The first well-attested military formation to make good use of the shield was the Greek Phalanx, a square formation of heavy infantry. The soldiers, standing shoulder to shoulder, locked their shields together forming a wall, then pointed their spears forward and started marching. With a judicious use of the Phalanx Alexander The Great steamrolled half of Asia, creating one of the greatest empires of the ancient world.

Similar to this formation - albeit armed with swords and javelins, not with 8-9 foot long pikes - was the famous and equally effective Roman testudo. The testudo, along with a couple of innovations like 'squads' and more flexible battle-lines, were used to steamroll Europe and create another big-ass Empire. If you're starting to see a pattern here, congratulations: you've just passed Ancient History 101. Every culture in ancient to medieval warfare used a form or another of the shield wall for their infantry, the alternative being quickly and mercilessly butchered and forgotten. They stopped only with the introduction of artillery, that made tight formations nothing but a huge target and hence highly inadvisable.

Outside of strictly military use police forces everywhere still use riot shields when they need to quell any particularly violent revolt or need to get up close and personal with some protesters.

In addition to defense, shields can also be used offensively. A good solid shield is a broad heavy object, and it can be used to bash people. A blow to the head would cause great damage even to an armoured enemy, and could kill or at least disorient the opposition. The Romans were very fond of this. Some forms of shield had spikes added to them in order to make the most out of bashing attacks.

Another way to use a shield is not to use a shield, carry only a weapon leaving the shield work and defense to another guy you had trained with, namely the Shield Bearer. The shield bearer is often talked about in ancient texts and while he may have just been slave who carried the heaviest chunk of gear, he could also have been a highly trained solider who fought with and defended the swordsmen. Evidence for trained shield bearers comes from various Middle Eastern Bronze Age sources, such the Old testament where Jonathan and his shield bearer routed a philistine advance guard unit of maybe 20 guys, and from the Egyptian New Kingdom, in which chariots were often described as being crewed by a warrior/driver and shield-bearer. The (extremely biased and propagandist) poem describing the Battle of Qadesh on the walls at Karnak has Ramesses II giving a speech to inspire his wavering shield bearer. There's also the relevant argument that "Would a sane mind trust his life to a slave, given the history of slavery?"

Types of Shields

• Buckler: The smallest of the shields, no bigger than 6-18 inches in diameter and light enough to be held in one fist, often made of metal with a leather fronting. They were also one of the few shields light enough to be regularly carried on one's person (let's be honest, how many knights do you think carried a full-sized shield on their back at all times?), as it was meant for personal defense rather than warfare, although it was often carried as a backup defensive weapon by infantry during the 14th and 15th centuries, such as Archers or Billmen, and is sometimes listed as issued (livery) kit for levies in English muster rolls. It was too small to block arrows and projectiles, but its light weight made it excellent for protecting the sword hand and deflecting an enemy's weapons in melee combat. It could also double as a punching weapon. The term "swashbuckler" comes from the rather theatrical fighting style employed by the swordsmen who favored fighting with a sword and buckler. The English and the Spanish were both famous for their sword and buckler fencing.

• Heater Shield: Named by Victorian antiquarians for their similar shape to a clothes iron, heater shields were relatively light while still providing a fair degree of protection, making them an ideal form of protection when paired with a sword. (This is the shield most people think of when they think of a sword-and-shield combination.) Heater shields became dominant both for their ease of use, and the fact that more advanced armors meant that shields didn't need to cover the whole body, they just needed to deflect blows. This was emphasised by the way they blocked; whereas older and larger shields block in a punching motion, heaters are used to push enemy weapons away from the body. Later versions had small notches just large enough for the user to place his lance on it as a guide while jousting. They were often carved from a single piece of wood, and could have laminations of bone or horn, with canvas or rawhide outer layers, and thick pads of wool or fabric on the back to protect the shield arm. Heater shields made entirely from metal are a completely modern invention.

• Hoplon: A large round shield made of wood with outer layers of bronze. It was one of the most important pieces of equipment for classical Greek heavy infantry called Hoplites. It was employed to devastating effect in the famous Phalanx formation, the most powerful military tactic for several hundred years, capable of crushing enemy armies many times their size through superb defense and nigh-unbreakable lines. The main advantage of the Hoplon was that the shields easily overlapped with one another to form an extremely sturdy shield wall. The Hoplon was eventually replaced with a much smaller shield only because the Greeks realised that they didn't even need shields if they could just use really long spears and overlap them five layers deep, preventing any enemy from even getting close. It should be noted that, while many round wooden shields existed, the term Hoplon is used almost exclusively to describe the Greek variety.
  • Some other, less well-known Greek shields include the thyreos/thureos oval-shaped shield which became common around 3rd BC (reflecting developments in making infantry more versatile than the slowly-moving spiked walls that were Hoplites), and peltasts (essentially skirmishers) were, like, hoplites, originally named for their using a unique crescent-shaped shield called a pelte. The aforementioned smaller shields used by later phalanxes above was believed to have been called a Telemon or pelta shield.

• Round shield: A common early historical shield made of wood, with a large and prominent metal boss in the center. This was the favored shield of Vikings and other early medieval forces. While the soldiers wielding them didn't perform Testudos or Phalanxes like their ancient counterparts could, the shield was large and serviceable enough for even hastily trained militia to form a basic shield wall by interlocking shields.

• Scutum: A massive shield almost as large as a man's body that was the mainstay of the Roman legions, and possibly the most widely-produced shield of all time. These were often used alongside a javelin and gladius to either charge at an opponent or to provide cover when throwing javelins. A particularly favored formation that utilised the scutum was the testudo (literally "tortoise")- the soldiers on the front and sides of the formation would hold their shields outward, while the remainder would overlap their shields above the heads of the formation, creating a box over themselves which was invaluable in siege warfare for its ability to block attacks from all sides (mainly projectile attacks; because of how tight and difficult it is to see and move in this formation, it was not recommended for melee. One of the worst defeats even dealt to the Romans at the Battle of Carrhae happened because Parthian horse archers with a baggage train of ALL OF THE ARROWS forced the Romans in advance in testudo, allowing the Parthian heavy lancers to charge them to death as piecemeal). This is what most often comes to mind when you mention "tower shields" in RPGs.
  • While the classic large rectangle is the Roman shield in popular consciousness, Rome's military eventually switched to smaller, oval shields called a Skutos. Smaller, round shields also saw use in Roman hands; from skirmishers to eventually frontline infantry, foreshadowing the shields that would be used for some centuries in the wake of the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

• Pavise: Imagine something between smaller doors and Scutum. This shield was really big, able to cover a user's entire body up to the chin. It originated in Italy, but quickly became popular in late 14th and early 15th century all over Europe. It was usually used to cover crossbowman, who could reload his weapon behind the shield (yeah, some pavises got a "stick" on the backside, so they can stand without someone actually holding them). On the other hand, Czech Hussites took those shields, mixed them with battlewagons (actually used as mobile trench/firepoint), early gunpowder weapons and all sorts of choppy-and-pointy things on a sticks and managed to run a 15 years of religious rebellion (and yes, it's not lost on us that they basically invented the tank). They were popular with many lower ranking infantrymen during the 15th century since they mitigated the effect of wearing cheaper armour by defending more of the body. As a result, commoner infantry were often called "pavisiers".

• Targe: A relative of the buckler developed in Scotland, targes are round shields about 18-21 inches in diameter with two loops on the back- one for the arm to pass through and another to be held in one's hands, essentially allowing the wielder to have some degree of protection even while wielding a two-handed weapon (e.g. a claymore) or allowing one to use a pistol or dirk in the shield hand. The center of the shield was frequently equipped with a large spike, making it fairly effective as a weapon on its own as well. (Fun fact- the term "target" is derived from the general size and shape of the targe.) This shield in particular saw use much later in history alongside guns for the Scottish "Highland charge", where the Scots took advantage of muskets' poor fire-rate by approaching close, shooting, crouching down low to avoid the return volley, dropping unnecessary equipment, then charging the enemy line; using their targe to deflect the swords or bayonets their English adversaries tried to defend themselves with before landing a killing blow against them while they were vulnerable with a one-handed blade. This tactic was eventually defeated by the English regulars being trained to alleviate the targe pushing off their bayonets away and not (understandably) completely-lose-their-shit by stabbing at the other Scot to their left regardless.

• Kite Shield: A large shield with a distinctive upside-down teardrop shape which allowed users to guard both the forelegs and the upper body. As body armor became more prevalent (thus minimizing the need for leg cover), it was eventually superseded by the heater shield. This type of shield worked well for Norman cavalry, as the extra length afforded protection for both the rider and the horse. As with the heater, they were never made from metal.

• Riot and Ballistic shields: Shields are still being made, albeit relegated to situational uses (mostly within riot control divisions of law enforcement agencies). Ballistic shields are used when storming a house by SWAT troops expecting to fight in close quarters and are made to stop rifle rounds or shotgun shells. Riot shields are on the other hand made more to stop people using improvised weapons like rocks and Molotov cocktails (but are still reasonably effective against small caliber gunfire) and are also used to form shield "Walls" to physically stop an unruly mob (on a bad enough occasion, they might be even seen forming a testudo!). Both kinds are either made of transparent plastics or have a small slit in the middle to allow the user to see while still keeping the shield up, allowing a sidearm or PDW to be fired with an acceptable degree of accuracy while advancing.

Unusual/Exotic Shields

• Gun Shield: A metal shield with a breech-loading pistol barrel in the center, the Gun Shield was created by commission for King Henry the VIII, practically on a whim. Despite being too heavy to effectively aim, and impractical to attempt to reload, the king was enamoured by the idea of this weapon for his bodyguard and ordered a hundred, where they promptly proceeded to gather dust. It was tried again to double as a shovel in World War 1, being too heavy for use as a shovel and too light for armor. Did have some success guarding snipers, but before some major advances in cold plasma maintenance there is next to no use. On vehicle pintle mounts and for static weapons however, it's pretty damn convenient.

• Lantern Shield: This is a very unusual piece of equipment from 16th and 17th Century Renaissance. It is a glove with a built in buckler that also has a compartment for a lantern (hence the name: Lantern Shield), build in blades and sword catchers. So, a lantern-knife-shield-glove. Despite seeming like something from bad fantasy fic, the Lantern Shield was used and useful in two very specific cases - by night watchmen on patrol, and by duellists duelling at dawn. The weapon has likely emerged back then when duellists used to wield lanterns in duels in order to blind their opponents. They even had fencing manuals where they had lanterns integrated into their training, thus allowing them to not only parry, but also, as mentioned previously, to blind their opponents. Thus the Lantern Shield appeared. From looking at it, there will be people who'd like to have something like that into their D&D games or any other fantasy pen and paper RPG. Sadly there are no rules for using it in games such as Dungeons and Dragons (alternative for it would be the Spiked Shield). Seriously, this should get more attention. The only place we can think of where 'dueling with a lantern' is called out as thing is the "Lamentations of the Flame Princess" supplment "A Red and Pleasant Land" which calls out that "Either party may hold a lantern or torch in the off hand".

• German Duelling Shield/Two-Handed Shield: A unique piece of equipment intended more for formalized duels in controlled environments rather than the battlefield, the German dueling shield is a long, thin shield roughly the length of a Roman scutum. Usually constructed out of wood with a thicker metal rim than usual, it is most distinguished by the presence of one or multiple spikes at the top and bottom edges intended for impaling the opponent. Less lethal versions also existed with a blunt hook instead for pinning the opponent's neck. It is used in a flexible manner, serving as a somewhat awkward and heavy scutum alongside a one-handed weapon, which can be dropped mid-fight to wield the shield with both hands like a bat'leth from Star Trek.

• Rattan Shield: Used by the medieval Chinese or Koreans; while the shape of the shield isn't terribly different from round shields, it distinctly looks a lot like someone's trying to protect themselves with a fucking basket. As the name indicates, they were created from woven rattan, a sort of wood-like vine.

• Timbe: A buckler-type shield of Okinawan origin. The Timbe could be made from a variety of materials, but the most notable one was made from polished turtle shell.

• Ngoni Shield: A catchall term for an oval cowhide shield of the Ngoni people that could also be used for bashing enemies or hooking them off-balance before stabbing them with a killing blow. Made famous due to Zulu warfare.

• Ōsode: Worn from shoulders which would technically make them pauldrons but they were effectively used by samurai as wearable shields. Early samurai were primarily horse archers and the obvious problem with a shield is that one really cannot use a bow while using one, especially when also riding a horse at the same time. So what the samurai did instead is that they hung these large (around 51 cm in height and 36 in width) square-shape pieces of lamellar armor from their shoulders which could easily be pushed out of the way when shooting a bow and then moved back in place when one needs them for protection.

Medieval Weaponry
Melee Weapons:	Battleaxe - Dagger - Lance - Mace - Club Pole-arm - Spear - Sword - Warhammer
Ranged Weapons:	Blowgun - Bows and Arrows - Cannon Crossbow - Firearm - Rocket - Shuriken - Sling - Incendiary Weapons - Artillery
Armor:	Armor - Fantasy Armor - Helmet - Pauldron - Shield

Warhammer 40,000

In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, shields are in again. They still serve their typical protective role, though with some technological flair that makes them able to protect from the average flashlight.

Imperial Shields

Shields in the Imperium of Man are generally limited to higher-ranking combatants, such as SPHESS MEHREENS, Inquisitors, Crusaders, Adeptus Arbites, et cetera. Many of the Astartes shields are used by the Chaos Space Marines as well.

Combat Shield

Combat Shield

A lighter version of the Storm Shield, the Astartes Combat Shield does not incorporate the force field of its bigger brethren, though it makes up for that by being more versatile and having the ability to be arm-mounted without requiring hand support. As such, it can leave a hand free, though Geedubs never thinks to model this fact.

It's also technically a power weapon in a pinch, having a molecular disruption field built in. Said field was originally intended to make the shield more protective than the hunk of Plasteel it actually is, though you won't argue with its offensive use when it plows through you like you're jelly.

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  Ultrasmurfs Combat Shield

Suppression Shield

Supression Shield

The Adeptus Arbites' defensive workhorse, the Suppression Shield is a modern riot shield given a dose of Grimdark. Utilizing an electro-shock unit to taze any peaceful protestors *BLAM* They are SEDITIOUS HERETICS! that dare touch it, these symbols of the iron grip of Imperial law see common use in dispersing crowds and shutting down riots. Different patterns exist with additional features: the Hydraphur-pattern can discharge a more lethal dose of electricity in the event of a life-or-death situation, while the "Lockshield" features mag-locks which allow the shield to interlink with others of its type to form a riot wall.

Boarding Shield

Boarding Shield

The Combat Shield's bigger brother. A pre-Horus Heresy relic of the time before the discovery of the Storm Shield STC, Boarding Shields (also known as Breacher Shields) are massive slabs of pure metal that were once favored by the Legiones Astartes for their effectiveness in boarding actions & defending from them (hence their more common name). Their disruption fields were tuned to protect against both close combat and ranged weapons (though the shield's size and weight meant that said molecular disruption fields couldn't be easily repurposed for smashing heretics), with many being designed to have a slot for their wielder's gun to shoot through. Due to their role, they were commonly paired with MKIII Power Armour.

However, due to both the Horus Heresy fucking everyone over and Storm Shields having much better protective capabilities at a fraction of the weight, they would be phased out and replaced. The few remaining in the 41st millennium are now prized relics of the Chapters that have them, or were taken with the traitors. They are now commonly associated with the Imperial Fists and the Iron Warriors.

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  An Imperial Fists Legion Phalanx Warder Sergeant with a Boarding Shield

Storm Shield

Storm Shield

The most iconic of the shields in the 41st millennium, the Storm Shield is a defensive powerhouse that combines a medium-weight form factor with both a Molecular Disruption Field and Forcefield, allowing the user to shrug off blows that a normal shield would give like butter under. Like its smaller Combat Shield cousin, it can also be used as a blunt instrument, its Disruption Field being more than enough to do major damage to whatever it hits.

Different patterns exist that are stylized after different shield shapes, though the most ubiquitous is the cross-shaped Mark II pattern used by most Assault Terminators.

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  A Sigilite-pattern Storm Shield, commonly used by the Space Wolves

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  A Primaris Salamander Bladeguard Captain with a relic Storm Shield

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  Ditto, but Ultrasmurf (and therefore less cool)

Praesidium Shield

Praesidium Shield

Of course, the Emperor's favorite golden banana boys have to get the best toys, so they get the best personal shields in the Imperium. Combining layers of Auramite and Ceramite alongside layered Forcefields, these gilded walls make the Custodes that wield them nigh-immovable objects, being able to shrug off anti-armor weaponry without much issue. They are typically seen paired with a Sentinel Blade, being part of the standard wargear of Sentinel Guards. They are also used by some non-Terminator Vexilus Praetors. We assume some, because all of them choosing to forego at least some actual means of self-defense would be pretty fucking stupid. At least take a usually-ceremonial Misericordia, for Emprah's sake.

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  A Sentinel Guard with a Praesidium Shield

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  A Vexilus Praetor with a Praesidium Shield

Dreadnought Praesidium Shield

Dreadnought Praesidium Shield

A Praesidium Shield upscaled for use by a Contemptor-Galatus Dreadnought. If you thought the Golden Wall was tough before, guess again, since this thing makes the Dreadnought holding it even more of a tough nut than it normally is. With one of these, the Galatus can charge through an anti-armor line, the shield in front absorbing all the fire as the Dreadnought mows down the poor sods. Since the Dreadnought also doesn't really have to worry about its weight, you can bet some of the mowing is being done by this thing smacking weak bitches aside with bone-crushing force.

Necron Shields

Necrons really only have one known shield, but it's a fucking doozy.

Dispersion Shield

Dispersion Shield

Used by the Necron Lychguards, the Dispersion Shield is often paired with a Hyperphase Sword and is used to protect its user from all but the most potent weapons. In fact, it can reflect enemy projectiles (even large & solid ones like tank shells), with Lychguards commonly positioning the shield so the angle of reflection results in accidental friendly fire for the one who shot at them. Or just pull a "no u" and kill the asshole shooting at them if they feel like it. This ability to act like a mirror to almost anything was once even in crunch, but has since been removed from tabletop. Overpowering these things isn't an option for the average Imperial soldier, so taking down the boney guy holding it requires shooting around it when the Lychguard has its guard down.

However, for its user there is the downside that this thing with its fancy Necron tech weighs a fuckton, meaning any speed and mobility they previously had would vanish merely from needing to lug it around. Definitely worth the reflecting phase energy force barriers and Necrodermis self repair, though.

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  Lychguard with Dispersion Shield