Buckler vs. Heater Shield: Passive Coverage

#shield #sword #hema #martialarts #shorts

[robinswords]

Despite its smaller size, a buckler can close many of the same lines a larger shield can by extending it away from the body. The maneuverability of a buckler further extends its practical coverage.

Additional reading:
"If a man would, that the Buckler work the said effect, to wit: that it may be able with his smallness to cover the whole body, he must hold and bear it in his fist, as far off from the body as the arm may possibly stretch forth, moving always the arm and buckler together, as one entire and solid thing, having no bending, or as if the arm were united to the buckler, turning continually all the flat thereof towards the enemy."
- Giacomo di Grassi, 16th Century Fencing Master

[borkul]

I like the buckler rolling around in the background

[jankarieben]

I ordered a buckler, looks like the same model in fact, mostly because I wanted a shield and didn’t have a lot to spend, but when I got it I found it was so super effective it literally changed my whole style, they may seem small, but at arms length It actually works amazingly well, just like this demonstrates, the actual coverage is almost the same, the real trick was learning to trust it and not flinch for feints or cuts. Also; you can totally punch into a cut to create huge openings in your opponent’s defense! ❤🤺

[yogsothoth]

A buckler certainly has its niche, particularly civilian use for example. But I think its worth keeping in mind of we want to consider the historical weapons practice that our HEMA fights represent what is pretty much the ideal circumstances for a buckler.

1) Its one on one. Bucklers are great for if you've got an enemy that you can focus on, it has some passive coverage against the right lines but in that one and one fight its ability to shine as an active tool of defence shines best I think. But that tool might be much harder to employ if you're in opposing battle lines of pikes or spears.

2) We only really attempt to replicate melee fights. Bucklers can provide some protection but even something like a targe provides more coverage against projectiles.

3) We don't fight for that long all things considering. Spending a little while sparing with bucklers can be tiring, a battle in the hot sun or on muddy ground is going to be tiring. While, as you've demonstrated, bucklers aren't useless as a passive defensive tool the fact they shine more as an active defence tool, and the fact you need to use them more actively, means that in a longer fight I could see a sword and buckler fighter getting really tired out.

All this to say, I think there's a good reason why bucklers where relatively popular civilian tools but why sword and buckler troops only managed to be effective in certain narrow niches in things like the Italian wars.

[Nabterayl]

I'm gonna have to pull out my "I've got HEMA medals in sword and buckler sparring and in one-handed cutting" card here.

I'm confused by all the people saying that the buckler held with an extended arm is weak. What Rob's demonstrating here is not how to parry with the buckler--or, for that matter, how to parry with the heater shield. As the video title says, this is about passive coverage, and if you want passive coverage with a buckler, you've got to hold it with a fairly extended arm.

I suppose what people are wondering is whether the extended arm effectively gives your opponent a longer lever arm to displace the buckler with a strong strike. The answer to that is "yes, but actually no, " from a couple different perspectives:

1. You don't want to buckler parry any attack, weak or strong, towards the tip of the opponent's sword where their strike has the greatest momentum. You want to parry towards the base of their blade, where the strike has less force. Rob is demonstrating good buckler parry distance here even though this isn't about how to displace with the buckler: notice how his partner's blade is contacting both shields on the lower 50% of the blade. In a more active scenario that's where you want to push into with your buckler parry if you're not already there.

2. You don't actually keep the buckler static when displacing or stopping an opponent's sword. What Rob is demonstrating here is how much the buckler obscures by virtue of being more extended, but if you want to really stop a hard hit, you move your buckler arm so that the incoming vector is more aligned with the bones of your arm, rather than pushing on the buckler at an orthogonal angle.

3. If the only way your opponent can think of to get around your extended buckler is to swing at it as hard as he can, your buckler has already given you an advantage. Anybody who's watched Rob spar can imagine all sorts of ways a skilled fencer can take advantage of someone who's swinging for the fences, I'm sure.

[rpgwarrior_]

Press L2, you goofy 🤦‍♂️

(This is a joke. Cool shields)

[anothnypitt]

Its mostly simple geometry.

The distance you can comfortably extend a buckler is noticeably longer and thus the cone of protection it gives is comparable to that of larger shields, like the strapped heater in this case. And since it is smaller and center-gripped, you can very quickly make adjustments to the line of a cut and potentially just bat swords away if your timing is good enough.

However, if a person begins thrusting (or even semi-elaborate feints), that's where the buckler's smaller size really begins to be exposed.

But this video is still a VERY GOOD demonstration on the effects of cutting off lines of attack to an opponent. Lots of detractors saying a lot of hypotheticals about "if your opponent moves, he'd hit you"... but that's not the point of the video (and a silly argument as the buckler user can freely move too, just saying).

[msol]

THANK YOU !! THANK YOU !! ❤❤❤❤ FINALLY Somebody posted the difference between a SHIELD and a Buckler ❤❤❤❤❤
You're all Wonderful! I can see the difference 🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤😂😂

[TheStormQueen]

Oh so THAT'S why Dark Souls has the weird small shield guard

[totallynotaminecraftchanne]

This is actually pretty cool and interesting

But then again I’m pretty sure that’s going to be my reaction to every single video of this guy

[papapaladingamingnstreaming]

Ok so hear me out?

I love spinning the buckler like a top when I put it down bwaha

[Ashlevon]

Don't forget that the buckler is not as wide as the heater either. While the body will usually be more sideways during defensive stances, minimizing the defender's frontal profile, the buckler still lets weapons reach closer from the sides, targeting the defender's back and chest.

A similarly size, oval shield held horizontally would cover this weakness of the buckler, but the sides would be much more prone to lever action, and the defender would have less control over the shield if the sides were hit, hence the small, circular shape of the buckler being what it is.

[pillager]

This here is why I prefer to cast lightning spells. Shadow wizard money gang

[alvarorodriguez]

One's better for dueling, the other for battle.

[eldorados_lost_searcher]

This really illustrated what Mike Loades said about the coverage you can get from a buckler, except he was holding it up to the camera and hiding his sword behind it.

[ZdMC]

People will only ever underestimate the power of the small shield

[freestatefellow]

Neat! Seems like a Targa (I think that’s what they’re called? The rectangular corrugated bucklers) would add even more passive coverage.

[Chapmitch]

The benefits of having bucklers are that the arm may extend to cover the holder. Also that it may still be blocking, from the attacker over the wrist

[theemeraldend]

The buckler rolling in the background implies that the roll for dexterity didnt work for the enemy and the heater is later in time. Also didnt pick up the buckler for loot

[sepelchurparadise]

I mean they both have their advantages and disadvantages. One isnt particularly better than the other. In most cases it comes down to style of your fighting for which one is better.