Shield Thickness

[conal]

My Rondel is 20mm with a diameter of 750mm.

The small round is 30mm thick and about 550-600mm Diameter.

Both canvas faced.

Doggy chew on the lead edge with leather over that.

Both padded behind the board with forearm strap and hand grip.

No central boss.

Think about including an arm strap Will.

It gives good control and you don't tire as quickly.

Shoulder straps are for Horseman. (Including mounted Infantry.) They just get in the way in melee.

[PopTart]

That is a good point about an arm strap.

The thing with the Norse rounds is a lot of them didn't have those, some did. Others had about 4 straps in a square shaped set up around the hand grip, allowing for multiple ways of holding/strapping the shield.

I've chosen the "no arm strap" option deliberately as it allows me to have more flexibility with the shields movement, though at the expense of most of the weight being carried on the hand (and not being more spread over the arm).

You're right about the arm tiring, I should just get stronger.

Willz

[conal]

There's an Osprey book out there on the German migrations in the twightlight of the Roman Empire.

Good section on shields. Lots of good references and an impressive array.

Improvise, adapt and overcome.- Annie.

[Gaius Drustanus]

I have most of the Osprey books about Ancient and early medieval period warriors including the ones about the Germanic barbarians of the Migration period and the Norse/Viking ones from the Dark Ages. Victor or anyone else from reenactment for that matter is welcome to come around and have a Captain Cook.


If they talk to me nicely and don't look too disreputable, I might even let them borrow one if they ask.

[Hawkwind™]

[Victorius]

Nearly done now. It's 8mm thick, with three layers of calico glued on, and a front layer of heavy canvas. All fabric folded over the edge by 20mm, nice absorption for the edges.
Just have to paint, and add boss.

[Gaius Drustanus]

Well done, Victorious. Good luck.

[Victorius]

Stood up to punishment OK, deflected easily enough without taking anything on the edges. Need to try it in a shield wall next

[Freebooter]

Bit on the large side, isn't it Victor?

You're not in the legions now, you know!

[Gaius Drustanus]

Looks like a Legionary Scutum to me, Comrade. Britannia Secunda, From the Notitia Dignitatum, A Dark Age Legio (and suspect descendent of the famous British based Legion II Augusta) now under the command of Comes Littoris Saxonis (Count of the Saxon Shore) and long based at the Forts of the Saxon shore on the eastern coast of the island province.

[Freebooter]

That, Rob, is one of the longest winded definitions for a door that I have ever read!

It is, however a lovely looking door.

Just needs a letter slot to be perfect.



No hard feelings though Vic, you know how much I love those big shields!

[Gaius Drustanus]

OK Nick. I guess it all depends how the Primary source, the Notitia Dignitatum, is interpreted. It is always likely that scholars can bring preconceptions to the table when they look at an Antique Document (of which they are two medieval copies extant and one known to have been recopied in Carolingian times).

Victor clearly does his own research and has a Practical Archeology viewpoint in his research. Remember too that the scutatoi could still form a tortoise to counter ostrogothic archers arrow storms, Frankish or saxon showers of francisca axes, poisoned pictish darts and Angle thrown angon javelins.

I am please to see our Centurian has reaffirmed his rock hard loyalty to the mighty British Legio secunda.

[Freebooter]

It's okay Rob,

I'm not being nasty, it's just a lite dig.

Vic knows that I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how to use a big shield, and that I really don't enjoy fighting against them.

I know how deep his research goes, and how much work he puts in.

I've known him a long time, you know...

Relax, we're all friends here, after all.

(backing out now to avoid any potential conflict)

Nic

[Victorius]

Ahem...Yes, we're all good here.
The shield size is what the Late Empire troops were using in the West until they were privatised out of existence. Byzantine infantry in the East p until the late Eight Century were using shields this size. They were as wide as contemporary Norse shields, but longer. The weight is very low. The length is useful against spears in the line, but I suspect not more useful against swordsmen or axemen (anyone who cuts that low can expect to have their head hit...although there's always the later Visby remains to show that leg shots, at least for some, could be very effective. However, despite it's lightness, I'd need to do more testing to see if it's any less manoeuvrable than a short round one.

[Gaius Drustanus]

No offence Nick don't worry about that. It's not that far back in days of yore that clubs would be, as dilmah put it, more like gangs and accusations of "member poaching" and "club sluts" were rife. Old habits die hard.

The Primary source for Dark Age Roman shield patterns is the Notitia Dignitatum, a working document of the Western Roman administration containing insignia, responsibilities of important dignitaries, lists of army units, their dispositions and unit shild patterns from the fifth century. The Shields include nearly all western field army units and many eastern field army infantry.

All surviving manuscripts are copies of a single original called the Codex Spirensis, which has disappeared. Two manuscripts commonly used are one in the Bodleian Library at Oxford from 1436 and one from Munich. It lists the Secundani Britannica, also known as Secundani Iuniores, Legio Comitatenses, formed from the antique Legio II Augusta.

That various Roman Units continued functioning long after the demise of centralised Western Imperial authority had faded in the late fifth century, is confirmed by the Byzantine Greek Historian Procopius. In his "Gothic Wars" he says that Roman Soldiers stationed on the Frontiers of Gaul (France) maintained their military traditions through to his day in the mid 6th century AD.

They could even be "recognised as belonging to the Legions they were assigned when they seved in ancient times". A 7th Century silver Allamannic plate is thought by some to depict such a contemporary Roman soldier.