I don't know where else to put this, or if it will help much, but I wanted to mention something very important about shields. Most people I talk to think that a shield has a simple vertical grip and you just hold it out in front of you. This is true, to a point, later on in history - about the Roman Age I think - the grip switched to a strap and grip that anchors the shield to the forearm while also allowing the person to steady it with a grip. This type of grip vastly improved the shield in a number of ways. One, it better absorbs blows, and allows the user to keep it in a protective position. Also, since shields are LIFELINES in large sword-to-sword battles of you lose your shield your as good as dead, however a shield anchored to the forearm is nearly impossible to drop even if hit very hard. Whereas a simple gripped shield gets blasted from the hand, and the person dies in a matter of moments. This is the primary reason why the Roman soldiers lasted so long in the battle of 300. Now, don't think that a forearm-anchored shield user won't get staggered from heavy hits, all I'm saying is that the shield won't go flying away. The last notable bonus is that a forearm-mounted shield is vastly superior in terms of bashing power when compared to a gripped shield. Another reason why the 300 did so well. (Don't forget the shape of the shields allowed for a shield wall as well, which is a highly effective fortification). Two more points, a forearm-mounted shield's size is proportial to the size of the user's forearm. Also, the Romans attached throwing darts (Plumbata, I think) to the inner wall of the shield, giving them another weapon. Also, spears and javelin at this point changed. The tips became very long and very thin, but the shaft and body of the spear were very heavy. That was done so the spear has a greater chance of stabbing the shield user when it went through and on the off-chance it didn't actually hit the person, the tip would twist and make it impossible to remove the spear from the shield. Since the spear was so heavy, it forced the person to discard the shield, as it was no longer useable. Let me know if this helps at all, or if I forgot anything.