[Runequest] [General RQ] - Trage Shield

[Sven Lugar]

I've seen this question come up hundreds of times even back in the RQ 
development days.

Having actually trained with a Targe as well as a Viking Round (& 
Heater, kite, hoplon, etc) & been a sword jock for 50 years as of this 
Christmas just past, and helped playtest & slightly contributed to RQ I 
have an educated opinion on this. (Admittedly opinions are like rectums, 
everyone has one for what it's worth). Historically, targes are small, 
often buckler to small round shield (target) sized and rely on speed to 
do the blocking, The spikes were uncommon and not all the big if there 
at all. Their main function seems not to catch the blade but to prevent 
the blade from sliding across the face of the shield and into your leg, 
head, arm, or any old part that's hanging out too far. The patterned 
studding on face of the shield serves a similar purpose as well. Really 
there is less function in catching a blade than there is to deflecting a 
blade so that your opponent has to make a wide, slow recovery and open 
himself up. Catching a blade tends to also bind both of you up, leaving 
you tete-a-tete, to close to strike as effectively as further out with 
the usual Claebaeg (as opposed to the much larger two-handed Claemore), 
or leave you with a large heavy encumbrance hanging off your shield arm 
that gets in your way & makes it difficult to either chase the blackgard 
or get a good hit in since it messes up the balance. Stabbing somebody 
with the point of it since it is strapped to your fore-arm is very 
clumsy because of the position and unlikelihood of finding a good 
opening.unlike in Hollywood.. Historically, the best guess is that they 
were made so small, was because the lack of large enough timbers to make 
larger shields for the poorer folk. A matter of expense and availability 
rather than "English Oppression not allowing the Scots any Weapons". The 
Brits had to constantly import timber from elsewhere. Even during the 
Viking Age we find evidence of large amounts of timber being brought in 
for boat building, etc.

Ok, now that I've probably confused you - here's the skinny. Because it 
is smaller than the target shield consider that the "spike" makes it 
more effective than the buckler and equal in protection to the target. 
Give it 2 points upgrade in armor for all the metal work, & for the rest 
use target stats. Call that good.

Skal, & all the best,
Sven

Tony wrote:
> Hi all, wishing you the best for MMIX.
>
> I bought my son (read myself) the first few in an ongoing series of
> collectors magazines about Beasts and Beings, they come with nice little
> monster statues etc. One of the toopics in each magazine is a weapon and
> in one magazine this weapon is called a Targe.
>
> Basically its a shield (a Target or Perhaps a Buckler) that has been
> modified with a stree/iron/bronze spike protruding from its boss. The
> write up says that they were quite common, especially in the scottish
> highlands. The spike was basicallu used to either catch and trap an
> opponents blade (I would assume use the same rule as a RQIII Viking Round)
> as well as for a pretty lethal shield bash as the spike could be used to
> punch through armour and flesh.
>
> Has anyone seen or made up special rules for such a shield. I was thinking
> of adding it to my site as a Shield, using basic target or buckler stats
> and just siting the damage as impaling and 1D4 + 2 or such.
>
> Regards
> Tony
>
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