Concentric overlapping layers of hardened leather
Riveted together & bound with brass hoops
Fitted with double sling for carrying on left arm
Normally painted boldly and has city insignia
The round shield, concentric overlapping layers of hardened leather riveted
together and bound with hoops of brass, fitted with the double sling for
carrying on the left arm, was similarly unmarked. Normally the Gorean shield
is painted boldly and has infixed in it some device for identifying the
bearer's city. If this shield were intended for me, and I had little doubt
it was, it should have carried the sign of Ko-ro-ba, my city.
Outlaw
I had again my sword, that wine-tempered blade of fine, double-edged Gorean
steel, carried even at the siege of Ar, so long ago, with its scabbard; and
the rounded shield of layered boskhide, with its double sling, riveted with
pets of iron and bound with hoops of brass;
Raiders
Used to deflect spears I also learned the use of the shield, primarily to meet the
cast spear obliquely so that it would deflect harmlessly.
Towards the end of my training I always fought with shield
and helmet.
Tarnsman
Normally carried on left arm "Lines!" I heard. "Lines!"
"Let him go," said a man, wearily.
"Shields right!" I heard. Normally the shield, of course, is carried on the
left arm, most warriors being right handed. The shields were now to be shifted
to the right arm, for that was the direction from which had come the arrow.
Vagabonds
The fatigue of bearing a shield in battle See also
Warrior Training In between the assaults we gasped for breath and crouched behind our
shields, resting their rims on the walkway. To lift such a device for Ehn at
a time, and receive blow after blow upon it, bearing up under them, in time
makes the arm desperately tired and sore. It is little wonder warriors often
train with weighted shields. In the early Ahn of battle a common cause of
causalities, particularly with young warriors, is recklessness, and the
failure to use the shield properly to protect oneself. In the late Ahn of a
battle, however, an even more common cause of causalities, interestingly
enough, is the simple inability to lift, control and maneuver the shield.
There is a great temptation to lower it, to ease the pain of the screaming
muscles. This compounds, of course, with arm weariness, the result of wielding
the sword, and the slowing of reflexes and reaction time, resulting from
general fatigue.
Renegades
Weight of shield carried for a long time Eagerly the men of Ar then pressed through the break in the rence.
Those behind, in their numbers, for pasangs back, may have thought the enemy
himself had been sighted.
By late afternoon, however, nothing more had been seen.
"I am hungry," said a man.
The fin of a marsh shark cut the water nearby. Men thrust it away with the
butts of their spears.
A wading fellow discarded his shield. He could perhaps no longer bear its
weight. He held to his spear, his eyes closed, using it like a pole, to keep
his balance in the soft bottom.
Vagabonds
Archer shields (wicker shields of naval bowmen)
I saw then that their action had been diversionary, to occupy us while
other longboats, fixed with wicker shields, of the sort used for naval bowmen,
lay along the chain. Behind those shields, like shapes and shadows,
distinguishable behind the wicker, men tore with saws at the chain.
Guardsmen
Arrows lanced into the heavy wicker but, though several pierced it by a foot,
they did little damage. The shafts were caught in the heavy wicker. Too, now,
from the pirates' galleys, protecting their longboats, there sped a fierce
counterfire. The wicker shields of our own archers were now bristling with
feathers and wood.
Guardsmen
Archer shields, of heavy wicker, floated in the water, and ruptured posts
and strakes, and parts of oars.
Guardsmen
Buckler
There I saw the shield which Tela had been polishing, a small, round shield,
more of a buckler, really, than a shield. It was ornamented with bosses, and
engraved with mythological scenes, the conquest, and the rape and enslavement
of Amazons by satyrs. ...
The shield, so small, so beautiful, was perhaps more for display, I think,
than an implement of war.
Dancer
Rencer shields
Small shields of rence wicker Some of the men of the rencers, with their small shields of rence wicker,
fought, but their marsh spears were not match for the steel swords and war
spears of Gor. When they offered resistance they were cut down. Most,
panic-stricken, knowing themselves no match for trained warriors, fled like
animals, crying out in fear before the hunters of Port Kar.
Raiders
Alar Shields
Besides the ax Alars are fond of the Alar sword, a long, heavy,
double-edged weapon. Their shields tend to be oval, like those of the
Turians.
Mercenaries