Unbalanced Scutum

[ambrosius]

I have recently bought a scutum which was made for me. I will edeg it and paint it but when I stand and hold it, the top continually rocks back towards me. The hand grip doesnt seem centred putting a lot of pressure on my wrist to firmly hold it level in front of me - is this common?

I think it's just the natural feature of a curved scutum. As Hib says,
the more it's curved, the more its centre of gravity will tip it back
towards you at the top, since the grip is way-out in front of that.
A perfectly flat shield (of whatever shape) is going to give you
perfect (almost) balance for your wrist , and you'll be able to hold it
out in front of you much more easily. Which, of course, is not
something you would want to do often, as it opens you up to attack
around the side. But it would allow you to punch with the boss more
easily if attacking. But as seems to be everyone's experience, you
can still give a quick punch with the boss (only if you don't like your
job anyway :lol: ) with your curved scutum without putting any
seriously prolonged strain on your wrist, if you pull it back close to
your body straight away. As has been said, that's where it's going to
be for 99.99% of the time, anyway, since its your first layer of
'armour', and only to be considered as a weapon for punching with
very occasionally and only for a second or so at a time.

The beauty of the curved scutum (depending on the curvature) is
that it does protect you through almost 180 degrees - so long as you
are holding it braced against shoulder and knee, and not holding it
too far out in front of you. I guess the boss - like the shield in total -
is really better considered as protection (for your hand, in the case
of ther boss) rather than as a potential weapon for punching with.
Now the brass edging, that's a differentt matter. 8) As Hib says,
you can raise your arm and let the scutum tip backwards at the top
so that the lower edge of the shield rises to the horizontal, and then
you can punch with that (a la Gladiator). A punch like this has the
advantage that you are keeping the enemy further away from you
when you do it and also you can hit them with a more powerful strike
(your wrist is in-line with your arm, and your muscles and joints will
work better and more comfortably delivering a strike with the brass
edging than with the boss of a vertical shield). Plus the brass edging
is a lot thinner than the boss, so you will do a lot more damage to
the enemy's face this way, than with the boss. But it's only to be used
for a quick stabbing motion, before dropping the shield to cover
yourself again, and should be judged so that you aren't opening
yourself up to a possible counter-strike. But with the extra reach that
you get from the length of the shield, coupled with the fact that you
will still be protected from everything but a spear thrust coming up at
you from a very low angle, you should be able to get away with a
quick, well-judged punch with the brass edging on the bottom of the
scutum. Just don't use it against short guys with long spears. :wink:

Ambrosius/Mike