Scuta weight in re-enactment combat

[Tarbicus]

Thanks Christian! Essentially, that means a real Roman legionary could have felt like he were wielding a scutum that weighed only 3kg or so (7 lbs), and a real double weight practice scutum would be less than 26 lbs, which gives more credence to the wicker shields and makes it unnecessary for extra weighting down.

[richsc]

That sounds a lot more likely, the 7lb shield. I was watching our Celts, Nate Bell and Steve Peffley, demonstrate Celtic sword tactics, which are very quick. Celts seem to have a lot of solid plank but smaller shields that are quick to manuever. I certainly hate the thought of those swords sliding over the top of a scutum I couldn't move instantly.

[Hibernicus]

No offense to Hibernicus, but he doesn't look like a spring chicken and if he doesn't have problems with it, niether should you younger guys.

None taken.... 52 and growing... and I understand why younger guys have more trouble with it than older guys... (in his best Arnold Schwartzenegger voice..) They are weak!

Vegetius' double weight idea... I think that the shields in Vegetius time could have been lighter than those of other times

So far our reconstructions tend towards the 20lb end of the weight scale.

We have 10 more laminated scutums "on the bench" including 2 in imitation of the Dura and Fayum scutums and one Republican that'll be about 60" tall. We expect to have close to 20 laminated "Imperial" scutums by the end of January.

We'll experiment with deeper planing. Some of the scutum edging indicates board edges on the thinner side.
.....

As far as wielding the scutum.. I'm not so sure of the ideas of waving the scutum about.. it seems to use too much energy. Why move the scutum about at arm's length when its very effective held close?

In my years of training guys to fight I have found that inexperienced and novice fighters tend to flail about with their shields, are easily fooled into exaggerated movements to block a perceived threat when that threat was simply a feint to get him to move his scutum out of the way...

Subtler movements of the scutum, the head and the body to minimize incoming blows... preserve energy.

The thing's designed to protect your lower half.... move it up and away and wave it about and you expose your unarmored areas... not good especially when fighting an opponent with a sword that's twice as long as yours... why give him an advantage by voluntarily negating the value of your scutum? ...or moving out and away giving his archer a target?
When held at arm's length you have no control of the scutum.. a light touch sends it flying off in whatever direction...

At public events we all it the "Pinky of Doom" attack.

One of us stronger guys will hold a scutum (yeah, even one of our old lighter 2 ply luan..at about 10 lbs) at arm's length and another one of us would employ the Pinky of Doom attack... ... a simple touch of the pinky finger against the top, bottom or side of the upraised scutum causes it to move, rotate etc uncontrollably... then we ask the crowd to imagine a guy smashing into that with his sword, shield or body...

Wave it about? No thanks.. keep that scutum tight and close...

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Exercise? ....for carrying and using a 20lb scutum? Push ups are good.. but any exercise you can do with 2 - 5lb weights in each hand where the elbows are held at shoulder height... go for enduance, not bulk...

[scythius]

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... and if any of you Gaulish or Germanii types are at Lafe, I'll show you a few tricks for fighting against the scutum.

... but not all of them :evil: