Why don't they allow It?

[Darr]

Ask any question as to why BMCS does allow a certain thing.

I was wondering why they don't allow you to count spearheads as a weapon when they are made in a shield. Would the rules be to complicated or have they not found a safe way or is it just too "cheap"?

[Cib]

Good thread Idea.

Belegarth rule are prioritized like this: Safety < Playability < Realism

Why cant you have weapon spikes count as weapons?

Safety. You don't want a shield being wielded like a weapon, they are heavy, and swinging then around would not be safe.

Playability. To make them safe would require a lot more rules, more rules make the game harder to play.

Realism. For a smiler reason you can only have one shield, so you don't make invincible armor out of shields. I can see people making their entire shield front spikes, so they don't even have a weapon at all.

Safety Also, on another note, no weapon is allowed to be attached to a shield in a permeant fashion (ie. you can attach by velcro and such). In this case, the weapon being attached to your body that is the real issue. As soon as a weapon is atached to your body, like say a sword to your arm, the potential for injury goes WAY up. The weapon adds extra leverage, and that when pushed in the wrong direction would be disastrous. For example, this is why the [url:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madu]madu[/url] is illegal.

[Darr]

Thank you for the information and yes that does make sense. Besides it not being safe the rise in level of complexity of the rules if you had a weapon and a shield all in one would be great.

[Cib]

Shield walls would take on a hole new meaning. lol

[Darr]

Actually when I asked the question I was thinking of restricting the use of spear heads in shields to small round shields. Also, I would restrict spear heads in shields to one per shield.

[Gothmog lord of the Balrogs]

you could velcro a rock onto the shield.

[duskinwolfs]

yeah if you Velcro a rock onto a shield would be extremely useful. if you made it look like a decorative piece on a shield people would be like "hey man WTF where that come from..." in the thick of a fight your ally grabs the rock off the front of your shield and through it an opponents head, 1 down few more to go.

[Cib]

That actually happened once at an event in the USA.

[duskinwolfs]

yeah i knew that. Gothmog had told me several times. i find that quite cool actually.

[Kyrian]

Just to add a little bit to the weapon/shield combo, our ruleset defines certain effects based on what type of equipment something is. If it's a weapon, then it cannot be broken but also allows arrows to pass through. A shield can be broken but also stops arrows. There is an inherent conflict to equipment that is used as both. However, there is nothing in the rules that says you can't have a weapon in the hand wielding the shield. I've seen people use, fairly effectively I might add, a sword held downward in the shield hand (works better with a stabby) or a javelin. The distinction here is that the weapon and shield are not physically attached to each other.

[duskinwolfs]

that sound cool. next time i might have to try that.

[David of Doell]

I'm going to try holding another weapon in my shield hand, that's genius.

[Kyrian]

May 6, 2011 17:53:05 GMT -7 David of Doell said:

I'm going to try holding another weapon in my shield hand, that's genius.

Just be careful that you're not anviling, i.e., either laying the weapon against a body part to absorb shots or not blocking enough to stop your weapon from hitting you with sufficient force.

['Nuck Badger]

I like to do this as well, protects my legs and nice to have a weapon in the other hand if you get armed/disarmed. Velcro-rock idea sounds awesome

[Gothmog lord of the Balrogs]

all thanks to cib. he is the one that told me about it. anyway are you allowed a strap shield on your upper arm while using a spear?