Parry with your arm? Shields not common?

[Destraex]

Just watched a video of the game play in this game and it seems that almost every soldier bar those with two handed weapons sported a round shield.
As far as I know shields were rare by this time.

However what I would like to know is how apart from using your weapon, a man without a shield would defend?
Would one simple rely on the offensive weapon as defence, there by stopping its use at that moment when it is being used as defence?
Would one simply hold a hand up or present a pauldron for the attackers weapon energy to dissipate on?

What to do without a shield?

[ProjectAngel]

You own Mount & Blade: Warband so surely you must know about manual blocking.

Basically you will be able to use directional blocks to stop incoming attacks.

[Siegbert85]

Good question. I once read the late medieval armors used to be that thick that a shield would be unnecessary. But weren't there small shields for jousting?

like this


Also, how was infantry supposed to defend themselves against arrows? I think there were shields.

[ProjectAngel]

This has been discussed in another thread on these forums.

For gameplay reasons and for those who would miss shields if they were not to feature in the game, they have been given a bigger role in the game than what they played in real life at this period in history.