saint-of-the-iron-sun asked: Do you play D&D? If so, how much strength would you say is required to effectively wield a weapon such as a zweihander? 10 is average human strength. Charts do exist saying strengths of certain things in respect to humans and that base 10
This is a difficult question to answer because, thinking on my knowledge of HEMA, the answer is simultaneously “a lot” and “not very much”.
Firstly, a zweihander is not as heavy as most RPGs and movies would have you believe(check out our weapon weights post https://its-spelled-maille.tumblr.com/post/176192445960/how-much-do-weapons-weigh-not-as-much-as-you), but even though they aren’t thirty pounds, when you’re trying to swing it fast enough to defeat your opponent who is actively trying to dodge and parry, six pounds can start to feel like a lot. My longsword weighs only three pounds and half-way through a sparring session I have to start changing my usual strategy from bladework to largely footwork-based combat because my arms are too tired to effectively use guards such as Ox and High Vom Tag, but then again I’m kind of a skinny dude.
It’s getting noisy where I’m typing this so I’m just going to skip to my answer:
It takes relatively little strength to wield effectively if you’ve been trained in its use, but more strength is never a bad thing. In real life, big buff guys aren’t weighed down by their muscles like in Hollywood; stronger muscles can generate more speed in a swing more easily without getting tired, and can stop the momentum more easily to prevent overswing. Structure is the most important part of a parry, but more strength can help you hold your structure better without getting fatigued.
A few other things to consider that I couldn’t intelligently incorporate into the discussion due to distraction:
The average human in a medieval or pseudo-”medieval”-but-actually-closer-to-19th-century-in-tech-level setting would be stronger than the average human today because they do a lot more manual labor, they stand and walk more, and tools they use to do their jobs are heavier. I made a character for a self-insert D&D 3.5e(with my group’s homebrew HEMA rules) game that hasn’t taken off yet but the premise is like it’s actually us in a dungeon with only the fighting skills we know IRL and the weapons we own IRL, and I’m a level 2 Fighter with 7 Strength and 14 Dex.
Swinging most weapons is actually more about hip power than bicep power, at least if you have good structure.
One-handed weapons actually require more strength than two-handed weapons because most two-handed weapons have twice the number of hands on them as one-handed weapons, but are only 1.5x the weight.
I actually really like the “Strength for Attack, Dex for AC(dodging and parrying)” thing D&D uses, not because attacking is all about smashing as hard as you can through armor, but because strength is important for being able to control even a light weapon being swung at high speeds, for aiming weapons at high speeds, for swinging weapons fast enough that they can’t be dodged, and for overpowering parries. Dexterity is the hand-eye-coordination you need to duck or step out of the way of an incoming swing, and to quickly get into the strongest parrying structure you can before the blow lands.
Oh yeah and I do play D&D, 3.5e with lots of homebrew HEMA-based combat rules.
Bucklers were almost the brass knuckles of duelling - they weren’t defensive the way large shields were, but added weight and protection to the fist for blows. (Source: the Royal Armouries video Masters of Defence)
Unfortunately you’ve sourced a video that is almost 30 years out of date. That information, I’m afraid to say, is incorrect. You can see that if you look at medieval fight books such as the I.33.
Overwhelmingly, we see the buckler used, not as a direct parrying device, not as a striking aid, but simply as a device to block the offhand line.
This makes is still a tool of defense, but one used to deter and prevent the opponent from striking that side rather than usually as a direct parrying device.
As these illustrations show, however, the buckler was still used to parry. This isn’t to say, of course, that the buckler was never used to strike, however it was not its main function, and not even a secondary function. If there was an opening, you would strike with your sword if you could. If you happened to be able o strike with the buckler, then things happen, however it certainly wasn’t its main function.
I.33 shows arming-sword vs buckler techniques
of around 1300, while the “Masters of Defence” video showed side-sword / back-sword vs buckler techniques of the Elizabethan period, ca. 1550-1600,
Was there really no change whatsoever in the way bucklers were used over a period of 250-odd years?
Obviously if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it (“Si non confectus, non reficiat” - Havelock Vetinari.)
In ”Paradoxes of Defence” George Silver mentions buckler use for offence and defence but nothing more subtle; however he had his own axe to grind about nasty Italian masters with nasty pointy rapiers, and may have left out instruction to make more room for vituperation… :-P
I miss George Silver. I will defend that angry little Englishman unto my own death.
But yes, of course layer buckler systems were quite different from the I.33, however the differences don’t really stem to the buckler that much.
Here we have Achilles Marozzo showing off one of his stylish guards for sword and buckler, and the main difference becomes apparent.
The buckler is still held away from the body, however the sword and buckler aren’t held so close together, like in I.33.
This is probably because a main role of the buckler in I.33 is to protect the vulnerable hand which is thrust forward, however in later systems where you are using a sword with complex hand protection, you don’t need the buckler to protect the hand, the sword does that itself.
So what you start to see is, rather than the sword and buckler acting as a single unit, moving out together and sticking close, they become more separate, where you get stuff like this.
The two hands begin acting in distinct ways, and the buckler is still a tool of defense, not offense. If you can engage your opponents weapon with something in your off hand, this removing the threat from yourself and leaving your weapon free to strike at the same time, you are in an excellent place to win the fight.
This is why sword and buckler is so devastating against systems like Longsword, or really single sword of any kind. You bind and remove the threat with your off hand while your weapon is still free, and your opponent can only defend with their main weapon. It makes defeating your opponent quite easy.
Throw an even bigger shield in, and it becomes even harder for the single sword user.
Dubé, J., Andrianary, E., Assad-Déry, F., Poupart, J., & Simard, J. (2018). Exploring difference in value uplift resulting from new bus rapid transit routes within a medium size metropolitan area. Journal of Transport Geography, 72, 258-269.
