[Ralzari Malian]

As the 13th Fury made its way onto the field to begin their basic shield-as-weapon class, they all heard the instructor yell,"Grab a shield from the wagons as you come onto the field." The frsh new recriuts were egaer to begin their training so they could get ready for battle as soon as they could. The dark elf instructor Kruel, stood at the front of the field waiting for the recruits to get their shields and get into position. Ral made his was over to the wagon, picked up a shield and walked over and stood iin the front line, so he could get the full feel of the class.

As all of the recruits, with their training shields and spears in hand, had gotten into position Kruel was ready to start the class. Although their equipment was'nt exactly fit for combat, it would serve just fine for their training. "Alright maggots pair up," Kruel barked at the lughorns. Ral looked at the orc to his left and vice versa, "Look like we partners," Ral said to the orc. After all of theorcs had paired up it was now time to begin the first lesson.

"Alright lughorns the first lesson is the shield basics. The shield all of you have is the round shield, its better for mobile hand-to-hand combat with hand weapons. But mounted soilders need tall shields for more protection while in battle, due to their lack of manuverability. Archers need specialized shields that allow both of their hands to be free. Shield can be made out of wood, bark, basketry, leather, skins, shells or metal." As Kruel paused Ral looked down at his shield to examine it briefly, quite eager to get to the actual fighting, because he had been wondering how they were to use a shield as a weapon.

"Everyone look at the inside of your shields, round shields have two different classes, bucklers and targets. You can tell the difference in the two by the way they are held. Bucklers have the handle in the middle and is grasped by the hand and held at arms length. While targets have two widely seperated handles, through one in which the arm passes and the second handle is held by the hand. One could also modify their shield to have three handles so that it could be used as either a buckler or a target. The inside of the shield is called the back and the side that faces your enemy is the face. The handles on the inside are called enarmes and the sling by which the shield can be hung from the neck is the guige. The edges could be reinforced with decorated metal strips and a wooden reinforcing spine could be ran through the face, broadening out to form a boss or UMBO in the center."