I understand that one reason mideval round shields
were often painted was to prevent the opponent from
figuring out which direction the boards ran, because
hitting the shield face along the wood grain had a
much better chance of causing the top layer to split.
The back side was not painted, so that the owner could
rotate the shield (elbow up v. wrist up) to prevent
such a strike.
On the question of mace v. shield, the mace would tend
to bounce off (just like a hammer off a wooden plank),
but that might not stop the arm underneath from
breaking. That's the reason to angle the sheild so
that it does not absorb the impact perpendicularly --
better to let the force of the blow slide off to the
side.
Both of these are pretty minor points when it comes to
using a shield, but serious warriors looked for every
edge.
Chris Lemens
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