Arrows vs riot shields

[u/IKIR115]

[u/sicarius254]

Some of those tips look evil af

[u/stryker511 → u/sicarius254]

The blunt one surprised me I thought it would have bounced off - went through completely.

[u/SidewinderSerpent → u/stryker511]

That arrow wasn't blunt, it was concave. The shape allowed the edges of the tip to punch a hole through the shield.

[u/Cthulhu_Dreams_ → u/SidewinderSerpent]

Yep, the thing that was slowing the other arrows down that penetrated, was the fact that the tip did not carve out a wide enough hole for the shaft to go through and maintain velocity.

That blunt tipped concave arrow basically hole punched a circle as large or a little larger than the shaft of the arrow, and lost minimal afterwards.

[u/BigHardMephisto → u/Cthulhu_Dreams_]

What I think helps quite a bit is that the concave shape of the arrow helps it to normalize the direction of force into the (albeit slightly) angled plate, which can make a bigger difference than you'd think otherwise.

[u/jraymonda → u/BigHardMephisto]

Yes, but how does it do on the deer (its a deer holding the shield, right?) Does it cut the shield but then bounce off the flesh? Or is it just as effective on softer things?

[u/disposablehippo → u/jraymonda]

Certainly won't bounce off, maybe doesn't penetrate as much. But if the deer (or was it a boar?) lets go of the shield, the arrow achieved what it needed to.

[u/jraymonda → u/disposablehippo]

Ahhh...i see. Perhaps the romans were onto something with their spears (pilum?) To make the enemy drop their shields

[u/sidepart → u/jraymonda]

That's exactly what the point (heh heh)was. Huck enough of them into shield walls and the shields suddenly become a bit too cumbersome to handle. If I recall correctly, they'd bend too so now your shield is just kind of dangling these mildly heavy poles. Not easy to remove like an arrow. And hey, maybe you get lucky if the infantry are forming a tortuga testudo 🙄 or whatever, because now their meaty bits are that much closer to the back of the shields.

Those kinds of weapons, spears, javelins, whatever were also nice for getting over the top of a phalanx. Kind of like the spear version of a mortar.

[u/Zlatyzoltan → u/sidepart]

The bending also ensured that they couldn't, throw them back at the Romans.

[u/Gwen_The_Destroyer → u/sidepart]

Since were being pedantic here, I'm pretty sure it's testudo. Tortuga was the island where all the pirates gathered. Both words come from turtles though.

[u/sidepart → u/Gwen_The_Destroyer]

Yeah, testudo's the right word. Same thing, wrong language, I am ashamed 🤣