Viking shield and sword technique videos....

[Pueo154]

Hammaborg (a German group that primarily studies I.33) has a number of very interesting videos which extrapolate sword and buckler techniques to the Viking styled shield and sword. They have four such videos that can be viewed from their YouTube channel, along with many others which include sword and buckler (I:33) freeplay (including footage from Swordfish), longsword, armored freeplay, etc. This particular video is an extrapolation of Talhoffer for Viking shield and sword:

[video=youtube;R8SRaa33otU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8SRaa33otU&list=UUanhqfIHu3ccLwhoo6Lo2OA& index=40&feature=plpp_video[/video]

 

[crimsonfalcon07]

Hah! I was just watching that a month ago! A couple points to note. This really works best with center grips, not off center grips. Also, they're exaggerating how much to the side they're holding their shields. But it's definitely good stuff!

 

[SeaxyBeast]

Agree that it's good stuff. AFAIK most all shields from that region and time had a central grip to facilitate dropping the shield once it was broken. The swords, however, seem a bit light and late for it to be truly period, (not that they are trying to be period -- just don't want to mistake what they are doing for living history). Side note, the sagas are full of accounts where the opponent's (unarmored) leg is the primary target. Talhoffer's strategies were built for a time that used more protection for the limbs than the average Viking would have used. And given that the balance of 10th C. swords leaned a little more towards the blade and the point was a bit more spatulate I'd expect more and stronger cutting, which would require a bit more commitment in the shield work as well to deal with the added force.

The stuff in the video is really solid for a later application, though, and they are definitely skilled and move well. Lots to think about and digest in these variations.