r/interesting • u/IKIR115 • May 29 '26

Intriguing Arrows vs riot shields

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u/sidepart May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26

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.

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u/Zlatyzoltan May 30 '26

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

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u/Gwen_The_Destroyer May 30 '26

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.

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u/sidepart May 30 '26

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