Re: Archery shields?
(Arise my thready minion! Rise from the dead to stalk the night!) Thread Necromancy is never pretty, but it happens.
So I've run into this buckler and bow issue, and it's only an issue because I'm picky. Games are for fun, and verisimilitude and wizardry shouldn't stand too close to one another, but here I am anyway.
You can't shoot a bow with a buckler on your bow-holding-arm, I believe, because it may get in the way of the arrow and the bow-string. That puts it on the arrow drawing arm, which is also the dominant hand.
So? So you don't carry your shield on your dominant arm in melee combat. In fact, a buckler is typically carried in the fist instead of hung on the forearm. Outside of fantasy gaming it just isn't the way to use the darn things. The round hoplite shield, the aspis, and the targe were all a good bit larger than the buckler, which was about the size of a personal pizza. It looks kind of odd on a forearm. If I was an archer I'd wear it cheerfully, since it's better than blocking an arrow with my naked arm, but in melee blocking with that on your arm will earn you a hook-hand if you're lucky.
Bucklers in use:
But, to change from ranged combat to melee would also mean changing from a small shield lashed to a forearm to a small shield held in the fist of the other arm. Probably the same action cost as drawing a weapon? Of course, you're trying to draw another weapon at the same time with the arm the buckler is strapped to. Skill levels in quick-draw. Suddenly it makes sense.