Dwarven Steel Shield

The Dwarven Steel Shield

The poorest steel struck by the dwarves is worth the finest to leave the forges of men; so their common troop shields, made of a steel they deem ordinary, hold where another people's would split. And in that plate, the dwarf sees a weapon as much as a wall.
A plain plate of soft steel, domed so blows glide off, rimmed with an iron band so the edge will not split, and at its center the boss, the steel dome that shelters the fist. Nothing precious, nothing engraved: it is hammered straight, a worn strap is replaced, and when it has served too long, it is melted down.
Where others hide behind it, the dwarf wields it. A still shield is a dead shield: he holds it forward and angled to make the iron glide, leads it with his eyes, and makes it bite. You strike with the boss in mid-rush to open a guard, drive the iron-banded rim into a throat or a temple, hook the enemy's weapon with an edge-blow and turn it aside long enough for an axe to fall. Low and stocky behind his steel, the dwarf takes a charge without giving an inch, then answers with the rim before the other has regained his balance.
Its true strength shows in numbers. Edges overlapping, dwarven shields form a wall that absorbs charges and knows how to advance: you push with all your weight to open the enemy line, you strike low, at the belly and the legs, where the foe has dropped his guard to cover his face. The dwarven shield takes ground.
Here lies the whole nature of this weapon: among others it protects, among dwarves it decides.