spears vs tower shields

[hoplite]

I was wondering if anyone had any tips for defeating a tower shield using a spear?

[Juicer]

They have to swing sometime. Do a couple low jabs to their shield-side leg then fake the leg and snipe the arm. Hang some tennis balls or something from strings at varying levels to work on your accuracy. An arm shot can be both difficult and dangerous. Once you have the arm snipe down you can work on pectoral/shoulder shots. These are even more dangerous and should not even be attempted until you are confident in your accuracy. Taking a spear to the throat BLOWS. You can also try stabbing past the shield on the sword side and hooking it back with the tip followed by a quick body jab. Or fake a face stab and shoot the leg. Remember, the more shots you can pull off, the more fakes you can throw. People will start to become aware of you getting their arms and chest, and possibly overcompensate when you fake to those areas; leaving you the wonderful leg shot.
Practice Practice and more Practice.

[angus]

If these tower shields are of the punch variety, then truth be told they don't stand as much of a chance as you'd think. Edhellen spears are nice for this tactic, but any spear with a head or spike that can catch the side of a shield will do:

Place the spear on the inner side of the shield, the side which is on the same side as their weapon arm.

While pulling backward towards yourself, lever the shield away from their weapon arm with your spear.

Step forward and thrust for their torso.

If you did this right you should be sliding the spear against the inner side of their shield and directly into their body. It works because the muscle group on your back (which you are using to lever their shield) is much stronger than your opponents shoulder and arm muscle groups which they are using to hold the shield to their body. This enables you to pry the shield exactly where you need it and open just enough of their torso to deliver the killing shot, which has both the power of your thrust and his pulling of the shield towards himself since you have hooked the head of the spear to his shield. A helpful hint though, the shorter the spear the more effective this technique becomes.

Another tactic that many do not use is utilizing the spear to halt a charging shieldman. If you plant the spear square in the middle of their shield, you can usually halt them in their tracks just long enough to regroup yourself and steal their momentum. If you are in the midst of a shield wall, this gives your teamates plenty of time to eliminate the shieldman. If not, then it sets you up perfectly for the shot I discussed earlier.

[okita]

Bigger shields mean bigger blindspots. Use his shield to cover yourself. If it's the punch variety, hook the bottom edge with the blade of your spear and ram the bottom of his shield up towards his sword arm. Then he's got to get past his own shield, your pole, and whatever footwork you can employ to hit you before you strike him. That's all assuming he even keeps his hold on his shield, which he should'nt, if you do it well. ( I don't, but hey) That trick can be used to take someone's balance, block a shot, open up his hip or belly, even block his view. There's all kinds of other stuff to do too, just remember that when he closes past that speartip, his weapons are yours to use too.

[hoplite]

Thanks everyone, I'll try the tips you all gave me. I think they will help quite a bit.

[Thomas MacFinn]

Using a two-handed long spear well is pretty simple. Simple, as in "not complex". I’m not saying it’s easy.

1) Be accurate
2) Maintain your range
3) Pay attention to everybody within several steps of your range.
4) Manipulate the battlefield.

If you can do those 4 things, you will win. If you can do those four things easily, tell me how.

At home, there is really nothing better than that tennis ball on a string both for accuracy and developing a basic sense of range.

At practice, I think one of the best things you can do is duel someone with a spear of equal length. At Dun Abhon’s practice, there are 3 spears: they belong to you, Kelmar and Judas. Each of those spears is a different length. If I remember right, Kelmar’s spear is a couple feet shorter than yours. Unfortunately, the only way I can imagine having the duel I am talking about would be for you to make a second spear.

When I get around to making myself a spear I plan on making two, but spears are way down on a very long "to do" list of other weapons I want to make.