Viking Age Arms and Armor
Viking Sword and Shield Combat Technique

Much of the text presented on this page is out-of-date. Until we find time to make the needed updates to this page, we strongly encourage readers to look at this topic as it is presented in our new book, Men of Terror, available now from your favorite book seller.

At one time, this article contained text and illustrations for a number of technique-driven devices which we hoped gave an interested reader a feel for how Viking-age people used their weapons. We no longer feel that this approach is a good one to take to teach Viking fighting.

First, text and illustrations serve poorly to convey the action of a fight. Second, we no longer believe these technique-drive devices are representative of how Vikings fought.

Accordingly, this obsolete article, with its text and photos that no longer represent our current thinking, has been demoted. Our most current interpretation is outlined in the article on the "shape" of Viking combat and illustrated by several videos on that page showing fighting moves from the sagas. The material in this article that remains current has been moved to the article on Viking swords.

Additionally, we recommend our DVD, Viking Fighting Moves from the Sagas, part of a series of Hurstwic® Viking Combat Training DVDs. The DVD describes, demonstrates, and teaches 19 fighting moves and fighting tactics taken from the pages of the sagas. We believe these moves and tactics are a better represention of how Viking-age warriors fought and how they used their weapons.