Everyone who wants to seriously fight with sword (or any other 1h) and shield must go for the Huscarl shield or they get their shield smashed. There it is. This problem has got worse lately as there are more axes about than there used to be before the patch. With, for instance, an elite cavalry shield I (BadbCatha) have to run away if I see someone with a two handed axe, because it'll be bash, bash, and I have no shield. With no shield, I have a shorter weapon which does less damage and am most certainly at a big disadvantage, not to mention the fact that smashing a shield will itself cause stun. My only option, even though I don't really like it, is to use a Huscarl. The non-round shields not only tend to break easily, but they also have worse coverage against missiles - multiply height and width to see this is demonstrably true. Even the Heavy Board Shield, which should be the ultimate anti-arrow wall, has a total area of 1680, slightly less than the Huscarl's 1849.