Junior Member
The Vikings in the trailer are using the wrong kind of sword. They look more like 11th-12th century, for the use alongside a more defensive shield.
Viking swords have very short crossguards and really big, wide and flat pommels, which look almost like a second crossguard. There is no reason for the crossguard to be any bigger, because you never have to catch an incoming blade with the bare sword anyway. The sword hand will always be behind the shield, so there is also no reason for any additional protection for the hand. That's, what the shield is for. A neat thing, that this kind of short crossguard in combination with the wide pommel allows you to do is to press your sword against the back of the shield to create a rigid block and surprise an opponent, who'd normally expect some kind of winding maneuver.
For reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkhpqAGdZPc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrzOHN2rzE8
Junior Member
They can put pretty much anything they want into their game as it takes place in a fictional world they created.
While there's a faction similar to vikings, it still isn't the vikings you find from history. They just drew inspiration from them, but not with 100% accuracy.
But I'm pretty sure that since there's going to be more than just one of each type of weapon, we'll probably see more historically accurate content in addition to fictional content.
Member
Ehh, I re-watched the trailer, and from what I found the sword looked like it had the crossguard from the second sword and the pummel of the fifth sword in this image: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/497788565037796131/ all of which are viking swords.
That said, you are right, the usual viking sword fits your description, it's just that viking swords weren't all made in a unified way, and it is possible that the sword from the trailer would be an unusual example of an actual vikings weapon. It'd be nice to see more stereotypical examples in the game, though. As it adds visual differences between the viking sword and the arming sword that might be used by the Legion.
As to the reason for the crossguard size though, I find your logic a bit weird. As other swords generally used in tandem with a shield did have a larger crossguard, the previously mentioned arming sword being one of them.
Junior Member
You are confusing medieval shields with dark age shields here. Flat center grip shields, as were used from the iron age onward, will make any kind of sophisticated guard unnecessary. The shield is the main weapon and the sword is just there to strike into the opening created by the shield. The sword arm will almost never be exposed beyond the shield unless you have the opponent locked down with your shield and want to finish him off by thrusting your sword downward from above the shield. In any other case, be it striking from the left or the right, the arm will always be behind the shield and only the blade will extend beyond the shield's edge.
With medieval shields, there's more emphasis on using the shield independent from the sword. The shields used in the medieval ages, dome shields of the early 1000s, strapped kite shields, and so on, didn't provide protection for the sword arm, they were always kept back to shield the body. Formation fights were more important than 1v1. So it became more important to parry with a sword, which led to more pronounced cross guards and a different pommel construction. The important thing here is formation fights. In close formations, you will have to keep the shield back, so the guy next to your target won't get a clear shot.
However, the vikings in the screen shots clearly use a flat wooden center grip shield with an iron boss, just as you would expect from a dark age warrior. The shield seems a bit on the heavy side, but it's still a flat center grip shield, which means, it can be used to close off attacks to your sword arm during a strike.
The best argument for a short crossguard is that the warborn certainly represent the purer aspects of viking culture, which means, there is a high emphasis on 1v1 fights and closed formations are more of a necessity when facing a lot of ranged weapons than they are used for actual melee combat. However, in 1v1 fights, the flat center grip shield in the hands of an experienced warrior is far better than any kind of strapped on shield. This will inevitably mean, there is a high emphasis on individual skill with a shield.
While creating a rigid block isn't something you always want to do, because swinging the shield to one side and attacking from the other is usually a better way to meet an attack, having the ability to press your hilt against the back of a shield is always a good thing, which is simply harder to do and less stable, if you use a late era viking sword.
It will all depend on what kind of shield they use, but I really hope, they properly employ center grip shields, because:
1) Strapped on shields are so overdone.
2) The legions already have a guy with a strapped shield.
