Game Jargon Definition: “Shield Wall”

Shield Wall (noun) - shield wall /SHēld wôl/

The shield wall is a common formation in LARPs that have a large enough group of participants to create it. Characters with shields form a front line for the coming engagement, generally joined by other melee fighters. The shield wall formation has characters standing shoulder to shoulder, each holding their shields so that they abut or overlap. In effect, every character benefits from the protection of the shields of their neighbors as well as their own. The line (or “wall”) of shields fills the available space, often across an open field, to prevent sneak attacks and to provide a safe place behind it for healers to attend to wounded characters and for ranged combatants to engage the enemy from a distance. LARP groups have taken the shield wall formation from historic military formation narratives and diagrams of ancient and medieval warfare.