[quote=@MelonHead] Yeah, I've recently been on a semi-crusade to discover why the Japanese never bothered with shields, I've still not heard any fully convincing arguments. (other than the fact that almost all their mainstream weaponry was traditionally used two handed.) I think the difference is the 'primary' weapon of the Knight was the lance (as far as I'm aware, anyway) which is pretty much completely unusuable on foot. The Yari, Naginata, Konabo, Katana, No Daichi etc etc were all of significant use on foot, most were actually designed for it. The Samurai only had to be on a horse for mobility, no other reason really. To be fair, I doubt Knights besieged castles all that frequently historically, that was the job of the peasants. Except during the Crusades I suppose, though one Crusade did end with the *Holy Roman Emperor, Fred falling in a river and drowning because of his armour, which is really irrelevant but a favourite fact of a friend of mine. [/quote] Interesting. Most people see the knights primary weapon being his longsword. Your knighted with it, often their given names (while lances as far as I know are not) often passed down to relatives, though that's not specific to knights/nobles. With the the battle of barnet being largely on foot and fought with entirely with swords (despite everyone and their mother being in heavy plated mail of the late middle ages), I actually have a hard time seeing the knights main weapon being his lance. An important one, but one he can largely live without historically.