Actually, regarding the Orcs, you're really right on this point. As we said, the game is a fiction, but if taken seriously, the strength of an Orc and the piercing power it would have compared to an ordinary knight of the middle ages is a true fact. The shield might become necessary, as a single blow to the head would have enough gravity to kill, even without piercing. Lol
Now historically, shields were still used, but on a low scale, for nearly a century humanity found itself expendable from using them, particularly in heavily armored infantry. Only specific or groups battles without having full armor had some presence. In the Battle of Agincourt (1415) you can see that shields were hardly reported in this confrontation.
A Jousting knights fight really required the use of shields, but exclusively because it was a specific sport of piercing "direct" (was entertainment, lethal risks could not exist), even so the armor was already effective against pierces, unlike wars with heavy infantry, everyone dropped their shields to literally fight fights only with attack techniques that cause trauma. The dagger itself was one of the most useful and efficient weapons in combats against armor, in the search for a region unprotected by the plates.
Only a few specific Halberds or a good English longbow carried any real risk of piercing, in war heavy impact weapons were not used often as they were slow, imagine you use a heavy ax or a "Mace" and have three opponents at once same time to fighting.
In the advent of heavier plate armor, between the years 1350 to 1400, there were true "men of steel" on the battlefields, they were so strong enough in relation to any armament of the time that practically extinguished the shields, the fight itself was very different from sword fighting in the period without full armor... It was only in the 16th century with the advance of muskets, arquebuses, mines, grenades, mortars and cannons that the way of making war was affected and we had the almost complete elimination of armor.
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