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13 dwarves alone cut through to Bolg's bodyguard after all... Haha
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What?
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Roman warfare was designed for Men and would not suit Dwarves.
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Roman tactics were designed in large measure to allow smaller physically weaker chaps form up behind nice large shields that are easy to hide behind and let the often larger enemy waste his time and energy whacking away at the shield and then suddenly punching out with shield and sword to knock over an enemy and to stab with the sword to deliver a disabling wound. Note that it was not necessary to kill the opponent, only disable them because writhing critically wounded people make a very effective barrier given enough additions to the pile.
The stabbing part is key because it is a lot easier to kill or seriously wound with a stab than it is with a slash and stabs expose much less of the body.
This style of warfare answers to the requirements and needs of the dwarves rather well in a number of respects. First of all there is the size issue. Secondly there is…
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The dwarves have a small and slowly growing population.
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…which this particular style works rather well for in minimizing casualties, especially in light of the fact that the dwarves would almost always be rather outnumbered.
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stabbing (dwarves have not got long enough reach)
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Hence the punching out with the shield to knock the foe off balance.
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Also swords are all metal, while an axe is half wood. An axe saves precious dwarven metals.
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I rather imagine wood was a scarcer material for them than metal.
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Doesn't Bard mention something about Dwarves not being suited for battle out of their caves?
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Not sure Bard had a whole lot of practical experience with them.
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I'd imagine an axe on a dwarf would be a lethal weapon swinging upwards.
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That wouldn’t be a very handy way to swing.