With the fencing sword being introduced in the upcoming DLC I’m certainly gonna try and make a good build based around it.
Which leads me to something I saw as a bit of missing potential in Battle Brothers, namely the buckler.
It could be useful but you need the Shield Expert perk for it to provide decent defense and not constantly break.
Not using a shield gives double-grip and no perk is required. Also this has no fatigue penalty which is great for Dodge and Nimble perks, so bucklers are essentially cheap shields used very early in the game until you can afford or find something better.
Metal bucklers where quite popular with fencing swords in the 15th century, and a small shield made entirely of metal would be quite durable.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to introduce them as a more expensive, higher tier buckler suitable for mid to late game?
Maybe even make a few named ones, that would be super-cool and make a sword and bucker build really viable.
One week until release, I feel like a child before Christmas! :D