Sir Brian, I know exactly how you feel. It's bugged me for a long, long time.
Sadly, I think if there *were* a game to come out that closely reflected actual historical combat, the majority of players would just assume it's fantasy - strangely enough - while watching katanas cut through tanks and believing katanas are magic. There would be a small margin of people who would actually know what the game really is recreating and want - and that's a tough market to justify when talking about financing, production, sales, etc.
Seems like part of the mentality with the Victorian era myths and misconceptions prevails since most people think "Victorians were centuries more advanced than medieval people, so obviously what they say is right". It's hard to convince somebody that people of a "more advanced age" completely misunderstood history and are the cause of modern day civilization having falsehoods shoved down their throat constantly.
Something touched on in a presentation by one of the museum curators is that the misconception of extreme weight can actually come from enthusiastic children. Take our Fort Belvoir demo - the kids had a great time, but aside from Sir Edward's buckler, think of how heavy our weapons, shield, and pieces of armor were to the kids picking them up - so they'll be thrilled from the experience, but go home thinking "man, that sword was heavy. must have been 15 or 20 pounds!". Of course, it's relative to their smaller bodies and muscles - and we know that - but to them, it's "really heavy". And when they grow up, if they don't get their hands on proper weapons and armor again, they probably remember that experience as a child.
Another is that a single example sometimes is "proof" for people. There really are historical swords weighting 15+ pounds; but they were "bearing" swords, for parade use and/or the same use as over-sized cod-pieces. They were never built for combat, probably never saw combat, but they exist, and they're swords, so therefore ... some people make the leap of assumption because they don't know about bearing swords (and really, who does?
). It's another hurdle to cross, though.
When I get the last of the tweaks done with my harness, and/or I get the rest of my commission from Allan that's made to my size (the stuff I'm wearing wasn't - I got it used / not made for me), I'll have more range of mobility, and if I can get myself into better physical shape, *and* if we're invited back to VARF (or wherever!), I hope to dispel a few of the basic armor myths that are so prevalent. Possibly finding a pommel horse from somewhere that I can use to "vault" onto, and show that I can get up off the ground, etc. Not a lot, considering time and energy constraints, but stuff I can't do with a breastplate that's too wide and prevents me crossing my arms. And no, I don't think cartwheels will make the list at this point.
On a strictly gaming side of things, I think the short blocking time is to keep the action more fast-paced. Probably a lot more of a "game pace" design, rather than "shields were too heavy to hold up for long". And, as demonstrated, even if the game developers knew shields could be held up much longer, but were told "make it more fast-paced and action-y", the people playing the game are still left to their own (often lacking) education on the subject matter.
