Drawing a two-handed sword from your back

[Pyan]

Perhaps it was only carried this way during a pre-battle ritual or similar, seeing as the figure appears to be naked apart from the harness and sword...

 

[Overread]

Prebattle travel is something that I think a lot of people overlook. Films and games don't help since they often show armies travelling in full armour, its also where you get horses cantering day and night without trouble. The logistics of war are often heavily overlooked even in major films. Look at the Charge of Rohan - the film gives the impression that they rode day and night, camping only once before riding out at a full gallop to arrive at the battle rested and fully ready to charge head long into the fight. No support carts, no camp followers, no sense of how far they had to actually travel etc...

Then again ,as one or two youtube videos show, sometimes fantasy can give a new idea to an old method of war and travel. A side swinging scabbard for a back fitted sword might never have been thought of before; but now is and might be shown to have enough advantages to be beneficial to some adventures to consider.

 

[Overread]

Perhaps it was only carried this way during a pre-battle ritual or similar, seeing as the figure appears to be naked apart from the harness and sword...

It might also only be representative or artistic. Much like how knights and soldiers in chess sets might not accurately depict real life equipment or stances. The sword on the back might not be showing where it was worn but is just symbolic and serves a function based off what the item was used and designed for.

Scale might also be WAY off. Even today many models for wargames are not made with everything in perfect real scale, in fact smaller models often have oversized weapons to make them easier to see when viewed at arms length on the tabletop. A sword might appear as big as a longsword, but might only be representing a shortsword in the game itself.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I suspect at the back could be a practical way to carry a sword - but not for quickly drawing.

I suspect it depended how rich and powerful you were. If you had a 'squire'* and other retainers they would have the problem of how to transport such swords, armour etc... between battles (probably using a horse). A poor swordsman would have to find his own solutions, perhaps like above.

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* I'm putting squires in inverted commans, because I'm not suggesting that such warrior is necessarily a knight. For example the gallowglasses of Ireland in the medieval period were heavy infantry with double handed swords and battleaxes, not knights, who fought on foot, but were highly esteemed at the time. They were known to travel with a squire and a kern (a light infantryman, either on horseback or on foot who might use darts or javelins.)