A shield is an age-old tool offering a modicum of protection in close combat.
A shield takes a weapon slot, and occupies a hand when in use. It counts as
a second close combat weapon if a fighter has another close combat weapon or pistol,
and can be used to make shield bashing attacks.
Melee: Attacks with this trait can be used during close combat without penalty.
Parry: Every ability that grants a fighter a Parry adds one use to a pool that refreshes each time this fighter initiates close combat or is declared as a close combat target, and empties at the end of the Fight action. Parry uses can be spent from this pool to force an Engaged enemy fighter to re-roll one successful close combat hit. However, if an attacker is outside a fighter's vision arc they must spend two Parry uses to force the enemy fighter to re-roll a successful hit.
Shield: If a fighter is carrying a shield, their Armor save roll is improved by 1. If a fighter does not already have an Armor save roll, a shield grants an Armor save of 6+.