Most effective weapon to pair with a shield?

[White Hair]

I would imagine a shield would improve survivability over sheer dodging and weapon blocking or counterstriking. Not sure how much though. But if they are, which weapon do you think is most effective to use alongside a shield? The notable contenders I know of:

* Battleaxe: It has 9 edge damage, so perhaps the most damage potential in the game provided you take the time to examine enemies and hit their exposed areas. One-handed it has a 15% skill penalty, but masterwork will bring it to just 5%. Seems like the best option as far as axes go, purely from a combat perspective.

* Bastard Sword: Might be a more versatile option? Only 6 edge but it also has 4 point damage. I'm kind of surprised as I figured sword and board would be the go-to, but it doesn't really seem worth it for point damage and the same attack and defense bonus as a battleaxe. It also has a one-handed penalty of 10, completely offset by masterwork.

* Spear (and Javelins): A spear has 7 point damage, 4 attack (higher than Northern) and 2 defense bonus. Masterwork will bring the penalty down to 10%. Point damage really only beats out edge if you can't find any lesser armored areas to hit effectively, which is pretty rare. With that said, this character would likely have high spear skill and could throw javelins prior to melee contact with great effect. Throwing javelins is faster than shooting a bow and even if you get caught with one in hand, it still serves as a decent one-handed weapon with 6 point damage.

* Mace: Only 5 blunt, 3 attack bonus, and 1 defense, but no one-handed penalty and more effective against heavier armors. Also, clubs are... strange. Supposedly they have a hidden bonus towards body part hits? More likely to KO with the head, disarm with arms, and knock down with legs. Some say this only applies to the actual club and not the rest of the class. I can see the mace being a particularly tactical choice if it does have this bonus, however. Much easier to kill a disarmed, fallen, or KO'd man. But then again it might also be easier just to gash them open or chop off limbs with a battleaxe. I suppose since it's club skill, you could also throw rocks prior to melee contact lol.

What do you guys think? What do you believe are the best (or your favorite) weapons to pair with shields?

[Valor]

Njerpez scimitar or broadsword, and have mace ready for njerps in lamelar. I think you underestimate one handed penalty. And saying it goes from 15% to 5% with MW quality is misleading. It stays at 15%. But you get 10% bonus, which you can still utilize with proper 1h weapons.

[PALU]

The weapon class you're most skilled with...

Personally I always use a bow (and thus no shield) when I can because that's the safe way to engage enemies when you're not forced into melee.

Apart from that, I typically use spears because they can be both thrown (effectively) and used for melee. As mentioned, when caught with a javelin in the hand it can still be used as a decent melee weapon. It's also common for cultures to have a fairly decent starting skill with spears.
Rocks can be used to (occasionally succeed with) hitting birds and can be used to safely deal with exhausted enemies that don't have any missile weapons.

Shields have the advantage of providing some passive protection against missiles, but in melee it seems to be possible to use dodge instead of block where, again, the better option is the one in which you are the most skilled. And a shield adds encumbrance as well as blocking the usage of two handed weapons.

[werepacman]

I choose mace and  clubs with shield to preserve fur and equipment.

[Dirk382]

I've had good luck with a good battlesword. It has great damage and its to hit bonus cancels out some of the penalty for onehanding.

[Shadowdweller]

It was my experience last time I played around much with the urw fighting system that accuracy penalties from single-hand use of two-handed weapons generally weren't worth it unless you didn't  have a single-handed weapon available of the same quality (i.e it's generally worse to use a masterwork battlesword one-handed over a masterwork broadsword if you have the latter available). 

Have done pretty well using broad axes with a shield.

[McKwack]

Empty hands?

All this talk of using shields for defense reminded me of this post on Steam of Captain Suomi^TM throwing his shield at a Njerp, and it caught the Njerp smack dab on his face.. 

Link here if you want to have a good laugh of Captain Suomi's exploit.. 

Might try it myself one of these days.. 

[Shadowdweller]

Empty hands?

Despite my best efforts, I've never managed to make an effective unarmed warrior.  If you (or anyone else out there) have managed to uncover some secret way to consistently beat robbers or Njerp warriors without any weapons please share.