We are currently playing through a rtl campaign and one of the players has now got this shield with Varikas and Plate mail.

If we're reading the rules correctly the shield gives +5 Armour versus breath weapons even if its been exhausted, so versus breath blast, bolt Varikas has 10 Armour and then 2 from the shield? Which makes him impervious to harm from any of those attacks.

A shield is unlike armour immune to pierce. However this Shield gives +5 Armour regardless of if it's been exhausted or not . Does anyone know if that means that the Armour bonus it grants is susceptable to pierce?

Why wouldnt the armour bonus it provides be immune from pierce?

In other words: No. The armour bonus provided by the shield is subject to pierce, just like other armour is.

I think the note about shields being unaffected by pierce is just to clarify the normal shield ability, where you can exhaust it to cancel wounds. If the shield specifically provides a bonus to armor, I believe that bonus armor would be subject to pierce as normal. Which I think means that I'm in agreement with the previous poster, though it's hard to tell, since his first and second paragraphs seem to contradict each other.

Tangential note: there's a change in version 1.4 of the FAQ allowing figures with the Breath ability to choose not to use it, and make regular attacks instead. In case that helps your OL.

Agreed.

The usage of a shield does not add armor, but rather cancels wounds. THAT's why Pierce has no effect on them. If it's adding armor normally, then that is subject to a Piercing Breath attack, of course.

Argh - Yep. I contracted myself. What I meant to say was Yes, they are subject to pierce. I was thinking "No, they are not immune from it". Brain thinking of too many things at once. Apologies for any confusion.

Thanks guys that confirms what i was hoping was the case.