Friday, April 10, 2026

Shield Stories with Justin Balanca-Hawkes

 Organized by James "Tao" Murphy



Please physically describe your shield; style, Heraldry colors etc? 

KFG is a medium sized punch heater shield painted white with a black unicorn chess piece on the front with the letters "KFG" underneath in black and has black taped foam around the edges.,

How long have you had your shield? 

I’ve had KFG for just shy of 2 years now.,

Is this your preferred shield style? 

Heater shields are my preferred style of shield largely because of the amount of time I’ve been using them as well as the simple reason of liking how they look,

Have you ever tried a different style of shield? 

I’ve tried serval styles of shields including rounds, coffins, doors, and bucklers, but none of them felt as nice as a heater shield to me.

Who made it?

KFG was originally started by Dave Hayden and was one of his last projects he had worked on. I was asked to help bring it over the finish line by Stephen Sanford and together we finished the shield as a memorial item to Dave.

Have you ever had to fix/repair/refoam it since it's original creation?

I have made small repairs and standard upkeep to the shield, but am planning on refoaming it and touching up the paint job in the coming months.

What is your favorite move with the shield?


Do you have any interesting stories about the shield?

KFG has some very memorable moments for me so far. The one that stands out to me the most was the first time I used the shield’s power at Ghost of a Chance when we had to go to Hell to forge a hammer that was important for future success at the event. While we were there were being attacked by imps that would throw fireballs upon death and we were taking heavy casualties and bleeding resources as a result. I decided to use KFG’s power the next time I got hit by a fireball and because of KFG I was able to largely pull the attention off the imps to me so the rest of the party could work on forging the hammer. It was a very memorable moment for me and I’m very fond of it.