I'm currently greenstuffing all 20 of my saurus to hqve third arms so that they hqve spears, shield, and additional HW's. Two ranks fighting that hqve three attacks and a 3+ save from parry!!?!
All funniness aside, you can use the shield at long range since the weapon can be sheathed or dropped, then in combat you will choose whether you fight with hand weapon and shield or great weapon, you cannot use a 2 handed weapon with a shield in combat. Dumbledore, that is just silly! Lots of extra work for no reason. Do what I'm doing; lengthen the tails with greenstuff and have them holding a weapon or shield on the tail. Then I, too, can hqve both!