I'll have to admit I skimmed through this thread, so I hope what I say is fairly relevant. As for my own martial arts background it is among other things Pekiti Tirsia, Kabri Kabrong, and Ray Nah (or however you'd Romanize the Skaw Karen term for sword fighting). I'd say shields make sense for group combat, double weapons make more sense for single combat, provided you really know what you're doing, or double weapons for when you've lost shield and can pick up another weapon off the battlefield, or as someone noted in a unit of shock troops.
In Drager and Smith's Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts I believe they have a drawing showing an armored Korean horseman wielding two swords, but I don't know their exact source, so I don't know how valid it is.
Somewhere I've seen a photo of what was reputed to be Maha Bandoola's armor. Bandoola was the Burmese commander during the First Burmese War with the British. It looked like it was metal armor.
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