Fighting with buckler is very old and survived through some 500 years, in various forms (in Europe alone, not to mention the Turkish, Caucasian, Arab and Indo-Persian traditions). The I.33 is considered the oldest fechtbuch, dated to early14th century. Similar tactics deployed with an elaborated buckler can be seen in Talhoffer's fechtbuch, about 150 years later as well in other manuals. I believe the Scots kept on using bucklers up to the 18th century. The most famous honor duel (Jarnac and Châtaigneraye - France, 1547) was fought with military swords of the period and bucklers.
From personal experience: an excellent fighting tool for medium to close range, both defensive AND offensive. It travels most of the time - as vividly shown in I.33 - very close to the strong hand weapon in the same trajectory untill a parry, a blow or block is made. It developes upper-body phisics and coordination (of course basic coordination is needed). I prefer fencing with a cutlass, dussack or sinclair saber as a combination with a buckler.
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