I'm going into One-Handed on my next character, which I don't do that often. With a bow as the second weapon. Now, I don't want to go board and shield. Cause it makes sense in my head to have a sword at my waist and a bow on my back, but not also a shield too.

I was wondering if block and bash would still work. Reason I ask is because I wanted to mix up the one-handed combat a bit. And blocking, bashing, and parrying sounded interesting. But, is it pointless? I know it works good with shield and two-handed, but could it be good with one-handed only?

I don't know if I really want to do magic or have anything in my left hand, so bashing seemed like an interesting thing.

there's nothing wrong with a single one handed weapon style.
you can still bash just fine, which is the most important aspect of blocking IMO.

I'd imagine you just take more damage from blocking.
Not entirely sure what the exact difference is, but it doesn't feel like much in my experience.

Block and bash are heavily nerfed without a shield. If you wanna go through with this then you need to get enchanted stuff that adds health.

The loading screen tip that claims that blocking with shields is much better is (as most of those tips) a lie.

With 100 in Block (and no perks), you'll get these reductions:

Daedric Shields block for 63% damage resist
All weapons block for 60% damage resist
Iron Shields block for 56% damage resist

e: Oh yeah, the Shield Wall perk is incorrectly worded. It works like a Fortify Block enchant, ie, each rank increases the damage resist percentage by 10% (1 rank at 100 skill will increase weapon block to 66%).

What you'll miss most are the perks on the left side of the shield tree (deflect arrows, magic resist, shield runner, shield charge). Don't let that stop you, as any build can be done.

There HAS to be somthing wrong with this. Bethesda wouldnt make weapons block better than shields...

But they did. Few things in Skyrim works as advertised when you scratch the surface.