Shovels are actually very handy. I can think of 2 book series where a shovel is a vital tool. The best example is a ww2 fiction with magic where a company of troops were strapped with the fasted flying jet engine a body could handle and dominated the battlefield, well they killed so many soldiers they ran out of bullets. So instead they started flying around in the air going 60-100 mph smacking people in the head with their shovels. They massacred people. Oh it was so terriblely good.