Regarding candy shields:
I've had a champion smash a goblin's head open with one once. He was a legendary shield user though.
They're lighter than most anything besides featherwood, to my knowledge.
Regarding your question, Lockem:
I'm really new to Dwarf Fortress (I finally started loving this game) and finding iron on my part of the map is REALLY rare. Also, since I've had such a difficult time finding iron and other materials to turn into weapons (animals keep starving to death before I can get them turned into leather for quivers), I've decided to switch to a kung fu army. In adventure mode I know that you can be a hand to hand sort of person, being able to be a kicker and dodge attacks. Does the same thing apply for fortress mode?
Would they gain stats in dodging and kicking?
Certain parts of the questions edited out for clarity...
Iron: If all else fails, you can smelt copper. It'll do in a pinch. Even wood is better than nothing. If you have access to Obsidian, then you can make 'rock short swords', which are marginally better than wood, I think.
Kung-fu army: Definitely possible. Legendary Wrestlers are nowhere near as strong as they used to be in previous versions. They're really only now useful to soften up enemies for armed dwarves to move in. They WILL go down like flies, because they don't have a weapon to parry with (and sometimes no shield to block with).
Ideal army in my opinion: If you've worked out how to modify army uniforms, set up a squad that uses a shield in each hand. So far as I know, that's twice the chance to block, based on quality.
Three squads, maybe four. Set them up as follows:
Squad 1: Two shields per dwarf. As high quality as possible. Made from light materials like wood, featherwood and candy if accessible. Have them in light armor, leather, or candy. This is so they can act as 'first strike responders' - catching and engaging a fleeing enemy so the enemy has to stand and fight.
Squad 2: Two shields per dwarf. As above. Made from heavy materials, like silver. These dwarves will be slower, but much more defensively strong. The heaviness of their dual shields will contribute to the 'shield slam' hits, often cracking skulls and bones.
Squad 3: Normal melee. Any armor you feel, any weapons. Mix of blade/blunt weapons.
Squad 4: Marksdwarf, if you can set it up and keep them supplied. Quality affects accuracy. Material affects the crossbow's melee strength, so ideally a heavy crossbow is best. Leather armor. Bone bolts, if you can spare the metal then any metal bolts besides adamantine.
Take squads 1-3 into combat, leave squad 4 behind to deal with threats from a distance. If in a siege, send in squad 2 first so they can absorb the hits (as sieges don't flee unless 50% of their strength is broken). If it's a thief, send in squad 1, maybe squad 2 too if 1 are struggling to kill the opponent.