What would be an approprate comparison between...

[Robert Vermaat]

I'm most interested in the post-Marian legions compared to the dark age Franks and Vikings or the western powers of the high middle ages such as England and France.

OK, that's a start, otherwise this discussion would be going backward and forward without a real aim.

From my experience such discussions rarely are, particularly when one side is convinced that longbows can pierce through an inch of steel while the other is convinced that the Romans were completely invincible.

So what is your aim? Because if this thread is set up just to prove that one of these views is wrong, I'm going to move the whole discussion to the OT section, where it would be better placed.

Convince me this is a serious discussion of the Roman army.