Tactics: Employment of the Gladius

[Magnus]

I consider myself in shape...and I have pretty strong shoulders. But even with my 2-ply scutum I get tired quickly, and tend to hold it closer to my body as combat goes on.

The luxury of stabbing without extending beyond the shield only can happen if the enemy's body is within a blade length of your scutum. So accepting a charge of the enemy, or conversley charging at the enemy will allow this to happen. When the two lines however are kind of standing statically 5-10 feet (2-4 meters or so) apart, then yeah, the legionary gladius isn't much help.

I think the one thing I think is hard to simulate is the "press of bodies". Speaking more so on the enemy side...whether in ranks or not, the rear echelons are going to be pushing forward towards the legions, regardless of what is happening to their friends in the front ranks. This gives advantage to the legions tactics and weaponry.

When in a lull or static stand off, this would be where the missile weapons could play a role, as well as the cavalry. Problem is at Lafe and Castra Aestiva we don't really have cavalry, and a very limited number of missile troops.

That really is the problem as I see it. Trying to experiment using Roman tactics or descriptions of battles with only 30-40 people per side. If we had a full century with an equal amount of enemy, AND support services like cavalry and missile I would think we could better figure things out.

As it stands our experiments are somewhat handicapped for this reason. But it is fun, it just leaves a lot to wonder about.