Tactics: Employment of the Gladius

[Sean Manning]

I think it likely that training included individual combat for the occasions when that became necessary (thinking of the standard bearer defending the standard, the Centurion in the Temple etc) but that the ideal was the formation grinding over the enemy. We do have records of Legionaries receiving training in other areas Bow. Sling, rock throwing,riding for when those skills were needed.

Maybe, but the descriptions of Roman infantry training (Vegetius 1, Polybius 6 and 10.20, etc.) I've read emphasize individual weapons training and drill. Can anyone even remember a source for infantry having mock battles with wasters? I think John Lendon has a point that we moderns tend to emphasize Roman discipline and play down impulsive heroism or savagery more than the sources allow (just like we play up dense formations rather than Polybius' open order).