Question: Soldiers tunic at the time of Trajan

[Marcus Julius]

Thanks for the saddle info. I'm learning more every day.
Now I have another question about this:

Is the design on that shield based on any historical evidence? Adrian, you mentioned Trajan's column. Are these reproductions of one of the men on the column, then?

I've seen some Roman items belt plates and such, with symbols that appear 8 pointed, but never an actual star like this. The only place I have seen an actual 8point star is in persian / arabic areas. Reason I'm asking, is I've always liked the symbol, and I've even carried it on my shields and banners in a fantasy LARP game that I used to play. Now that I've gotten into Roman, I'd love to be able to continue displaying it, but I'd really like some back up to do so.