Why do 1st Century Roman groups avoid combat

[Marcus Aemilius Longinus]

Why don't you once make shield that are good for showing off as well as combat? We have only one set of shields: two layers of 6mm wood glued together, then we applied a coarse layer of linen soaked in glue to the front, and edged the whole thing with leather. Multiplying this with the 110*90cm dimensions, we get a fairly heavy (~9kg) shield, which is good for fighting against half drunk, two metres high germanic reenactors' axes, and good for showing people the weight/durability. Though 9kgs might be a bit much, it holds. You can always lighten it by using only 8-10mm of wood (I personally wouldn't go below 8, even with some durable, hard wood. My first shield of 6mm thick, hard wood without linen glueing was sliced in half in my hands during a battle scene, after a spear rammed it through like if it was paper. That will be a lifelong memory, I'm sure).

The main reason is that as a 1st century legionary group we use the tile shaped scuta for drill displays and the like. Dont get me wrong, our combat shields are fine for display as well, they are made in a similar way to what you just described (with rawhide edging stiched on too) It's just that they dont work as well as the tile shaped scuta for cuneum, testudo etc, not to mention it would be a nightmare when we fall in with other roman group for drill. We dont use the tile shaped ones for fighting partly because we havent yet tried curving wood for them and the ones we use are repainted depeeka scuta which cant stand up to much pounding.