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All troopers wore a helmet of steel and brass (300074) plus body armor, either a lorica segmentata (300176), made of steel lames or a lorica hamata, made of steel mail with shoulder doublings. As for the undergarments, very few articles were worn. There are examples of a loincloth or loose short being worn underneath and of course a long tunic (100042) overtop. During festivals and stately occasions a Roman would not be without his robes or toga...

Mail in this type of combat was very useful, but it was not long before pieces of plate armor began to be added at the elbows and knees and then to other areas of the body. This evolution spawned another and the arms race was on! One popular adaption was the increasing use of impact weapons like hammers, axes, maces, flails and clubs. Through the inventive change in circumventing the better armor of the day (300100), the sword still remain...

A warrior would have had a helmet (300386) and sometimes a mail shirt (300170), but always a large round shield (801108). This was most often slung on the back when fighting with a spear or two hand axes (600642). The form of fighting with a shield was very open and swift and anything was fair play. Thought of as a defensive tool, it was actually used as an offensive weapon with devastating effectiveness. When holding the sword and shield an indi...