Shields?

[Banzai!]

If you went all historic on the Romans and gave them shield and body variation, this is what they would probably end up looking like [particular emphasis on last panel] (originally posted by Geneva in the TWC):

I'm not sure if this is the desired result of taking historical realism to the max: Romans looking like Gauls.

Aside: lol at the shirtless guy who thinks he's so tough in the third panel, then getting pwned by the first javelin exchange in the fourth panel.