Roman Battle Formation

[antisocialmunky]

But this would be in melee. IMHO, the biggest problem is pulling back with that huge shield and not having it get caught on anything or having to hold it in such a way that makes you unable to defend yourself. More realistically you would also have to take into consideration that it probably wasn't just the first row but the first one or two rows that were actively engaged(enemy units penetrating or being compressed). TW is a little too neat sometimes in its depiction of formation fighting.

Realistically it probably happened during lulls in battle since many types of enemies would attack in waves. So the rotation would take place between waves if the idea was to absorb each charge with fresh men while the enemy slowly wore down.