I dont think shields are bugged. They are working ok against missiles,bigger is the shield - bigger is the drawback to have it in melee.
Also, the better your armor, the bigger drawback to have it in melee. Those stupid, stupid romans and their big clumsy shields! What idiots! If only they were as smart as JaM and realized that the most effective way to fight in melee was butt naked.


Oh wait. The barbarians that fought the romans tried that. And got slaughtered.


Shields should absolutely help you in melee. A *lot*. A shield that prevents the blow from even landing on your torso or arm is in many ways more effective than armor in a melee combat. A shield can be used as an additional weapon in melee combat, and it often was.


It doesn't currently. And since we know the CA devs are not a bunch of bleeding idiots, we can determine that it's a bug.