The shields you show there are cetratus (they also had a smaller round target shield called the parma. The scutum (heavy curved rectangles) were the shields used for shield walls. There’s a number of good pictures and videos of historical recreationists using them in both shield walls and the “turtle” formation where the back ranks hold the shields aloft as protection against high-arc archery volleys.
I agree that the spearmen you show in the video can’t form an effective shield wall, but the same troops equipped with scutum shields would be able to.
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While reading De Re Militari today I came across a mention of pila (this translator uses piles).
As to the missile weapons of the infantry, they were javelins headed with a triangular sharp iron, eleven inches or a foot long, and were called piles. When once fixed in the shield it was impossible to draw them out, and when thrown with force and skill, they penetrated the cuirass without difficulty. At present they are seldom used by us, but are the principal weapon of the barbarian heavy-armed foot soldiers. They are called bebrae, and every man carries two or three of them to battle.
Check out this video for a ranged weapon that has been in RPGs for decades but never done well…
Roman Plumbata (throwing darts)
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