Did the Romans have a strong army of men armed with a shield and flail?

Answer 1

yes they did because they were getting more protection by covering their shields with leather. They also had shield covers or cases which were made of leather. When a troop was on the march the shields were put in their cases but remained handy in the case they were suddenly needed.

Answer 2

Yes, all Roman soldiers used shields. In the course of the 1,200 years of Roman history there were three types of Roman shields.

From the 6th century BC to the 4th century BC the Romans used the clipeus. It originated from Greece. The Greeks introduced this shield when they introduced the hoplite military formation and tactics. It was a small round shield made of bronze which was carried on the arm. It was then replaced by the parma and the scutum.

The parma was a round shield which was a 91 centimetres (36 in.) in diameter and was made of metal, making it very effective. It was used by the light infantry in the Early- and Mid- Republic. It was a Roman innovation.

The scutum originated from the Samnites. It was introduced when the Romans adopted the manipular military formation and tactics of the Samnites during the Second Samnite War (326-304 BC). It was originally oval and curved and was made of two sheets or strips of bentwood glued together to make a convex curve to deflect javelins and blows. They were covered with canvas and hide and the edges were bound in rawhide or iron. Later the scutum changed in shape and became rectangular. As they were also curved, they formed a semi-cylinder. They had a round boss of bronze, brass of iron at the centre. The best surviving example has been found in Syria. It is 1.06 metre (42 in) high, a distance around the curve of 0.86 metre (34 in), a width of 66 centimetres (26 in) a thickness of 5-6 millimetres and weighs 10 kilos (22 pounds). The rectangular version of the scutum remained the shield of the Roman soldiers for the rest of Roman history.