THe armor is a good start. I like the shield, but the standard (from what I've read) Roman shield was a square framework -- wooden for the poorer soldiers, brass, bronze, or iron for the wealthier ones -- with a wooden or metal center piece containing some sort of sigil on one side (unit designations and such -- the origin of European heraldry I THINK). A piece of boiled leather was stretched across the framwork then boiled to shrink and tighten. THen the centerpiece was bolted to it, with the handle on the back and the raised symbol on the front. Or something like that.