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Re-enactor in the panopoly of a Crupellarius, a heavily armored Roman gladiator type of the 1st century AD
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this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2024
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Historical Artifacts
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How would one penetrate those defenses? Theoretically you can pierce his armor by thrusting your weapon into one of the crevices between plates, but actually doing that while he’s chopping at your head and blocking with a shield sounds damned near impossible. This guy looks basically invincible to anything other than heavy bludgeoning weapons, and pretty well protected from those too.
I would think you'd focus on simple impact. Armor doesn't fully protect against that, so if you hit hard enough with a sword, it's still going to hurt like hell, maybe cause serious injury.
Like how bullet-resistant vests work. Depending on the tech in the vest (and the round), you're still getting injured - perhaps enough to keep you out of the fight.
A good example is modern helmets (both motorcycle and bicycle). I got a concussion while wearing each of them. They kept me from having a more serious brain injury or even death. And my helmets work far better than what this guy is wearing.
This soldier getting hit in the head is still going to feel it, maybe even knock him out or kill him.
A big part of Roman gladiator games was the show and the contrast - most likely, a Crupellarius, as a heavy gladiator, would have been paired against an unarmored Retiarius, with a trident and a net. The tactic of a Retiarius against other heavy gladiators was to evade and exhaust them before binding/tangling them and 'finishing' them, whether by bringing them to a surrender or wounding them. One imagines a similar tactic would be employed against this heavy bastard.
But even if no serious wounds are inflicted, the fight is what matters - you have to give the crowd a show, and everything else is secondary!