Are Military Shields Much Heavier and Harder to Use Then People Assume?

[Wrangler29]

Saw this post on Reddit.

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I ordered a Macedonian Phalangite Shield replica on Amazon last week. While its made out of plastic, its designed to be as heavy and similar in shape and size as real surviving shields from that period. When I brought int he mail box today......... The box was so heavy. After opening it, I weighed the shield and t was 12 lbs! Now it came with two insert brackets s plus a handle and a strap to that goes on your shoulder. So after inserting your arms into its brackets and gripping the far handle at the edge with the hand and pulling the straps onto your holding arm and tying it, the weapon became surprisingly easy to play around with. That said you can still feel the darn weight and I got surprisingly a bit tired walking around with it.........
Its common to see posts on Reddit and across the internet making statements that its easy to fight in a Roman shieldwall against raging charging barbarians under the belief all you have to do is just and holding the shield, let the barbarians tackle you while in formation, and wait until the enemy's charge loses momentum and the entire barbarian army begins to back off as thy lost stamina and eventually flee.
Another statement I seen online is that Phalanx Warfare of the Greek Hoplites was safe and easy because casualties are so low and all Greek warfare is about is holding the shield and pushing each other. That even if you are on the losing side, you don't have to fear death because holding your shield will protect you even if the Phalanx break apart and the enemy starts rolling forward....... That for the victors its just as a matter of holding the shield and waiting for your enemy to lose heart and start fleeing in large numbers because your own Phalanx wall won't break.............
I wish I was making it up but the two above posts are so common to see online. That shield finally having hold a Macedonian replica of a Telamon .......... It reminded me of the posts as holding the thing was so difficult due to its weigh even if I just go into a defensive stance. So it makes me wonder?
Are proper military shields meant for formation warfare like the Spartan Aspis much harder to use around even for passive defensive acts? Not just in duels an disorganized fights........ But even in formations like the Roman Testudo? Would it require actual strength and stamina to hold of charging berserkers in a purely defensive wall of Scutums unlike what internet posters assume?
Does the above 10 lbs weight of most military shields do a drain on your physical readiness even in rectangular block formations on the defense?

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So I'm now intrigue. Are the Scutum and other military shields much harder than we assume to use in formation and far heavier than people think? Is the weight a major factor in victories from enemies of the Empire esp barbarian tribes in an extended battle?

[M. Val. Naso]

Reconstructed shields (Dura scutum, Dura oval, Fayum scutum) all linger around 6 kgs, that is 13 pounds. Dura oval reconstructions sometimes miss the rawhide facing and the tapering is inconsistent, so they can hover around - let's say - 6-8 kgs.

A large part of the confusion comes from the fact that even we, reenactors don't know how the Romans fought in any given time on the micro level. We have numerous literary sources concerning this, but the picture is just isn't clear. The main strand says that battles were like an equilibrium, punctuated acutely and viciously, but sporadically. Meaning the lines did not go on full force for hours, rather smaller units stepped forward, tried to bash the others' face in, and if they were successful, they pulled their comrades with the impetus. Otherwise they retreated. (Stepping forward and retreating in this context is a case of metres, I'm talking about close proximity.) We do know from later times that melee started with a vicious barrage of missiles, but most of these were used up quickly IMO.

The question is: can you rest the shield during fights? I guess - based on the limited knowledge we have - you most certainly can outside the first few minutes/half hour. Republican military strategy actually had elite troops at rest until needed to come forth. You can also rest your arms a bit if you are pulled away, not just when the barrage stops.

Also you have to factor one thing in: many people are not used to this. How strong/enduring the poster was? Do they regularly haul weight similar to that?

[Dan Howard]

I think the heaviest shields are the scutums found at Fayum and Doncaster. Reconstructions of both weigh around 10kg. That is twice the weight of the pissy shield in the OP. The weight is nothing for somebody who does manual labour all day. It might be a problem for pasty desk jockeys.