While this description is true in the commonest sense there are a great deal of questions, difficulties and variations which can be seen in most depictions of the Hoplomachus.

Before moving into these variations a few words about the roots of the name as have been suggested by a number of scholars. The shape of the shield has been likened to the earlier Greek Hoplite shields which although considerably larger than the small parma carried by the Hoplomachus, never-the-less were round in shape with a deep bowl to them. Add to this the spear that they carried and the roots of the Hoplomachus become tantalisingly clear. The ancient Hoplite warriors of Greece tended to fight with a large round shield, spear and a short sword for close combat should the 'line' have disintegrated. It has been suggested that the word Hoplomachus can be broken down into to statement hoplon and machein meaning weapon or hoplite shield and to fight, creating for us a man that fights with a hoplites shield - Hoplomachus.

Variations of the hoplomachus come at us thick and fast, suggesting that to attempt to say that a Hoplomachus fought this way and this way alone is a difficult. It is possibly more expedient to suggest that the Hoplomachus was a theme of gladiator that where similarly, not exclusively, armed this way. Fashion, regional variations and access to equipment again playing major roles in the gladiators depictions found in antiquity.

Starting at the top, it is suggested that the Hoplomachus' helm was the same as the thraex helm but without the griffin head at its peak. The figure detailed in the image of the Gladiator and Priapus held in the Deposito Archeologica is commonly believed to be a Hoplomachus due to the shape of his shield and high greaves, yet upon his head there is a helmet more akin to a provocatores helm than a Hoplomachus, similarly several images of the thraex show no griffin headed plume which help to back the argument that gladiators fulfilled more of a general style rather than being concerned for over the precise specific details of griffin heads and other small parts of their costume.

Currently, we are assuming with academic thought, the hoplomachus were based upon the Greek Hoplites of antiquity even though their shields were considerably smaller than the large rounded bronze shields of the hoplites. The hoplite shields could weigh in excess 15kg and where designed to be part of a large line forming a phalanx, whereas the hoplomachus shield is a much smaller more mobile creation. This being said Roman games do not appear to have been too concerned with historical accuracy of their fighters, more than parody. In images and models of hoplomachus there does not appear to be too much agreement from contempory artists; the shields are shown in varying forms, from flat hand held versions, to larger concave shapes. Some are even so concaved they hemispherical. The last point could be argued away in the fact that the artist struggled to depict the concave shield in a mosaic, but again the hoplomachus in the Gladiator and Priapus model is holding a very deep hemispherical carved shield above the head of Priapus. It would seem from the large amount of variation that is available in the sources that the hoplomachus held a small shield or parma of some varying description.

It is said that the hoplomachus would go in to the arena fighting with a spear holding his sword and shield in his spare hand. This has lead some to state that the shield must have been held onto by a pair of straps attached to the shield across the forearm. In experiments it is quite easy to hold the shield and a short sword together in the same hand without the assistance of the shield straps, so long as the bowl of the shield is not too deep and the handle is rigid. There is a popular belief that the holomachus may have only fought with a spear when fighting murmillo.

The manica, as in most gladiators, appears to be a standard evolution of limb armour of various lengths and fabrications. Some hoplomachus are depicted with full length manica, others have leather bindings protecting the elbow of the sword arm and yet others are depicted with heavy linen or cloth bindings as their manicae. These depictions are held at many different times and appear to hold no progressive time to their introduction.

The greaves offer us some form of agreement from most sources in so far as there would have been two. The bindings underneath, whether trousers were worn, how the greaves ended and how high up the gladiators legs they went though pose us with a many unanswered questions. Once again there has to be a general admittance that the historical sources left us are too varied to draw a full conclusion. In a relief of a Murmillo and Hoplomachus held in Naples the hoplomachus can be seen digging his weapon into the ribs of the unfortunate murmillo who has attacked his opponents well guarded head (which alone can raise doubt over the code of conduct which many hold states that no attacks where made to the head for further comment in this please read this article. The hoplomachus has a pair of greaves flared high above the knee in another they go just above the knee and in a depiction of a thraex (the hoplomachus and thraex shared similar greaves) the greaves barely reach knee height. Other leg bindings appear to have been optional but in most when worn they cover the thigh to the groin presumably because of the shield size.

Generally the hoplomachus would be pitted against the Murmillo and later (mid 2nd Century AD onwards) the Thraex. It is believed that the Murmillo was the preferred opponent because of the historical joke of Rome vs Greece that would have been played before the audience, time and politics though would have killed this joke and so the Thraex replaced the Murmillo and the joke died.

Some hoplomachus are depicted as so heavily armed it would have been hard to imagine their down fall. In full greaves with padded thigh and shin pieces along with the parma, spear, short sword, manica with padded arm covering, possible upper shield arm padding and helm it would have been no mean feat to defeat them. All of this being said the scutarii (large shield fighters) of which the Murmillo was one, were considered the favourites in contests against parmalari (small shield users).

In our experiments we have found that when armed with the spear the singular strength of the Hoplomachus lies in his ability to wear down his opponent with worrying attacks from the weapon. These attacks can force the scutarii to lift their shield away from their bodies placing a fatiguing stress upon the shoulder. After the shield is lost the strange shape and size of the shield allow very quick movements but little cover.