Since I am one of the only people who actually plays legionnaire often I feel I should reply to this. A shield skill of 9 would be cool, however I don't feel it is really needed. IMO the legionnaire needs a buff either to throwing, as currently this skill is almost useless on hard ( after wave 8 ) and is pretty much entirely useless on rag, or to athletics as this would be a huge benefit in the role of luring that has been discussed. I see the legionnaire as a shock troop - able to throw well enough to break a few shields or kill/weaken a few nords as the wave comes and then use the marvelous 1h skill to finish off a few in front while retreating to the shield wall. When the wave has neared it's end it is the job of the legionnaire ( and other inf ) to move forward as a unit and slaughter any stragglers or foolish archers. As it stands the only "real" benefit to being legionnaire over royal guard or zwei is the ability to bring in better 1h weapons and, of course, to swing them a bit faster with a bit more damage ( Q if you are picking up DWP for legionnaire instead of Illustrious you are seriously missing out ). I feel that with current stats the ability to throw as legionnaire is pretty much irrelevant once you have left normal mode. Accuracy is too poor to hit very well and athletics are too low to effectively run away or back up while sword/shield fighting.
The potential solutions ( as I see them ) would be to:
A.) Buff throwing skill to allow more accurate shots while leaving power throw alone
B.) Buff athletics from 7 to 8 allowing the player to escape from danger and fight in melee more effectively. This would also compensate for wearing heavy armor such as trans ( necessary on later hard waves and all of rag )
C.) Add some legionnaire specific house crafted items other than swords. Perhaps a light weight armor similar in stats to the Verloren Plate. Also class specific throwing spears with a higher accuracy and/or higher ammo count ( since as legionnaire you commonly carry a 1h, shield, and possibly 2h for slashing leaving only 1 slot for throwing ).
Anyway this is the end of my long rant. Hopefully this will be of some use and thank you for reading