6490 - Three Roman Soldiers

[drbatesy]

Our latest review is the Three Roman Soildiers set. The Romans were the first klickies I bought but I had to line up my ducks - waiting until the six legionaries set was on Amazon at a reasonable price while, at the same time, these boys and the tribune were available from Basildon. They're evidently very popular and sell out quite regularly from UK direct service, but I can understand why!  What do you think? Have you a contubernium of your own tucked away on a shelf somewhere?

[Eplay]

I never really payed attention to the Romans. Thank you for explaining the outfits, the details are indeed very nicely done when you know what you’re looking at. 

[GrahamB]

A great review with lots of interesting detail. You gave the impression that the costumes were reasonably accurate from a historical perspective- is that correct? I liked the comment about acquiring an extra klicky stand to give parity of height to the signifer. And it was great to include a back view of the three figures, something which is often hard to find online.

If you will permit me one suggestion, it would have been good to have a picture of each figure at the top of his description/ explanation to refer to when reading, though that's a rather minor point!

[tahra]

Thanks for the informative review

I don't much like to use the bases for the klickys, I think they stand out as "fake" on the dios...

Have you a contubernium of your own tucked away on a shelf somewhere?

Well... (links to pf threads below)

There are loads of romans around here.. with an outdated thread (besides the PROCESS) - playkingdoms' roman(ish) armies

And reviews of the last batch of sets - History Sets 2016

And even a couple of dios:
... a very lacking half done dio - Fantasy Romanish Fort
... and a more proper one - playkingdoms' Roman Dio (2019)

(mind you, I don't have the "historical knowledge you do )

[drbatesy]

I don't much like to use the bases for the klickys, I think they stand out as "fake" on the dios...

I agree the stands would look fake on dioramas. I did think, when I started collecting, that having klickies on stands would distinguish them as 'ornaments' - grubbing around for the right word here, but not toys. Anyway, A. has since blurred that line.

You gave the impression that the costumes were reasonably accurate from a historical perspective- is that correct?

It's not my period (the classic historian's excuse!) but I think Roman armour may have developed over the centuries. Lorica segmentata is what the legions are always shown in at the movies but I think the mail (lorica hamata) and scale armour (lorica squamata) may also have been more common because cheaper. In medieval Europe, knights moved from mail to scale to plate with advancing technology and in response to weapons development.

It would have been good to have a picture of each figure at the top of his description/ explanation to refer to when reading.

I did think about this but elected to minimise image space (I'm a bit unsure how much Wordpress let me have while I'm on the free option!)

Steve.

[Bolingbroke]

Nice to see some in-depth reviews of playmobil sets.

I have all the Romans sets (from 2007 I think), and then some more - I remember putting in an order from DS to beef up my cavalry (the original sets only featured one cavalry klicky iirc, the one with the mustard accents on his uniform?)

The original run used a different mould for the shields, with the middle, bally bit actually moulded in plastic. I loved this set, the last great PM theme there was. I regret not getting any of the Romans from the PM movie, but by then I was spending my money elsewhere.

This summer I’ll get everything - EVERYTHING - out of storage and see if I can build them a fort from the old parts I have.

[Macruran]

I have all the Romans sets (from 2007 I think), and then some more - I remember putting in an order from DS to beef up my cavalry (the original sets only featured one cavalry klicky iirc, the one with the mustard accents on his uniform?)

Mustardman appeared in 4273 - Commander's Tent, a set which does contain a horse. I had always figured the horse to belong to the purple caped officer, leaving Mustard as a guard/assistant, but playmodb to my surprise lists Mustardman as a cavalryman (I assume that's from a .de listing?), and being horsemounted would explain his abnormally long spear, a very unwieldy weapon for a footsoldier not in a phalanx. (Though the long spear also appears in 4270 - Arena, wielded by an unmounted soldier seemingly acting as a guard.) Mustardman is also notable for wearing low slippers and not the strappy caligae of the regular legionaries. He looks more like an auxiliary or rear echelon man to me, so my unit of Mustards are engineers, manning the catapults and whatnot, and they eschew the lengthy spear. (I use the red chainmail legionaries as cavalry - my amateur researches into Roman uniforms have suggested that cavalrymen wore caligae, not slippers.)

The original run used a different mould for the shields, with the middle, bally bit actually moulded in plastic.

It was hugely disappointing that the second Roman shields lack the protruding boss yet are the same color as the original shields. A real missed opportunity, as with so much about the second theme. On the other hand they have a different handle, which I assume was redesigned to be better for things like testudo, though I don't know as I've never had one.

 

[Bolingbroke]

I don’t know - I think the clincher was the oval shield, wasn’t it?

I’m not at all an expert on Roman uniform minutae, but looking at pics on google don’t their shoes seem to be lower cut compared to those worn by regulars?

My engineere were the other ones - the third type, because there were basically three types of regular soldiers weren’t there?

[Macruran]

I don’t know - I think the clincher was the oval shield, wasn’t it?

Do you mean the clincher for determining that he was a cavalryman? An argument in his favor, to be sure, but not a clincher, for 7880 - 3 Roman Warriors also had oval shields. And looking closely at the entry now, I see these men are also identified by playmodb as cavalrymen! (If so, they need to lose those pila.)

I’m not at all an expert on Roman uniform minutae, but looking at pics on google don’t their shoes seem to be lower cut compared to those worn by regulars?

Some probably are, but I've seen some that aren't, or if they are are strappy not enclosed. I need to do more research.

My engineere were the other ones - the third type, because there were basically three types of regular soldiers weren’t there?

The type wearing chainmail was the third type (after lorica and mustard), though the chainmailers came in both "metal greave" (7880) and "caligae" (4275, 4276 & 4278) versions, so four types total, or three types and one subtype. Note that the greave type comes with a pointy helmet, as worn also by the archers, while the caligae type comes with a regular helmet, though still with the oval shield. That was another factor, pictures of cavalry I've seen show them wearing the regular helmet not the pointy helmet.

I  must say though that the thought of having the cavalry in a different color is intriguing, I think I will try my mustards out on horseback at some point.

 

[Bolingbroke]

To be honest I always assumed that the two DS sets were just thrown together with little regard to historical accuracy …