Time to meet the bog-standard Legionary, the bulk of my forces.
The
Lorica Segmentata he wears was in use from about 9BC until sometime in the 4th Century AD, so he fits nicely into my era. This style of armour has been discovered in at least three distict variants, and many places the Romans went. Some of there are known to only ever have been garrisoned by Auxiliary troops, so it's unclear who exactly got to wear it, but I'm reserving it for my Roman Cohorts.
The red of his under-armour clothing and shield seems to have become a widely accepted colour for the Roman army, and Playmo were wise to adopt it. He also correctly has his Gladius on the right hip, and a Pilum (light spear or javalin).
Standard battle tactics were to close to within throwing range, throw one or more Pila (two light and one heavy Pila could be carried), then close with the enemy and stab with the short sword from behind a wall of shields. Individual heroics were discouraged and pretty much suicidal. The shield was heavy enough to bash the enemy with, and the curve helped deflect missiles. The Playmo shield should probably be more curved than it is, but it's a reasonable facsimile.
The segmentata armour provided better protection than chainmail and was much lighter, but was expensive to produce and difficult to repair, and slowly fell into disuse during the 3rd-4th Centuries.
The only feature I can mention as a minus is the shoulders, which should have been covered by segmentata armour plates as seen in the first two pictures above, not the "Roman Shoulders" as we have come to call them (there is a name for these leather strips but I forget it). However continuing the solid neckpiece over the shoulder would have prevented the arms from being raised above the shoulders, and I believe this was a deliberate design decision, not an oversight or mistake. On actual segmentata of course the pieces move - not reproduceable in Playmo-size plastic.
