HaT Polybian Romans

The web master from HaT has very generously sent me some spare samples of the newly released Punic war series - #8017, Repulbican Roman Princeps and Triari, and #8018, Republican Roman Hastati and Velites.

(This page has been in the works, so to speak, for a while now. Sorry for the delay!)

HaT #8017, Republican Roman Princeps and Triari

(Box art copyright Hat - reproduced with kind permision)

#8017 Republican Roman Princeps and Triari contains four [identical] sprues with:

•   8 Princeps (the second line in the Polybian's order of battle) with feathered(!) helmets, mail armour, pilums, swords and large oval shields.



•   4 Triari (the third line in the Roman order of battle) pretty much identical to the princeps, except they have spears instead of pilum.

HaT #8018, Republican Roman Hastati and Velites

(Box art copyright Hat - reproduced with kind permision)

#8018, Republican Roman Hastati and Velites contains four [identical] sprues with:

•   8 Hastati with feathered helmets, plain tunics with a breast plate, large [cropped] oval sheilds and pilum's



•   4 Velites with wolf skin's over their helmets, plain tunics, round shields and a couple of javelins each

The figures themselves are great. Lot's of Legionaries in mail - but more of that later. There is one figure in the Princeps/Triari pack (#8017) who is crouching. Apparentley, that's what the Triari did - crouched down the back, in front of the baggage, and waited until they were needed. Makes sence that if your going to be hanging around for a while, you might as well get off your feet! I heard somewhere that this is the idea from whence all the kneeling plastic Romans (Esci and Airfix at least) come from.

Ok, so what can you do with them (in DBA terms)?

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is...

You could also use essentially the same army (certianly the same figures, with perhaps a greater proportion of Hastati) for the Camillan Romans.

(Please note that I'm not entirely sure of the validity of the above assumption, considering I havn't come across any pictures of a Camillian army. I just figure that a late Camillian army will look a lot like an early Polybian one!)

And now for the piece de resistance...

(Please note that I have pillaged the above list from the excellent DBA Resource Page, specifically from the Marian Romans page. Please visit this page for a much more in depth look at this army.)

Ah, now the more astute of you will realise that this Marian list can be pulled together basically out of just one box of figures (#8017 - Princeps and Triari), plus a couple of extra's. Alrighty! At last the conquring armies of Julius Ceasar are now in plastic! And the early Early Imperials too, for that matter. Augustus' three missing legions and all that! The campaign potential alone is nothing to be sneezed at. Ceasar's conquest of Gaul, his invasions of Britian, the Civil War's (Pompey through to Antony and his Egyptian legions) and Augustus' German campaigns, just to name...well, what I can remember from the top of my head(!).

All in all, an excelent couple of boxes, which I'm really happy to see. At last I can have a Marian army I can call my own...

(Also, have a look at HaT's Roman Artillery, Carthaginians, War Elephants and their Ancient Cavalry.)

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