Engin Kayral reviews Romeo Models latest release 90 mm Roman Centurion I.Cent.A.D.

Link to Review

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Nice review. Thanks Engin

What a wonderful figure; the pose and the details... the box art is fantastic. Thanks for the review Engin,

Mario.

Beautiful piece and a masterful review . Thanks Engin !!

Beautiful figure, I wonder why the Centurion wore his sword on the left as the scutum makes it very difficult to draw. Much easier to have the sword on the right, as the blade is short enough to allow it to be drawn quickly without causing problems for anyone standing next to you.

David

Hi David,
As I know ; centurions do not carry scutum/shield in general. IMO, the figure is represented with a shield to make it more attractive as painted and to give an impression he is on the battle field.... the answer to your question was on the LegioXV homepage ;

Although most people today prefer left-side hanging, the combined effect of the armour and the legionaries' big scuta would prevent drawing from the left side. Only the centurion wear the sword at the "blind" left side, a sign that his job is to lead the troops, not fight himself.

bestest regards

Hi Engin

I was speaking from personal experience about drawing the sword on the right side of the body The armour isn't really a hindrance to drawing the sword either on the left or right side, it's not good practice to draw the sword inside the shield arm. And you certainly can't draw the sword over the shield.

The manica (segmented armour) on the sword arm might have been worn to protect against the Dacian falx in the wars of the late 1st and early 2nd centuries, though IIRC the surviving examples (like nearly all Roman armour) are poorly dated. So it's possible it may have appeared earlier on.

All the best

David

Hi David,

Happy New Year, mate!

Check out Dr. Mike's response to a similar question on MedRom: Roman swords

HTH

Rudi

Happy New Year to you too Rudi!

Small world! Despite us being from the same home town I don't recall ever meeting Mike Thomas, though our paths must have come very close at points (specially the Legionary Musueum in Caerleon). But we evidently have similar ideas on some things (but not on topics like the colours of legionary clothing.....)

The quick-draw was always one of the fun parts of my time working as a costumed interpreter in the museum - that and picking out people to demonstrate the use of the edge and boss of the shield on. University lecturers were a popular choice, specially once we'd had the why the pilum really bent disagreement

David