The name Gaius Julius Caesar is probably the best-known of all those from the Roman world, and while he was never an emperor in the true sense, he was dictator and sole ruler, which amounts to much the same thing. His rise to such heights was largely sealed at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BCE, when he defeated the forces of the Roman Republican government, and he achieved this using his many loyal and highly experienced legions. Models and toys of early imperial Roman soldiers tend to be much more popular today than their late republic brethren, but it was those men that laid the foundations on which the later empire was built, yet not all of them were Roman, even in the loose sense of being from Italy. Caesar, like all generals of the time, made use of whatever soldiers were to hand, and during his many wars he would on occasion lead men from many parts of the Roman world. This second set from Linear-A depicting these warriors offers us a further selection of these men, adding more interest and variety to a complex subject that has not been depicted in such depth before.

The core Roman infantryman was a spearman who would approach his opponent, hurl a spear at close range to disorder them, and then make contact with sword drawn. Set One in this series gave us a range of men using their spear, and this second set concentrates on sword action. There are five such poses, all in our top row, and they are all terrific. Having the advantage of 3D printing means they have none of the usual restrictions of injection moulding into a two-piece mould, and it shows, with some very natural positions for the sword and shield. The first man appears to be in relaxed mood, but the rest are clearly in combat, and all hold their sword in a believable way. We especially liked the man with sword raised higher and just to the side of his shield, defending himself and ready to strike. All of these men hold their shield to their front, which may seem rather obvious, yet this is often lacking in figures with many more production restrictions. None look particularly like they are using the shield as an offensive weapon itself, barging into the opponent so the strike can be made with the sword, but perhaps the man with sloped shield is looking to lift his opponent’s shield with that in mind. Anyway, some wonderful, realistic poses, and many can even look reasonable in formation too.

The second row shows some of the less mainstream figures in the set. First we have a couple of archers, both more or less ready to loose an arrow, but one is doing so at close range while the other clearly has a more distant target. Beside them is a slinger, who has loaded a shot into his sling, but does not look like he is about to let it fly, so a more sedate pose, but a perfectly good one nevertheless. The fourth man is a cornucen, and is actually in the act of blowing his trumpet, which again is a difficult pose to do well using traditional moulds. Lastly we have a signifer holding a typical signum standard with manus at the top. This is currently resting on the ground, so is not being prominently displayed, and so suggests a quiet moment.

While the archetypal Roman legionnaire at this time wore a mail lorica over a tunic, with either a Coolus-Mannheim or Montefortino helmet, logic suggests this was not universal, and the evidence supports that. The figures in this set include several that do indeed wear a typical mail lorica, but also some that wear a softer body armour, maybe made of leather or fabric, and one man wears an outer tunic with diagonal stitching, called a coactile, a quilted Gallic garment constructed of layers of felt and wool. The two archers are both Cretan, and wear a corselet that is soft, again perhaps leather or fabric, and possibly with pteruges below the waist. Both also have soft leather boots, and rather surprisingly, they wear Coolus-Mannheim helmets. Both carry a bag and have a dagger on a belt, but have no sign of any other arrows. The slinger is also rather a surprise as he wears a full mail corselet and a full helmet with splendid crest, and looks rather heavily attired for a light missile soldier. The signifier wears a muscle cuirass and pteruges at both waist and shoulders, which looks good. He also wears a helmet of Hellenic style, as are some of the other items on show here, such as the two helmets with pronounced brims which the box describes as ‘attic-Boeotian’. The other helmets look to be the usual Coolus-Mannheim type, but one man has been sculpted without any helmet, but with his head bandaged, covering one eye, which must be something of a hindrance as he fights with his sword. Several of the figures wear greaves, which seem not to have been standard issue to legionnaires at this time, and all bar the Cretans wear the normal sandals. This is an eclectic mix of styles, and of nationalities, but all looks authentic, particularly when it is remembered that the civil war meant troops were raised from many places, and in a rush, so uniformity of dress or equipment would have been almost impossible.

The swords, bows and slings all look good, as does the cornu and signum. The cornu is usually much larger than the one modelled here, more like three metres long, but a stele in Osuna, Spain, shows men playing instruments of this size, so it seems authentic. The large shields held by most of the men are of the typical Roman style of the period, being oval oblong with a raised central spine and boss in the middle, behind which the shield is being held by a horizontal bar. One of the shields is notably narrower than the rest, but all are correct, and undecorated.

The sculpting on these figures is just beautiful. The detail is all picked out perfectly, and the 3D printing means even areas that are hard to see are perfectly formed. The proportions are perfect, and it is notable that thinner items like the bows and arrows are pretty realistic too – earlier 3D printed figures had such things as very thick, but here they are good, and happily the bowstrings have been omitted entirely. Like the first set in the series, these figures are a fair bit too tall, as a height of 1.91 metres was very rare in the ancient world, which has lost this set a mark for accuracy. Otherwise they are very well made.

Many of these figures are strictly speaking auxiliaries rather than legionaries, but many Roman armies had many such auxiliaries, so they would have served alongside the native Roman troops. At Pharsalus it was Pompey that had most of the Mediterranean troops such as Cretans, and auxiliaries were not technically part of a legion, but if you take the set name with a degree of flexibility then you are still left with some great figures that give a good feel for the diversity of many Roman armies of the time, especially during the civil war.