The Box
Typical modern Hat box, just showing one man of the depicted set. I am not too fond of this style, for some subjects it is a good idea, and if well done can be as attractive as any other box. In this case, the result is medium low, you can hardly tell that the legionary is extra heavy, and it is rather standard.
The Figures
HaT sets come in batches, depending on the sculptor apparently, and a bit on the materials. These came in the batch of a sculptor that made very sleek and thin figures, that once adapted and moulded, don't match the expectatives. The figures barely are 1/72, they should be labelled as 1/76. Many have super thin arms, and all the swords in them are awfully done, they look like stupid short sticks. The pilums have nearly no detail at all.
Continuing with the bad; the shields have a untolerable fit, they either fall, or the peg breaks, and most look bad, so you will have to cut the peg and glue them with Pattex, hot glue or something that bonds soldiers plastic which is tricky to find.
There is only 8 poses, 5 of them carrying the pilum. In this subject of Extra Heavy Legionnaries, made by Trajan to fight against the dreaded Dacians and their falx weapons who chopped off the legionnaries unprotected arms, it should be they other way round, 5 poses of hand to hand combat and maybe 3 with the pilum. There should be a extra heavy centurion.
Also, speaking of the poses, two are almost identical, and all of them very flat and lifeless.
Besides this, there was other versions of super armoured legionnaries that would have been more interesting.
There is not much flash, but many figures, the two halfs don't match, so you get a distorted face.
And well, there is not much more to say. I will only add these even look bad, flimsy, puny and thin against the Hat set of Dacians (the Dacian figures without shirt look bigger and stronger).
The Verdict
This set was actually a gift for me, as I have many Roman soldiers and if there are available, I choose from other subjects, unless they are superb figures. The gift was welcome, but it could have been done so much better, being a interesting subject, that the impression maybe even worse. My recommendation is; wait until some manufacturer does a worthy version.
Historical Accuracy; 10/10, Perfect.
Mould quality; 5/10, Unconvincing.
Fun level; 3/10, Boring.
Price/Quality; 4/10 Bad.
My version
I had these soldiers in a box and half of them had lost their shields, and the swords were ridicolous, so I considered a good subject to modify and then paint. I enlarged all swords, and made 4 armoured centurions modifying them. I also added some figures from other sets, and I painted them in 4 different colours, as different legions, for wargaming. The shields are printed with an inkjet printer in ordinary paper. These soldiers do need some work on them, and one must say they look much better and with their shields, I nearly forget how irritating they were before.
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