Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus (c.173 - 238), better known as Maximinus Thrax (‘the Thracian’), is not one of the better-known Roman emperors, and with good reason. He ruled for only three years, from 235 to 238, never once set foot in Rome itself, and came to the throne after his soldiers murdered the previous incumbent. As an army commander who usurped the throne with the help of his soldiers, he was the first of what are now known as the ‘barracks’ emperors, but the problem was, once he had successfully achieved this, many others thought they could do the same, and the following decades were to see a succession of such usurpation attempts, in a period known to history as the Crisis of the Third Century. The resulting civil wars seriously disrupted the empire, even broke it apart at one point, and those usurpers that succeeded tended to have short reigns, sometimes only a few months, before meeting a violent early death, as did Maximinus.

As usual, Linear-A have kindly provided descriptions for each of the poses in this set, so we will start with those:

Row 1

1. Legionary with helmet ‘Typ Ostrov’ in the form of a Phrygian cap. Cohors III Praetoria
2. Legionary, Cohors III Praetoria in field equipment
3. Legionary, Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix Pia Fidelis

1. Legionary, Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix Pia Fidelis
2. Legionary, Legio I Minervia
3. Legionary, Legio I Minervia

1. Manuballistarius
2. Manuballistarius on the March
3. Auxiliar, Cohors II Raetorum Civium Romanorum
4. Auxiliar, Cohors II Raetorum Civium Romanorum

Anyone familiar with the look of the early imperial Roman soldier would have little trouble in recognising these figures as Roman too, but there were some important differences by the second quarter of the third century, which this set nicely illustrates. The helmet most of these men wear is recognisably a development of the old Imperial-Italic type, with the main differences here being a more prominent peak over the forehead and the cross-piece reinforcement over the crown, which originally appeared around the time of the Dacian Wars, and by the third century were often very pronounced, though those here are no more than strips. One man still has a large crest, but most have just a nob at the top, sometimes with a ‘horse-tail’ crest from it. This sort of helmet was nearing the end of its popularity by this time, and by the end of the century would have largely been replaced by the spangenhelm type, but is fine here. The first figure is notable for having a very different helmet, shaped like the Phrygian cap of old, and there is evidence of such Hellenic shapes still being used on occasions, so this too is reasonable. Modern people interested in history tend to imagine large units all dressed more or less alike, which you see a lot in games, films and on television. The reality was not nearly as smart or uniform, so this mix of styles is perfectly reasonable for men fighting together in a Maximinus army.

The third century would also see a decline in the use of Roman body armour, and possibly the end of segmented armour by 300, but in 235 it was still probably very common, and most of these figures wear it. Four of these poses wear segmented armour, and another four wear either mail or scale (unlike many sets which try hard to show what sort of armour is being worn, the sculptor here has realised that at this scale it is impossible to tell the difference, so has gone with a texture that could be either, and looks great). All the armour here looks good. Another difference from the early imperial period is that the tunics now have long sleeves, and many of the poses also wear limb protection in the form of greaves or segmented arm armour, which is fine. All these men wear trousers – something that would have been frowned upon in the first century – and they wear a mix of sandals and boots. Everything about the costume of these men is correct for the period, and while some legions may have had a particular look to them (dictated mainly by their local source of supply where they were based), there is no reason to think that the very precise identifications used on the box mean the figures cannot be used together or for almost any other legion.

Third century kit also differed from two centuries earlier, most notably in the round or slightly oval, but flat, shield which most of these men carry. By this date the sword was once more slung on the left side, and the dagger was now on the right, although as here, the length of the dagger was now so long as to be little different from that of the sword in some cases. The swords are mainly held by a wide baldric, with a long strap end hanging down next to the left hip, which is reproduced here and seems well authenticated by the available evidence. The last man in our second row has no blade of any description, yet has the strap from which his sword would have been supported, so it looks like this has been missed off, and indeed we would expect all legionaries to have both blades.

On the subject of weapons, our top row shows the poses with drawn sword, and in all cases this is now the longer spatha (as compared to the earlier gladius), although this still seems to have been used mainly for thrusting rather than slashing. The next row shows three men using the pilum, which was still in use that this date, although it seems to have been gradually replaced by a more conventional spear with a smaller head, the spiculum, which is what the two men in the bottom row are holding. Finally we have the two men armed with manuballistae, which are controversial. The Roman ballista was a crew-operated siege engine, but what we have here are hand-portable mini versions that work on the same principal, and so being used rather like a crossbow. There is no hard evidence for such a weapon in the Roman period, but the Roman writer Vegetius specifically refers to such a device (the name literally means ‘hand ballista’), so now the existence of this device is hotly debated. If it did exist (and a lack of firm evidence does not prove that it did not), then it might well have looked like this and been used in this manner.

The poses we find in this set are all perfectly usable, with plenty of action and a very natural feel. The swordsman apparently slashing down with his sword is perhaps not so typical, but an interesting pose nonetheless. The third spearman in the middle row is fine except that he is looking directly at us rather than where he is about to launch his spear, which does look strange and reminds us of some of the old Atlantic poses that did the same thing. Having two poses basically at rest with shield to the side seems a bit wasteful in a 10 pose set, but it is certainly a very useful pose, and one that some modellers will want to display in large numbers next to each other as the men await orders. Because these figures are 3D-printed, the poses are all very natural, with no flatness or compromises unavoidable in more traditional sets.

These 3D-printed figures have been designed superbly, and look fantastic. Every element of the detail is really well done – not just the armour we have already mentioned, but the folds in the trousers and the laces on the boots, to give just two examples. Given the method of production there is of course no flash nor seam ridge, and no excess plastic – which means weapons have been reproduced with no compromise or loss of detail, and even generally hard elements to model like cloaks have been done here to perfection. The relatively firm and unbending plastic material used is presumably the reason why the spears are rather thicker than they should be – our review example had no breakages, but it might have had if the spear shafts had been as slender as the real thing, so this is understandable. Requiring no assembly despite the complex shapes of these figures certainly makes them appealing to a broad audience, and you really won’t get any better sculpting than this, either inside or outside of a computer.

The box makes mention of the Battle of Harzhorn, for which there is no ancient reference that has survived to the modern era, and is only known from archaeological finds made in the 21st century. It is suggested that it formed part of a campaign by Maximinus in Germany, but even if it did not, he kept his troops very busy during his years both as military commander and emperor, and these excellent figures do a superb job of depicting the infantry under his command, with great accuracy, fine poses and beautiful sculpting.