To the Roman soldier their standard had a mystical importance, and was more than just a symbol of their unit. In later centuries the flag would have a similar symbolic importance, but the Romans often saw their standard as a religious object, offering a point of contact with the gods, and losing it would not only bring unthinkable shame, but also divine retribution. This association was perhaps more important to many than the simple function of offering a rallying point in battle, or identifying the position of a unit in a confused melee, and commanders could use this devotion to the standard to encourage otherwise reluctant soldiers to enter a fray.

As usual with Linear-A sets we get 10 poses with four of each, and as you can see that delivers a great many standards compared to the more usual one per set from less specialised manufacturers. All the basic types are represented here, beginning with the most important of them all, the aquila. This was the famous Roman eagle, the symbol of a whole legion, and the first two figures in this set hold one. This was of such importance that it only ever left a legion’s base if the whole legion was to go on campaign, otherwise it remained safely behind. Both the models here are dated to the later first and early second century CE, as are all the figures in this set, and both are of an authentic design. This design could vary quite considerably, but here we have one with wings outstretched and another with wings upright and encircled by a corona muralis. The poles are undecorated, which is fine, so as reasonably typical examples of the aquila these are both good.

Of lesser importance was the signum, which was usually associated by this period with a century, and is seen in this set carried by the third figure. Since there might be 60 of these in each legion, each was of deliberately unique design, and has often been the subject of modelled standards in the past. The one we have here starts with a hand (manus) device at the top (suggesting it might also be used as a manipular standard, or to represent a whole cohort), then a cross-piece with streamers, six medallions (phalerae) and a crescent moon (lunula), with a tassel at the bottom. These seem to be more than just decorative, representing awards given to the unit for past actions, but the arrangement here is as typical as any, and looks good. The bar towards the bottom was to prevent it sinking into the ground too far, and is a nice additional touch.

While the aquila represented the whole legion, if only a part of the legion was detached to perform some duty then they would take with them a vexillum, a small fabric flag hanging from a transverse bar on what was otherwise an ordinary spear. This is what figure number four is holding, and while the flag itself might contain numbers, symbols or words, it is otherwise undecorated. On this figure the flag has been sculpted as a thick, rigid rectangle, as if wooden, and so looks nothing like the actual fabric item. We assume this is to do with the limitations of the 3D printing process, or the material chosen, and so may be a rare example of where plastic injection moulding achieves better results, but while the flag does not look realistic, it is at least technically accurate, and since no design is engraved on the surface, it can be painted as the customer wishes.

The last actual standard in this set is the imago, which was a head or bust of the emperor mounted on a pole and often covered by a shell representing an aedicula (a shrine or niche). Usually these were 3-dimensional, but this one is almost flat, with just the emperor’s face engraved on the front, which seems to have been uncommon. Nevertheless it is a worthy addition to this set, which covers the subject of standards pretty well.

As well as rallying points, standards could to a degree be used to transmit signals to the unit, but that would only work if everyone was watching the standard. To draw attention to the standard if some new order had been issued, the Romans often used the cornu, a large curved horn, which was sounded when required. The first two figures in our second row have such an instrument, one ready to be blown while the other is resting on the ground in a much more relaxed stance. The third man is blowing a tuba, a straight and somewhat shorter horn, and this served a similar purpose.

The last two figures stray somewhat from the title of this set. The first is of a junior tribune, and he stands with what looks like a codex in his hand. Junior tribunes were basically men of equestrian rank who were given administrative roles in a legion, but no authority in battle. The good ones might be promoted to a more meaningful position within the legion, but since they owed their position to their birth rather than any ability, many merely used it as a stepping stone to some other career. Finally there is a provincial legate, a man who was in overall command of a legion and, if a province had only one legion, he would also serve as the provincial governor.

Those men that carried standards often seem to have dressed differently from their men, although not with any particularly unique garments except for the animal pelts often seen. Three of these standard-bearers have such an animal pelt, but what form of body armour or corselet they wear over their tunic is not easy to make out. The imaginifer seems to have a leather garment covering his, with a sort of cape, again presumably leather, around the shoulders. For the rest there is little enough to see, so they can be represented as any desired armour, although the segmented armour of the first century seems to have been quite rare amongst such men. Otherwise their helmet and costume, where visible, is fairly standard for the time. Similarly the three musicians are only distinct from the other ranks by the wearing of animal pelts, with scale, segment and possibly leather armour on show here. Both the standard-bearers and musicians here wear their sword on the right hip (both sides seem common at the time), and those with a dagger have this on the left. Those without an animal pelt wear a cloak instead, and the signifier has a face mask hanging from his belt, which is an interesting touch. Four of these men are holding, or have slung, a circular shield of modest size called a parma, which is seen being used by such men on Trajan’s column, for example. All are heavily engraved with a pattern of laurel leaves.

The two officers are clearly copied from the Simkins Osprey book (see below), which describes their costume in detail, although as officers of course they had more leeway in what they wore. The helmet of the junior tribune is described by the author as ‘hypothetical’, and certainly not of any standard design, but cannot be ruled out. That of the senior officer is highly ornate, and the author describes this as clearly a parade item only, which helps explain its very unusual form. Both men have a sash around the waist, tied loosely at the front, a traditional symbol of rank.

The general level of sculpting is excellent, as can be seen. These complex figures are a mass of little detail which has been beautifully done, and the 3D printing means the complex poses are achieved without any need for assembly, yet with absolutely no loss of detail anywhere, even where equipment is being held in front of the body. Clearly this method of production lends itself well to such sophisticated poses, with only the unnatural vexillum already mentioned. However we were somewhat disappointed by the texture of the many animal pelts. Animal fur should be pretty smooth, just like the real thing, and at this scale it should have no discernible texture at all, yet all the pelts here have been given a very obvious and very strange texture which we can only describe as like a giant lizard. We cannot understand what the sculptor was trying to achieve here, but it looks very odd, and even painting would not be able to hide this bizarre pattern. Other than that, the sculpting is great.

All the poses are pretty sedate, but that is what you would expect as if such men were actually in contact with an enemy then something has gone very wrong. By concentrating on the standard-bearers and musicians, plus a couple of higher officers, this offers a pretty in-depth look at the subject which would not be possible with a normal set of fighting figures. The figures are a shade tall for true 1/72 scale – 1.8 metres is quite tall for an ancient Roman – and a couple of elements of the sculpting do rather spoil the excellent overall effect, but this is still a very pleasing set of figures which will be invaluable for anyone wanting a particularly high number of such specialists in their ranks for some reason, or for anyone looking to own and paint some more unusual imperial Roman subjects.