Roman Republican Legionary 298–105 BC (Warrior, 162)

This is a history book with illustrations and it is supposed to explain how the Roman Legions developed. It does its job very well. You can get a good picture of what the Roman Legions looked like, how they fought and the weapons they used. This book is an easy read.

A companion to the post Republican volume. Ths book traces the development of the first Roman armies from the armed citizen throngs through the phalanx into the adoption of the gladius and pilum and large shield, with three lines of formed, well trained trips. This is the army that conquered the Med. Background on formations, new weapons, conscription, equipment and tactics. A good background plus details and where no complete factual evidence is available, a logical explanation of the most likely direction taken by the Romans. Recommended.

Good information and good illustrations

I used this book as one of the book resources in a completion of a paper for a college class. It greatly assisted me in the finalization of the paper.

Outstanding book for this period of Roman history. Sometimes you think that you might have a pretty good outstanding, but there is always some information you didn't know.

This is a good presentation and introduction to Roman legionaries from BC 298, the reorganization of the Roman army in manipules and the beginning of the third and last war against the Samnites to the rise of Marius and the eve of his own military reforms on 105 BC.This little Osprey volume displays the usual structure that can be found in the series, with introduction and chronology, origins of the manipular legion, recruitment, training and organization, followed by a piece on appearance and equipment. The book ends with a section on the legionary during campaigns and another one on his "experience of battle".By and large, and for those that already know quite a bit on this period, there is little new or original. Even these, however, will find value in this book because it clearly illustrates the hybrid and transition Roman army and its shift from a hoplite type organization to what would become the "classic" Roman legions by the time of Marius. For those who are new to the subject, however, and those who are looking for some rather vivid visual illustrations, this book will be fine for you.Both the contents and the eight plates are, however, well presented and thought out. The plates in particular are distributed throughout the book to cover evenly most of the sections: recruitment, training, one for equipment of first and third line infantry, and one for cavalry and then one each for battles on land, on sea and for siege. A minor gripe here is that there is - oddly - no plate for the Principes - the second line of legionaries. A minor positive is that the plates allow the reader to get a clear grasp of Roman equipment, and Roman helmets in particular, of the time.A final merit of this book is to explain the advantages that the manipular formation allowed the Romans to build over their various foes, whether the Carthaginians, which initially were using a hoplite type organization, the Gauls, or the Hellenistic monarchs and their pike phalanxes which was itself an evolution from the hoplite phalanx. A related feature is to show through the equipment section how versatile the Romans were and would remain for centuries in adopting pieces of equipment (with the gladius being one of the most well-known examples) from their foes and improving on them.Two final remarks need to be made, however. One is that the book does contain a number of repetitions which may be mildly annoying for some. Another element is that the text is very largely inspired from Keppie's "The Making of the Roman Army: From Republic to Empire" to the extent that, at times, it almost reads like a shortened version.

At the Chester Roman festival recently, I was delighted to meet the illustrator and fellow Irishman, Sean O Brogain. I was even more pleased when he produced a copy of this book, the publication of which had slipped past me. One of the great things about Osprey is the way that they slowly but surely provide us with texts (and illustrations) for areas that aren't well covered.Most people choose to read about the imperial period of Rome, but there's easily as much history before Augustus, the first emperor, as there is after him. The period covered in this book covers the change in legionaries from men who fought in a phalanx formation to those who fought in the manipular fashion, right down to the changes made by Gaius Marius circa 105-100 BC.Expect the usual Osprey sections on organisation, unit size, training, equipment and weapons. There are also sections about campaigning and battle. It's well-written for the most part, although in some sections the text is a little 'clunky'. There's a good chronology at the start, and a decent bibliography. The illustrations, as expected, are excellent. Well worth the money. Readers who want more in depth discussion of equipment and weaponry of this and other periods might like the fantastic  Roman Military Equipment: From The Punic Wars To The Fall Of Rome  by Bishop & Coulston. There are other good Osprey titles based in this period too, including  Early Roman Armies  and  Republican Roman Army 200-104 BC .Ben Kane, author of Hannibal: Enemy of Rome and Spartacus: The Gladiator.

Best military series.

This is a good presentation and introduction to Roman legionaries from BC 298, the reorganization of the Roman army in manipules and the beginning of the third and last war against the Samnites to the rise of Marius and the eve of his own military reforms on 105 BC.This little Osprey volume displays the usual structure that can be found in the series, with introduction and chronology, origins of the manipular legion, recruitment, training and organization, followed by a piece on appearance and equipment. The book ends with a section on the legionary during campaigns and another one on his "experience of battle".By and large, and for those that already know quite a bit on this period, there is little new or original. Even these, however, will find value in this book because it clearly illustrates the hybrid and transition Roman army and its shift from a hoplite type organization to what would become the "classic" Roman legions by the time of Marius. For those who are new to the subject, however, and those who are looking for some rather vivid visual illustrations, this book will be fine for you.Both the contents and the eight plates are, however, well presented and thought out. The plates in particular are distributed throughout the book to cover evenly most of the sections: recruitment, training, one for equipment of first and third line infantry, and one for cavalry and then one each for battles on land, on sea and for siege. A minor gripe here is that there is - oddly - no plate for the Principes - the second line of legionaries. A minor positive is that the plates allow the reader to get a clear grasp of Roman equipment, and Roman helmets in particular, of the time.A final merit of this book is to explain the advantages that the manipular formation allowed the Romans to build over their various foes, whether the Carthaginians, which initially were using a hoplite type organization, the Gauls, or the Hellenistic monarchs and their pike phalanxes which was itself an evolution from the hoplite phalanx. A related feature is to show through the equipment section how versatile the Romans were and would remain for centuries in adopting pieces of equipment (with the gladius being one of the most well-known examples) from their foes and improving on them.Two final remarks need to be made, however. One is that the book does contain a number of repetitions which may be mildly annoying for some. Another element is that the text is very largely inspired from Keppie's "The Making of the Roman Army: From Republic to Empire" to the extent that, at times, it almost reads like a shortened version.

I have about 10 of these books and they are all of a similar standard, a high standard. The writing is alway crisp and to the point, the photos (usually B&W are good, and the colour reproductions are invariably excellent. I used to think Ronal Embelton was the Bee's Knees in this area but the guys Osprey use are right up there with him.A great starter that contains up to the minute facts and figures and if one is interested you could do an awful lot worse than these books.

To be honest, I'm not an historian. I only read this kind of book out of curiosity. And my curiosity about details or Roman military history is completely satisfied (for the period described in this book). I think I'll buy more from Osprey Publishing.

If you are interested in the Romans then you will want to read this book.Well written , illustrations good very informative