Roman Legionary 58 BC-AD 69

I've recently become interested in the Roman Army of the early Imperial era; it probably has something to do with my picking up some figures and wanting to have more information on the Romans of that era and how to paint them properly. In this regard, Osprey's books have always been good for giving a thumb nail sketch of things with some excellent drawings to support gamers and modelers. With this in mind, Roman Legionary fully meets the requirements, almost like a centurion would; up front and directly. Here one can get good background on what it was like as a legionnaire; what legions were like, the training, the punishment, their equipment, and how they fought and lived. Supporting the quick descriptions are pictures of different legionnaire artifacts and eight color prints showing legionnaires performing different functions.

Rating wise this ones simple, a solid 4 stars. There's good information for gamers and modelers and it's quick and simple. I'd love to have had a little more information or definition on the different legions, but that wasn't the focus of the book (there is a nice table though that tells you the legions that were active for Augustus Caesar).

The Bad Season Michael In Hell

I bought the book to use as research for a novel I'm writing. The book had great illustrations and was very informative on legion tactics and weapons. I was also amazed by how many times the legions fought each other and how the weapons and uniforms changed over the years. I really enjoyed this book.

This is an excellent introduction the experiences, weaponry, and tactics of the Roman soldiery of the late Republic and early Empire, from the beginning of Julius Caesar's Gallic War to the death of Galba and Otho in 69. For a more experienced student of the Roman Army, it contains basic information but includes some new material-like the little known fact that many legionaries were forced into service-and makes some argumentable claims, like that the cohort did not have a commander. For anyone, this book is a worthy visual source; as with most Osprey books, the color plates by Angus McBride have only one problem-you only get eight of them!
This title would be best read with the other two Osprey titles by Cowan, Imperial Roman Legionary AD 161-284, and Roman Battle Tactics 101 BC-AD 313.

This Osprey book on the Roman legions proves to be a well written introduction to the subject matter. Written primary for beginners, any beginning reader can get a pretty clear understanding of how the Roman legion works, operates and function as a military unit. The author describes the tactics, weaponary, armor and other elements of the legion clearly and without blogging down the reader with too much details. The author also get on the personal level as he describes the recuitment, training, pay and other individual elements of being a legionaire. All that information for 63 pages. As an introductionary material, this book does an excellent job of a quick read and understanding.

I do agreed with one previous reviewer that there's a singular flaw in this book where the author claims that the century was the primary tactical unit of the legion. I too, totally disagreed with that assertion. That reviewer made an excellent case for why a century wasn't the primary tactical unit so I won't be redundant here.

But overall, the author provided a well researched book that should encouraged most beginning reader on the subject to read more and deeper.

Great source for weapons, armour, tactics, and more! The color plates inside alone are worth the reason to buy this...But it is also filled with great info and more!