Italeri 1/72 Late Imperial Legion

The kit comes in a shrink-wrapped end-opening type box that has the end flaps sealed with circles of scotch tape. The box art shows a group of Roman soldiers advancing in battle. The back of the box serves as the painting and assembly instructions. However, there is little assembly to do – other than adding separate shields and spears to the figures hands.

There are 3 identical light tan parts trees in the kit. These trees are molded from rubberized plastic. I am not a big fan of this stuff as I found out years ago that the seams are nearly impossible to remove and make smooth and the surface of the stuff repels paint. That is why Italeri tells you in the kit to wash the parts thoroughly and use a primer. That might make the paint stick better.

There are 12 figures on each parts tree, 8 loose shields. Four of these shields have eagle motifs on them, 2 have snakes that are chasing their tails, 1 has a half moon on it and 1 has a 10 pointed star on it. One figure has a spear and a snake shield already molded to him. Three figures have spears in their hands. Three more have swords. One figure holds a dagger. One figure appears to be empty-handed.  A figure holds a pole with a snake pennant on it. The final 2 figures are archers with bow and arrows.

I recommend this kit to the wargammers that it is aimed at or general modelers who might be interested in ancient Roman legion figures in 1/72nd.

Ray Mehlberger

May 2012

I want to thank Model Rectifier Corp. (MRC) for this review sample.