RED BOX (3)

By the fall of the Western Empire, the Roman world had long embraced the importance of cavalry, and as usual it was the heavy cavalry that formed the elite of the whole army. Indeed the infantry seems to have been treated as no more than a support for the cavalry, offering a refuge should the horsemen need to shelter on the battlefield. The introduction of the stirrup further improved the effectiveness of cavalry, providing commanders with both a highly mobile force of archers to disrupt an enemy, and a means of breaking an opposing unit by sheer force. As discussed with the first set for this set 2, RedBox have provided the medium and moderately heavy cavalry under the name of clibanarii, and here we find six more poses to depict these warriors. Specifications Contents: 12 figures, 12 horses Poses: 6 poses, 6 horse poses Material: Plastic (Medium Consistency)

Having originally built their empire largely by the use of heavy infantry, the Romans came to appreciate the importance of cavalry, particularly in the eastern provinces, where they came into contact with various cultures in the Middle East and the Steppe. Faced with enemies that specialised in light cavalry, the Eastern Romans, also known as Byzantines, adopted much the same tactics, and often employed those very peoples in their own forces. The light cavalry performed all the usual roles such as scouting and skirmishing, but the size of the empire and the nature of the threats meant some Roman forces were almost exclusively light cavalry, where a rapid response was needed to a raid on some border region, for example. Some of these men were native to the empire, but many were often mercenaries, and indeed at some periods in their long history virtually all Roman light cavalry was actually made up of mercenaries, mostly from outside of their territory. Specifications Contents: 12 figures, 12 horses Poses: 6 poses, 6 horse poses Material: Plastic (Medium Consistency)