COBI Roman Legionnaires' Tent Set 20078

COBI's Roman Legionnaires' Tent is a 1:35 diorama built from 199 blocks: a contubernium tent on a base with grass, stones and a tree, surrounded by the gear of the men who lived in it — barrels, a shovel, weapon and armour racks, a cushion, a bench, and a fire pit with fish roasting on it. One legionary figure is included, whose armour comes off to reveal a printed tunic underneath.

Eight men and a mule

The contubernium was the smallest unit in the Roman army and the one that mattered most day to day: eight soldiers who shared a tent, a pack mule, a hand mill for grinding their grain, and a cooking pot. Ten of these groups made a century, six centuries a cohort, ten cohorts a legion — but the eight men were the part a soldier actually lived in.

They pitched together, ate together, stood guard in rotation and were punished together when one of them failed. Enlistment ran twenty-five years. A man joining at eighteen would eat every meal of his adult life with the same seven people, which is a large part of why the Roman army held together in places and conditions where other armies came apart.

The tent itself was goatskin, roughly three metres square, and it is the reason the fire pit and the racks in this diorama are outside rather than in.

Building the full camp

The tent diorama is the interior piece of the modular camp. Four watchtowers (20076) at the corners and two gates (20077) opposite each other enclose it, with one or two tent sets inside.

Specifications

Pieces: 199 · Figures: 1 · Scale: 1:35
Model dimensions: 22 × 18 × 11 cm (8.7 × 7.1 × 4.3 in)