COBI Romans & Barbarians Siege Engine Set 23261

COBI's Romans & Barbarians Siege Engine is built from 260 blocks and includes three figures — Roman soldiers and barbarians. Age 7+, and compatible with other brick brands.

The roof mattered more than the ram

A battering ram is a heavy beam on ropes, and the physics of it have not changed since. What made Roman siege engineering different was everything built around it.

The Romans called the ram an aries, and it never went to a wall on its own. It travelled inside a wheeled shed — a testudo arietaria — with a sloped roof, because the men working the beam were standing still, in the open, under a wall lined with defenders dropping things on them.

That roof was covered in fresh animal hides, soaked in water, sometimes over a layer of clay or seaweed. The reason is fire: the standard answer to a siege engine was to set it alight, and dry timber burns. Wet hide does not, and the hides were re-soaked continuously while the ram worked.

Defenders answered with grappling hooks to catch the beam and lift it, mattresses lowered on ropes to cushion the blows, and heavy stones dropped to break the roof. Sieges were an engineering argument conducted at very close range.

The series

Romans & Barbarians is one of COBI's smaller historical lines, covering the Roman army and the peoples it fought. The sets are built for play rather than display and combine into a siege scene.

In the COBI range

Set 23114 is the siege ladder and 23113 the weapon cart.

Specifications

Pieces: 260 · Figures: 3 · Series: Romans & Barbarians · Age: 7+