Comparing Romans: Chariot 15s (Magister Militum) with Strategia e Tattica 15s (North Star)

As promised some time ago, here are some comparison shots of my Strategia e Tattica Polybian Romans matched up with some figures in the same scale from the Chariot range.  Chariot are of course sold by Magister Militum, while Strategia e Tattica can be found on their home site in Italy and are also carried in the UK by North Star.

First up are the hastati.  The Chariot figures are to the viewer's left, with the red shields; Strategia e Tattica figures are to the right, with the blue.  The height is a very good match, but the Chariot shields are more oval and are a touch thinner.  The figures are about the same level of chunkiness, though the SeT ones have slightly wider heads.    

Next we have the principes.  These figures are also a fairly good match height-wise, but the SeT figures are noticeably more chunky here and one of the poses is also somewhat more roughly sculpted than the others in the range.  There was actually a far better selection of poses in the second batch of SeT figures I ordered, so the roughly-sculpted figures are a much smaller proportion of the total figures in the second batch than they are here.

Moving on to the triarii now, you can see that the Chariot shields are very narrow here, even by comparison to the other figures in their range, and while the figures are quite nice to my eye the moulds are aging and there was terrible flash on the figures.  In the close up you can see there is still some unwanted flash on the shields and faces that I was unable to remove.  It's not quite so obvious to the naked eye, but it certainly is here.  The SeT triarii are again a good match in height and chunkiness.  They also have good variety in their standing poses, and make an impressive group, in my opinion.

Lastly, we have the velites (the cavalry will have to be posted another time - they aren't painted yet!).  These figures are a very good match, and I actually use them in the same unit. The shield are almost the same size and the height and chunk match well, as per usual.

In conclusion, the heavy infantry figures work quite well as different legions/alae in the same force, and the velites can be mixed together in the same unit to create a nice selection of compatible poses.  Overall, I prefer the SeT hastati and triarii, with the Chariot principes having the edge over their SeT counterparts at this stage.  That might change when the second batch, with its better overall sculpts, is painted up.

I would certainly recommend the Strategia e Tattica infantry for anyone looking for some different figures for their Polybian armies.