More on 54mm Gladiators

I got my Alpha Miniatures order in over the weekend, and did a little clean
up and assembly last night after getting back from TNGG. I bought one of everything
they had left, which wasn't much. As I've reported earlier, they are going out
of business. I went to see if the Alpha page was still up and running to see
what classes of gladiators I managed to get, and lo and behold it was. There's
some great information on gladiators on the site, and just in case it goes down
I'm going to reference SOME of it here. The following information is copyright
Alpha miniatures and is presented for my own personal reference. Where there
is a picture, I have purchased that gladiator. Click on the picture to see it
full sized.

Heavy Gladiators

Thracian (Thraex)- This gladiator was armoured very similarly to the Hoplomachus.
He wore full greaves on both legs, padding on his left arm and a full helmet,
commonly adorned with a griffin. His other equipment included a small square
or round shield, which he carried in his left hand, and a sword, which could
be either a scimitar (sica), or a "bent" sword peculiar to the Thraex

Murmillo - The Murmillo derived his name from a Greek word for fish. His main
opponents were the other heavy gladiators, the Thraex and the Hoplomachus. He
wore a helmet, had padding on his right arm, a metal greave on his left leg and
a large shield. He was armed with a sword.



Hoplomachus - The Hoplomachus was a heavy gladiator. He was named after the small
round shield he carried which was small version of the classic Greek shield -
hoplon. He wore a helmet, large greaves (metal leg guards) on both legs and padding
on his right arm. His weapons were a short sword and a spear.

Medium Gladiators

Secutor (chaser) - The Secutor was a variety of the Murmillo specially designed
to fight the Retiarius. He carried a large rectangular shield and a high-visored
helmet with very small eyeholes, which restricted his hearing and sight. He
also had a small greave on his left leg and padding on his right arm. His weapon
was a short sword.

Provocator - Provocators were medium gladiators and usually fought each other.
They were armoured with a visored helmet, a breastplate, and a half-length greave
on their left leg and padding on their right arm. They were armed with a large
rectangular shield and a sword.

Andabates - This gladiator wore full body armour and was unusual in that his
helmet had no eyeholes in it. He only fought other Andabates.

Light Gladiators

Retiarius (net man) - This gladiator fought with a trident (a three pronged
spear), a dagger and a net, which he used to entangle his opponent. He had no
helmet or shield with his only protection being a metal guard on his left shoulder
(galerus) and cloth padding on his left arm. His usual opponent was a Secutor.

Essedarius - These gladiators get their name from the light two-wheeled chariot
of the Celts. Whether they fought from war chariots or just made their entry
in them is unknown. They fought against other Essedarius.

Equites - (Being the plural of eques) means horsemen. These Gladiators were
lightly armoured, wearing sleeveless tunics, a helmet and a small round shield.
On Mosaics they are shown fighting both mounted and on foot.

Dimachaeri - This lightly armoured gladiator fought with two swords or daggers.

And the dwarf version (I got two of these)

Laquerarius - This gladiator was a variety of Retiarius but fought with a lasso
and spear instead of a net and trident.

Paegniarius - This fighter entertained the audience during intervals and fought
with blunt weapons.

And the following guys I ordered but aren't referenced on the main information
page: "Medium Gladiator".. this is a poor sap (probably a slave or convict thrown
in the ring as a jail sentence).

And the two Boxers, the Pugalisti:





The medium gladiator guy and the boxers might be of limited use, but what the
heck, they were on sale.