The metrical system in "Drummer Hodge"I just want to confirm; is the metrical system in Drummer Hodge syllabic verse? There are 8 syllables...

In "Drummer Hodge" by Thomas Hardy, Hardy uses a different
metrical system for every other line.

The first, third and
fifth lines of the first stanza has eight beats to it. The stress is on every other
syllable.

In the second, fourth and sixth lines, there are
six syllables in each line, with the stress on every other
syllable.

With this is mind, I believe you are correct. The
variation of rhythm give the poem a swaying motion.

In
terms of the rest of the poem, the rhyme scheme is ABABAB for each
stanza.

As the poem is about "Drummer Hodge," perhaps the
meter is used to mimic the sound of a drum when troops are marching (and as the poem
speaks about Karoo, I expect Drummer Hodge was involved in the war between the British
and the Boer republics in South Africa).