iPad stolen, last sync is about 6 month old: can I still restore my purchases? My iPad was stolen from my flat together with other belongings during X-mas. 

I used it primarily as a game console for my son and as a reading device for PDFs, so I haven't synced it with iTunes for about half a year or so.

Meanwhile I bought about 100 different applications from AppStore directly on iPad using my AppStore account and credit card. These purchases were never transfered to any iTunes sync.

The question is whether I can still restore these purchases if I buy a new device?

I have searched the web for a manual how I can do it, but it always begins with "transfer your purchases to iTunes...", there is no way just to get them directly from my AppStore account, or at least I didn't find it...
Yes, you can redownload your purchases at no cost as long as you log the new iPad in to the same iTunes account. The only exception will be apps that have since been withdrawn from the iTunes store.