More of Hannibal's Veterans - Relic 28mm

As a further step toward liberating Italy from the overreaching Romans, and restoring a rightful order to the Mediterranean world, I have added 4 more Carthaginian veterans from Relic Miniatures (28mm) to the unit. As many of you are already aware, after his initial victories in Italy Hannibal equipped many of his men with captured Roman equipment, so these gentlemen wear Roman chain mail, two Roman helmets, and all of them sport large Roman shields, or "scuta".

I've hand-painted the shields with a variety of Carthaginian symbols - except for the second from the left. His has retained a Roman design to make the origin of the equipment all the more obvious - and hopefully giving just a little bit of a taunt to their opponents.

Last of the Relic Carthaginians

 I've done up a few more Carthaginian veterans from Relic, to finish out the set of eight, and thought I would put up some pictures of the group.

 

As long as you angle up the arms of folks in the rear rank, everyone fits together nicely.

Once again I've done the shields freehand, starting with some Roman designs on two of them and adding ornamentation over them. The Carthaginians took over captured Roman equipment, so I wanted to make them look explicitly like they had had previous owners. 

Next up for me is a large bunch of Gauls, so stay tuned!

Relic Miniatures - 25mm Carthaginian Veterans

Carthaginian veteran spear men are a popular subject for 25mm miniatures, and Relic has made several very nice sets, which differ from those of other manufacturers in that their spear arms are separate pieces and can be attached in a pose of your choice. It's a nice feature, and you just have to plan ahead and pose some in such a way that they will be able to stack up in ranks without poking the guy in front. There is only one pose for the spear-arm, and it attaches at the shoulder. The fit is good, and I filled the joint just with superglue.

I've kept the uniforms very simple on these figures, but put a lot more time in to the shields. Since they are supposed to be using captured Roman equipment, I've painted Roman-style wings on several of the shields before overlaying with traditional Carthaginian designs. Makes for a nice taunting effect I think......





In the next two photos you can see a couple different ways of accommodating multiple ranks, making sure the spears of those behind don't interfere with the guy in front.



And of course one of the benefits of being able to choose a pose is that you can get more variety from the same parts. These two are the same figure with different arm positions and shield designs.

25 mm Carthaginian Veteran Infantry

Here is a quick look at some Gripping Beast figures, four veteran Carthaginian spear men wearing Roman equipment. After his initial victories in Italy against several Roman armies, Hannibal had his heavy infantry appropriate Roman shields and armor from the killed and the captured.

These guys are probably a little too pale for North Africans, so I'll have to work on the skin tones a bit. Shield transfers are LBM.

25 mm Libyan Infantry Command

Large portions of the Carthaginian army were drawn from among the Libyans, and the three figures below represent the command of a Libyan infantry unit. The commander himself wears armor made of bronze scales over leather, the others wear linen armor.

Figures from Gripping Beast, shield transfers from LBM.

25 mm Carthaginian Citizen Infantry

Though Carthage was famous for its employment of large numbers of mercenaries in its armed forces, citizens of the state also served. From the look of their armor these four figures would represent relatively well-to-do citizens. They would be responsible for equipping themselves, and a solid bronze cuirass was no small investment.

The manufacturer is Crusader, but since the poses were all extremely similar and not very dynamic looking I have altered the two on the left to look more aggressive in their stance. Shield transfers are LBM, with the exception of the figure on the right. The design on his shield, an emblem of the goddess Tanit, is my own freehand.