From HarryV: 28mm Hannibal's Veteran Carthaginian Spearmen (380 pts)

 Hi everybody, for my second post I have four units of Veteran Carthaginian Spearmen 

Across the units are 76 figures in 28mm scale at 5 pts each, coming to a total of 380 pts. The figures are a mix of multiple manufacturers. The largest part are from aventine miniatures, but there are victrix, agama, lucid eye, and warlord games all present as well. 

These figures represent Hannibal's veterans over the course of their 10 years saga in Southern Italy, along with their return to Africa for Zama. They are for the "To the Strongest Ruleset". 

The first unit is the most aggressive, and has the biggest concentration of victrix figures. All the veterans are rated as Veteran Legionaries in standard sized units for the To the Strongest Ruleset. 

I chose figures mainly in standing poses as I was envisioning them at the Battle of Zama where they formed Hannibal's third line. They are surveying the battlefield, watching the first lines in action and determinedly awaiting the battle's conclusion. 

In terms of equipment I wanted a diverse, yet cohesive look to the units. I tried to tie the units together with the mostly scutum shields and Carthaginian shield designs. However, I wanted the figures to have a wide variety of equipment. 

The eagle eyed will notice Gallic figures mixed in. This is taking from a lecture by Adrian Goldsworthy, who describes how while initially fighting in their ethnic contingents, over time Hannibal's troops converged together into mixed units over their many years fighting together.

"You might fancy that the Africans were for the most part a body of Romans from the way they were armed, they were so completely equipped with the arms, some of which they had taken at the Trebia..."

Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 22.46

As well as figures marketed as Carthaginians, I used a lot of Roman figures in these units to simulate the looting of Roman equipment. I think given that Livy describes them as looking very Roman, this points to the use of the scutum. Over many years of campaigning, cut off from supply, I imaged the veterans would be using what they could find locally in Italy.

In terms of painting and modeling, this was more on the speed painted side of the spectrum. I wanted to use a lot of white cloth and shields to give them a Carthage look. Carthaginians are described with white shields in the Sicilian Wars, but mainly this choice is from playing too much Rome: Total War. There is light conversion work throughout, mainly on the plastic figures - lots of kit bashing. I am not a huge fan of the agema plastics, mainly the heads look weird on the bodies.

Thats it from me this week. Next week I will have my Libyan Skirmishers completed. 

More lovely looking ancients Harry.  Love the mix of figure manufacturers and the varried equipment within the units.   They look fantastic all lined up too.  We've had good luck with TtS using my Late Romans vs Picts etc collections.