Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Punic Wars: Command, Elephant, and Cavalry



Still lots of work to go, but I'm making pretty good progress. As with the previous updates, here is the before picture. Besides the poor basing, I always disliked the shields for the cavalry; it looked like they were defending themselves with large slices of watermelon.

Old 28mm Carthaginian miniatures awaiting refurbishment

First up is the Carthaginian Hannibal set from 1st Corps to command the army. The figures are well sculpted for their age, though the same horse pose is used for both figures, which is a bit disappointing for a small unit.  

28mm Carthaginian Hannibal command from 1st Corps miniatures

Hannibal does not come with a shield, but I added one made from a cut down infantry shield. I used LBMS transfers to give the figures a more modern feel.

28mm Carthaginian Hannibal command from 1st Corps miniatures

Next up is a war elephant, also from 1st Corps. This old pewter design appears to have since been replaced with a new resin sculpt, which is probably for the best, as there are now a lot better elephants on the market. Still, he'll get the job done.

28mm Carthaginian elephant from 1st Corps miniatures

I kept the old shield decals and didn't do much differently other than add some washes and highlights. 

28mm Carthaginian elephant from 1st Corps miniatures

Last up are the Newline Designs Carthaginian cavalry. When I received mine back in the day, no musician was included, though they seem to have one now. There are only two horse poses and two spearmen poses, so not a lot of variety when compared to more modern lines.

28mm Carthaginian cavalry from Newline Designs miniatures

I've done my best to hide the lack of variety with color variations and more LBMS decals, but I'm not sure how effective it is. There are no decals made specifically for the Newline figures, so I used a mix (my Newline set had 3 shield types) of cavalry and infantry transfers designed for 1st Corps. They weren't a perfect fit, but still look better than the old watermelon shields. 

28mm Carthaginian cavalry from Newline Designs miniatures

28mm Carthaginian cavalry from Newline Designs miniatures

With that, I'm now a little over a third of the way through the refurbishment/expansion, and will soon have enough for a pilot game of Hail Caesar next month.

28mm Carthaginian army so far

 

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Punic Wars: Refurbishing Numidians and Samnites

My refurbishment of my old Carthaginian army continues with some allied troops. First up are Numidian cavalry from 1st Corps.  As you can see, the original paint jobs are fairly flat and the basing has a lot of room for improvement. 

28mm Carthaginian Army for WAB and Hail Caesar: 1st Corp Numidian Cavalry

Now with additional highlighting of the riders and horses, and the revised bases.

28mm Carthaginian Army for WAB and Hail Caesar: 1st Corp Numidian Cavalry

1st Corps has two horse variants for their Numidians, but I received only one pose for my unit.  I've done my best to hide it in the color schemes, and I'm hoping it's not immediately obvious since all the riders are different. 

28mm Carthaginian Army for WAB and Hail Caesar: 1st Corp Numidian Cavalry

The shield bosses prevented the easy use of any LBMS decals, so I've stuck with the hand painted hides.

28mm Carthaginian Army for WAB and Hail Caesar: 1st Corp Numidian Cavalry

Next are Numidian javelinmen from Foundry with a few spare Wargames Factory plastics thrown in. The Foundry figures were a convention flea market purchase and had never been painted before this.  I didn't have the full set of shields so mixed in some from Wargames Factory, along with javelins and some spare bags and daggers to tie the two manufacturers in better.

28mm Carthaginian Army for WAB and Hail Caesar: Foundry and Wargames Factory Numidian javelinmen skirmishers

The size between the two manufacturers are similar, with the most noticeable difference being the hairstyles.  The LBMS decals for the Wargames Factory figures are a little small for some of the Foundry shields, so I painted in the edges to fill in the gaps.

28mm Carthaginian Army for WAB and Hail Caesar: Foundry and Wargames Factory Numidian javelinmen skirmishers

Last for this round are my A&A Samnites. Again, they started with the same relatively flat paint jobs and poor basing.

28mm Carthaginian Army for WAB and Hail Caesar: A&A Samnite infantry

Refurbished Samnites

28mm Carthaginian Army for WAB and Hail Caesar: A&A Samnite infantry

I used the LBMS decals this time and the amount of pop they give the figures is amazing.

28mm Carthaginian Army for WAB and Hail Caesar: A&A Samnite infantry

For the Samnite clothing, I passed on additional highlighting as I didn't want to damage the tunic patterns. However, with the new shields and other updates, I don't think it detracts from the figures all that much.

28mm Carthaginian Army for WAB and Hail Caesar: A&A Samnite infantry

There are still quite a few units to go, but I'm happy with the progress I'm making.