15mm Carthaginian Elephants

When I think of Carthaginians I automatically think of elephants, even though Hannibal only managed to get a handful across the Alps; according to some sources such as Goldsworthy, just one.

The DBMM army list allow up to nine but I ended up purchasing an even ten, again from Xyston miniatures:

There are two body poses with a choice of two different heads, one with armoured tusks, so it is possible to make up four different elephant combinations:

They are each supplied with two crew from a choice of three figures, plus two different mahouts:

The elephant figures themselves were supplied in two halves with, as mentioned, a separate head, and the figures fitted together very nicely with the mahout conveniently sitting on top of the exposed join between the head and two halves:

and the tail blending in with the rear join very nicely:

The only downsides are that the tower comes in four bits so took a bit of lining up, one of the crew figures had a massive arm which made him look a little as though he was suffering from elephantiasis and was difficult to file down, and the extended trunk meant I had to line them up diagonally on the base to allow them to be positioned line astern if required. Minor quibbles about what are otherwise excellent models:

The tower comes with cast-on shields, so I used some of the Little Big Men Studios decals to again give them a bit of variety:

I now only have a few stands of character figures and eight early Carthaginian chariots left to go, which means the end of this particular project is now very much in sight.

15mm Numidian Cavalry

I had originally hoped to complete these prior to a game we had last Saturday, but they didn't make it on to the table in time. I managed to put the finishing touches on them this week, before starting on some Carthaginian elephants:

As with the Carthaginians I have continued to use the Foundry North African skin triad on these figures, and selected a variety of horse colours and experimented with a few shield designs to try to mix things up a little:

The figures are as usual Xyston, with four different poses in each pack:

I have another sixty or so of these figures to complete, but for now it was nice to be able to paint something different before returning to complete the Carthaginian army, for which they will form a useful ally:

We lost the game on Saturday and it would be nice to think things may have turned out differently if these guys had been available, but Hannibal being killed played a larger part in our defeat. That's two generals in the last two games I have now lost so I am probably being a little careless with them, although we did manage to scrape through with a win in the previous game regardless.

15mm Crescent Root European Buildings

Following my purchase of a Crescent Root European village four years ago:
http://tinmountain.blogspot.com/2015/12/crescent-root-15mm-world-war-ii.html
I have been keeping an eye on their new releases. These are great models and have the advantage of being pre-painted and assembled. The original 15mm MDF buildings are no longer available, but I purchased half a dozen from the new range European range which complements them nicely.

Here are two of the recent purchases side-by-side:

With a few close-ups showing some of the very nice detail, including recessed windows which is achieved by virtue of an inner and outer skin to the models, and terrific texturing on the walls:

I went with the option of a stone look on some and sienna on others, while keeping all the roofs to a slate grey to keep them consistent with my earlier purchase:

All the roofs lift of to reveal layers of flooring. While these do have the 'typical' lasered MDF appearance and are possibly not to the same level as earlier models, they will nevertheless be highly functional and are a welcome inclusion:

Some of the models are quite large and represent good value, although with freight and the unfavourable exchange rate between the US and Australian dollar the overall cost did start to creep up a bit. These last two are my favourites with what appears to be a large apartment block:

And another which is a row of shops with accommodation overhead:

In my opinion these are superb models and I know I'll be back for more once this range disappears and the next emerges (although I'm already thinking I could probably use a few of Crescent Root's industrial-style buildings in the meantime - hmmmm).

For those interested the Crescent Root website is:
https://crescent-root.com/pages/Product/15mm/15mm.html

15mm Poeni Cavalry and Generals

A quick post with three Carthaginian generals and four elements of Poeni cavalry, the latest to emerge from the production line. First the generals, with the figure in the middle one of three Hannibal figures I have purchased for this army:

The figures are Xyston, and it was nice not to have to glue on shields or spears for a change of pace:

The Poeni cavalry did require spears and the usual Little Big Men Studios shield transfers:

This figures will take the field in a game against some Ptolemaic Egyptians tomorrow. I was hoping to have the elephants and some Numidians completed to join them, but they may have to wait another week or two.

15mm Poeni Citizen Infantry

The Carthaginian citizen infantry in the DBMM army lists represent city militia or settlers and are therefore rated as inferior troops. The later Carthaginian lists allow up to two hundred and forty figures or sixty elements of these which is something I don't think any sane DBMM player would actually contemplate, so I thought I would purchase enough for eighteen elements and leave it at that.

I then took a second look at the Early Carthaginian list and happily realised that it is possible to upgrade and field eight elements as "ordinary" or average auxilia, something that will I believe prove to be much more useful. Of course I only realised that after I had stuck the buggers on to their original bases, but at least I hadn't got any further than that.

Anyway here they are, eight elements of auxilia and twelve of inferior spear:

The auxilia I would surmise are representative of the citizen infantry trained by Xanthippus in the First Punic War, a Spartan mercenary whom Polybius tells us was overheard to say something along the lines of "these guys are rubbish", and who the Carthaginians then put in command. Xanthippus apparently instilled in them such confidence that they finally beat the Romans at the battle of Tunis, after having suffered two previous defeats:

These Xyston figures are quite easy to paint, depicted as they are without armour and carrying little equipment:

Although I noticed that they are all supplied with the Xyston long Gallic-style shield which I'm not particularly fond of. Thankfully I had a few round shields left over so could mix them in, which I believe enhances the citizen infantry look:

As to the citizen spear themselves, I am quite happy with the way the turned out and, as usual, the LBMS decals do their job admirably:

And a final picture of both options together:

Now to complete some Poeni cavalry, and then on to some elephants.

15mm Carthaginian Sacred Band

One of the few units to be made up of actual Carthaginians as opposed to mercenaries, the Sacred Band were well-armoured citizen spearmen who fought in a spear phalanx. They were highly-regarded troops but were wiped out twice, once in Sicily against the Greek Timoleon who surprised them while crossing the Crimissus River and the second time in Tunis, after which they were never reformed. Consequently they are only included in early army lists, but are a more than useful addition for Carthaginian armies of that period:

The citizens forming the Sacred Band apparently equipped themselves with expensive armour, so I depicted them all with bronze armour and shields which is in line with some interpretations of what they may have worn:

The command figures were drawn from the usual Xyston Carthaginian command pack, although I selected those which looked earlier appearance:

The figures are as usual Xyston, with eight stands and thirty-two figures in all:

Next up will be some citizen spearmen, and then the cavalry, elephants and chariots to complete the army.

15mm Libyan Javelinmen

A quick post of a dozen stands of Libyan javelinmen I completed last week. These are again Xyston, although a little slighter than some of the others in their range:

Some of the poses are quite dynamic and really give the impression of a skirmisher about to let loose his javelin. All the figures are depicted with mohawks which has an ornament tucked through the front of it:

They remind me of North American natives, apart from the shields:

I am still not quite sure what the shield are meant to depict; possibly some form of hide shield with feathers attached at the top. I looked online and couldn't see any examples, so went with a brown hide look with white feathers attached:

Apart from one which I painted up as a pineapple:

That's the third unit finished with some Carthaginian Sacred Band figures currently on the painting table and nearing completion.