[Chapter Two] First figures

I started with the psiloi elements, the skirmishing infantry.
I painted all the skirmishers for one of the armies. They are three elements of balearic slingers and one of caetratti. They are all from the Hannibal´s Spanish Infantry set which has a nice selection on models (including some scutarii that I´ll be using afterwards)






If you have seen my other two DBA 20mm armies you know I base them differently. I use a uniform basing for every army, but like to give different armies different "terrains." It does add variety and character to the armies. This two Carthaginian forces will be similarly based though, for obvious reasons.



Next week, four elements of Numidian cavalry.
Stay tuned!

[Chapter One] Information

Ancient armies are usually simple. The troop types are clear, the uniforms simple and some liberties can be taken. But you still need to grab the basics of your army. Specially a varied army like the Carthaginian forces.

Here you have some of the books I have used for information and inspiration.
Osprey books specially are aimed at the wargaming public. You´ll find them more than appropriate:

The Punic Wars 264-146 BC



Armies of the Carthaginian Wars 265-146BC



Rome´s Enemies 4: Spanish Armies



And of course you have the internet.
A good place to start is Hat´s uniforms guide. They have drawings for almost their complete line of models: http://www.hat.com/ColorsU.html

So here we go. Check next week for the first painted models.

Cheers!

[Chapter Zero] The figures

Let´s kick start this thing with the basic element of any wargames army. The figures. In this pic you can see all the figures needed.

I´m building a double Cartaginian army for DBA with all the options. That makes 17 bases per army for a total of 34 elements. Add an ally and you have a great Big DBA army to deal with those romans.
If you consider that each Hat boxed set has 4 sprues, you can see how cheap this ammount of figures actually is. That´s one of the best things about plastic. Cheap and well detailed figures.

In case you are wondering about the Hat sets I´m using, here they are:

War Elephants
Numidian Cavalry
Hannibal's Carthaginians - Spanish Infantry
Celtic Cavalry
Hannibal's Carthaginians - African Infantry
Carthaginian Command and Cavalry

The first thing I do is wash the sprues with soap water and, after they dried, pull the figures off of the sprues. I organize them in bases, choosing the best variety of poses and of course checking if I calculated the number of models correctly. If you need help with that you can visit the plastic miniatures bible, called Plastic Soldier Review. I use it as an actual catalog when ordering figures!

I will put them on small bags until the moment of painting so they don´t mix again.

Now is the time for research. I will have a week to get into cartaginian troops and their allies.
Don´t worry, I will describe the sources I find here before painting.

Stay tuned...

Cheers!

An introduction

Welcome to my new project.
I like 1/72 plastic minis and I´m not alone. Although many wargamers think this aren´t "real minis" I digress. I love the detail, enjoy painting them and use them to wargame many periods, including ancients and WW2.

This blog will be hosting projects I embark on concerning plastic miniatures. I will not be doing projects in plastic constantly, but they will usually be completed in a reasonable period of time. I have tried this format before, and the weekly updates help me complete armies I would otherwise leave unfinished.

I have done other armies in plastic, and you can see them on www.baminis.com.ar
But for now, enjoy the creation of a Carthaginian army in 20mm figures. They were made by Hat, maker of many of the figures I use and lots of other periods I will eventually try my hand at.

Next post will show you the starting figures for the army. Hope you find it interesting :)

Cheers!