[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!