Carthaginian Officer

Relic Miniatures

Sacred Band from Xyston

I picked these 15mm Carthaginians up a few weeks ago from Xyston.  Ive done some Xyston stuff in the past, but its been a long time ago.  These are really nice figures.

I had some decals for the shields, but the 'bronze' looked so good, I didnt want to take a chance of messing them up....

Hannibal Barca

My dad was a student of military history.  He was a captain during Vietnam, and he always loved talking about military tactics.  One of my first memories of an 'adult' discussion with my dad was talking about the genius that was Hannibal, and I remember him drawing out the Battle Of Cannae and the tactics of the day - it made quite an impression on a 10 year old!  From that moment on, Ive always been interested in Carthage and its battles against Rome.

I have no doubt he would have loved this model.  This one is for you, Dad.

 

One of my crowning achievements to date has to be this shield...

 

Update to the magazine picture

From the editor of Desperta Ferro - this will be in issue #15.

Ill be taking requests for autographs....

My Carthaginians.....in a magazine??????

Wow.  I am absolutely stunned.

Leon from Pendraken emailed me last night.  It seems a gentleman in Spain saw my 10mm Carthaginians from a few months back and wants to include them in his magazine.  Desperta Ferro, here I come!  (After checking my google fu, I see that 'Desperta Ferro!' was a Catalan battle cry during the middle ages.  Cool!)

Holy shit.  These were the elephants that I entered into a contest over at The Guild, but finished dead last in voting.  It was a Pendraken contest, however, and Leon voted them as his favorite, so I won a nice gc from them.  I was pretty bummed that I did so poorly in the contest, as I felt that these had been some of my best 10mm work (and some of my best work, period for that matter!)

I post now, admittedly, because I terribly thrilled and proud of myself!  However, I also have another reason - the editor Javier Gomez has requested some pics in high res.  Dont think they will appear high res here on the blog, but do you think these pictures are good enough to submit to a magazine, or do I need to go back to the drawing board on them?  Be honest!

Thanks very much for looking, and sharing my excitement!!!!

Numidian cav completed

Finished up the Numidian cav last night.  They turned out pretty well - the pics dont do them justice.

Nevertheless, thanks to the people who comment here on my blog on the leopard skin shields, as well as on a couple other forums I visit.  I think they turned out pretty well!  Its hard to tell in the pictures, but I had a nice 'blending' effect from dark to light, and it looks just like the leopards skin.

On an unrelated note, USC pulled their first game out against Vandy last night.  Ugly game, but a win is a win

Leopard skin progress, and whats up next?

Quick pic of the leopard skin shield.  Hard to tell here, but I think I nailed it.

I should be done with them tonight.  They are based now with my mix for the ground.  Just need to paint it up and get some flock on there.

Next, I still have the rest of the 'snotlings' for the Ogre team.  They have been sitting on my desk for months - Ive got to knock them out.

After that, I think it will be SEAL Team 6.  After I saw this, it made me want to work on them

They are from Eureka (and yes, there is a dog wearing gear with them)

Probably gonna go down the 'multicam' road again...

Carthaginian Elephants

Just finished up some 10mm stuff from Pendraken.  I have absolutely fallen in love with 10mm - they are big enough to get some good detail, but small enough that you can really show some volume.

These figures were awesome (although, I have read that Carthaginians would not have had the tower on the elephant's backs because North African elephants wouldnt have been strong enough, but who knows?????) to paint and Im stunned by the detail that can be put into a 10mm figure.

This one had a slight modification....the archer...

15mm Numidians - Kardashian legs and cankles!

If you are an Old Glory 15s fan, you should probably stop reading right now.

I have been in the market to start a 15mm Carthaginian group.  A few weeks back, I bought a couple packs of Numidian cavalry and command.  What a shit pack of figures!!!  But, first, some finished pics:

Overall, considering with what I was working with, I think they turned out pretty good!

These figures were something that my father would have painted 30 years ago.  They are blobs at best!  Some complaints:

• The flash and mold lines were absolutely ridiculous.  It took me nearly two hours to scrape flash off and sand the mold lines on 10 15mm horses!  Im used to doing a quick touch up and moving on.  The riders not much better
• Some of the horses (and some of the riders too for that matter) were nearly hollow!!!  They had holes that needed to be filled and sanded.
• Some of the pila that the riders carried in the shield hand had multiple spear heads, but looked like only one wooden pole!  There were two sculpts in particular that had 4 spear points, but no doubt, only one 'stick' was sculpted.
• Not a single base of the horses was 'flat'.  Each one had to be cut down, due to the mold being 'off'.
• The arms and legs were totally out of proportion, and the muscle lines were ridiculous.  Of course, if I was hot for Kim Kardashian, maybe this would have turned me on.
• Cankles!

• Most of the riders had no toes!

Ok - stepping down now.  I think the bottom line here is that I will try a different line like Xyston or something else.

I think at this point in time, most research says that Numidian cavalry used hides for shields, so I went mostly with browns and greys (elephants).  I also read that they may have used chocolate chip cookies to deflect incoming projectiles!  (Ugh!!!  And one of those awful mold lines!!!!)

An attempt at leopard skin!  Leopards existed in Northern Africa during this time period.  I dont think it was too out of the question that one or two may have ended up as shields.

Pachyderm!

Just finished my Covus Belli 15mm Carthaginian elephant. Just in time under February's totals too! This model looks even better in person - one of my best, I think...especially for its size.