The Punic Wars Begin...Finally!

Nothing is quite so sweet in wargaming as really "finishing" an army. At long last I've finished a project that was begun a year and a half ago after I had bought a copy of Warmaster Ancients Rules. After some excitement over the rules I purchased a couple of 10mm Armies from Magister Militum. The exchange rate vs the dollar was really bad so I took a pretty hard hit to get the armies over here from England, but was impressed by the quality of the figures (and the great service from MM) enough to purchase three other armies soon after. So there I was sitting on five unpainted ancient armies...a formidable painting project if there ever was one.

I know, I know, "10mm is really easy to paint" and all that...and I believed every word, and to a large degree it's true, but...those little buggers seemed to take FOREVER! I think though in all fairness it was probably my discovery of 40mm figures, blogging, and soon after, 18th century gaming that diverted me from getting those tiny ancients done. But today I am happy to say that last week I found the momentum to complete what had to be completed, and now I can give those Warmaster rules a try! Though I'm not in to tournament play, I do enjoy the interesting matchups between dissimilar military systems that ancients offer.

So now to present the first two of an eventual five army (Romans, Carthaginians, Alexandrian Macedonians, Achaemenid Persians, and Indians) 10mm campaign collection....The Republican Romans and their intractable foes...The Carthaginians! To be followed hopefully soon by the remaining three (though not an entirely historical matchup of armies, I just find the differences in the five armies interesting and I think they will make a good hypothetical campaign a bit in the spirit of Tony Bath's classic Hyborean campaign).

the Romans

Scipio Africanus

Roman Heavy Infantry, the backbone...

Triarii, the old hands...

Roman Cavalry

The Carthaginians

Elephants!

Gallic allies with citizen spearmen in the second line

Hannibal and some sub-generals...check out the group on the left reading pre-battle omens in the entrails of an unfortunate sheep...

Carthaginian heavy cavalry...not shown are hordes of Numidian light cavalryto screen and harass...

Though these 10mm figures can be a bit of a challenge for older eyesight, they sure do make a cool mass spectacle. Now, on to Alexander's finely tuned army of Macedonians!