Rolling Thunder: Numidian Light Cavalry Arrives

 

HaT Numidian Light Cavalry
Fighting for Hannibal

I have been focused on building my contingent of Carthaginian cavalry for the 54mm Punic Wars Project over the past several weeks. During that period, I have managed to paint and finish 34 Numidian light cavalry to serve Hannibal's army. All told, I am closing in on 100 Carthaginian cavalry. My plan is to have the Carthaginian infantry outnumbered by the Roman infantry and for the Carthaginian cavalry to outnumber the Roman cavalry. There will be a couple of elephants as well, but these generally weren't featured in any of Hannibal's  battles against the Romans, except for the final battle at Zama.

I really like the sense of action and energetic movement that the HaT figures have.

Numidian cavalry. The 16 figures in the front group were acquired from another collector
 while the 32 in the second row were painted by me.

The Numidian light cavalry was the best in Hannibal's army. They were brilliantly led by Massinissa, the Numidian leader, and they were instrumental in Hannibal's victories at Trebbia, Trasimene, and Cannae.

But wait, there is more!

Carthaginian Heavy Cavalry

I added another dozen Carthaginian heavy cavalry, already painted, courtesy of a gentlemen in the UK who has been selling off his similar Punic War armies in 54mm plastic. I don't plan on doing any major painting touch up on these figures, save for any areas where the paint might have completely chipped off. They just need to have the bases terrained and then they will be ready to go. These will be joined by the 8 Carthaginians that I previously acquired via eBay as well as the 8 unpainted figures that I scrounged online. I will use 4 of the latter to bring the Carthaginian unit up to 24 figures and use the remaining 4 figures for Carthaginian commander stands.

Here is the full Carthaginian cavalry contingent as of today. There are a dozen Celtic cavalrymen not shown on the table. If I recall correctly, I have 100 Carthaginian cavalry, of which approximately half are Numidian light cavalry.

I have added another unit of Celtic infantry, which I will show in a separate post, and I have started work on some Italian allies for the Roman army. These will also be posted in the near future.