Work In Progress - Punic Wars Project Update

 

Roman Velites for the Yellow Shield Legion

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Two weeks ago I finished this group of a dozen Roman Velites for my Yellow Shield Legion in my Republican Roman 54mm Punic Wars army. I have one legion with red shields and another with yellow shields. Were I to paint a third legion, it would probably have green shields. The shield colors obviously allow the player to tell the different legions apart.

I haven't finished the bases yet and I normally don't like to post pictures of my figures until they are based and ready to go in a game. On the other hand, I've decided that in 2022 I will make more blog posts by keeping a running update of Work In Progress ("WIP") units and finished units so that I can keep personal track of the progress and evolution of my projects.

Here are front and rear views of the Yellow Shield Velites. I have a dozen velites in each legion, but I have decided to increase their number to 16 per legion.

This past ten days I have been working on a second Gallic war band for Hannibal's Carthaginian army in Italy. The Gauls were more or less Hannibal's "cannon fodder" troops: they were always in the front line of Hannibal's troop deployment and their job was to do as much damage as they could on the first line (the Hastati) of the Roman army so that the Carthaginian (Punic and Libyan troops, collectively called "Africans") troops could join the battle as fresh troops fighting against a weakened foe.

Thus Hannibal's army will have four infantry units in the first line, two each of Iberian and Gallic soldier. They will be backed by a second line of Africans and Veterans. Light cavalry, Numidians, will be posted on one flank and the heavy cavalry, consisting of Gauls, Iberians and Carthaginian units, will be posted on the other flank.

Hannibal's Army Year to Date:

The Infantry:

2 x 32 Iberians (Spanish)

2 x 32 Gauls or Celts

1 x 32 African

1 x 32 Punic Veterans

1 x24 light troops

1 x 24 Balearic Slingers

The Cavalry:

1 x 16 Numidian light cavalry

2 x 12 Gallic heavy cavalry

1 x 8 Punic heavy cavalry

1 x Iberian heavy cavalry

I also have a couple of war elephants that need some painting touch up. These (and the Numidians) were purchased on line from other collections. I don't particularly care how these "Mercenaries" look as my plan is to do some minor touch up and repair. Yea right Jim. As is my wont, I will likely give these figures a totally new paint job before the end of the project. The basing appearance is what brings all of the figures together regardless of the quality of the painting. Buying mercenaries allows me to get figures onto the table top that much sooner.

The Iberian cavalry will likely be finished today and then I will start on a new unit of 12 Numidian light cavalry. After that, I'll either paint another dozen Gallic cavalry or a box of 8 Carthaginian heavy cavalry.

Republican Roman Army Year to Date:

The Infantry:

First Legion (red shields):

1 x 12 Velite skirmishers

1 x 32 Hastati

1 x 32 Princips

1 x 32 Triarii

Second Legion (yellow shields):

1 x 12 Velite skirmishers

1 x 32 Hastati

1 x 32 Princips

1 x 32 Triarii

The Cavalry:

20 x Italian Allies heavy cavalry

4 x Roman cavalry

All of the Roman cavalry have been purchased on eBay so you can see an example of how I can build up a part of the army without painting them myself. The Italian Allies will need a lot of touch up work. The Romans are passible and need little touch up.

I have another 20 unpainted Roman cavalry that I plan on painting myself. Eventually the Roman army will have two 24 to 32 figure cavalry units. During Hannibal's battles in Italy he normally had more cavalry than the Romans, whereas the Roman infantry usually outnumbered that of the Carthaginian army.

I am painting approximately 24 to 32 figures per week and going forward, most of the painting will be cavalry to bring these units up to enough to finally stage a battle on the table top.

And then there will be a few war elephants. Hannibal's war elephants did not survive the crossing of the Alps so they will not be needed for any battles in Italy. Hasdrubal/Gisgo's armies in Iberia fielded war elephants in their battles, and of course, Hannibal is said to have had 80 elephants at the Battle of Zama in Africa.