Carthaginian Army in 54mm - Progress So Far

A portion of my 54mm Carthaginian army shown above.

Click on pictures to enlarge

Well now that I seem to have jumped into the Second Punic War Project with both feet, I thought that it might be time to post some pictures of my 54mm Carthaginian army. If you follow me on Facebook or are a member of The Virtual Wargames Club then you have probably seen these pictures, but for everyone else, here is a preview of what I have.

Note that I commenced painting 54mm Romans and Carthaginians back in September 2022 with the plan to run a Hannibal game at Historicon in 2024. However, a side trip to Gettysburg on the way home sidetracked this project as I shifted my focus to the ACW and Pickett's Charge game for 2024. Now that all of that is in the rear view mirror I am refocused on the 54mm Hannibal project.

Hannibal's army of the Second Punic War was largely of a mercenary nature comprised of "allies" from Gaul (Celts), Spain (Celt-Iberians), Numidians and Lybo-Phoenicians (Lybians). There were very few actual Carthaginian citizens in any Carthaginian army.

Hannibal army commander command stand.

John Jenkins Designs 60mm Hannibal and Carthaginian infantry.

My Hasdrubal command stand. The two figures on the stand indicate that
he is one command level below the army commander.

The Celts

I use infantry units of 32 figures and cavalry units of 16 figures in my armies. All of the figures are plastic figures made by HaT Industries ("HaT"). I copied some of the shield patterns off of pictures that I found on Pinterest.

Celtic infantry

Celtic cavalry

The Spanish

My Spanish contingent consists of two infantry units of medium/unarmored troops and some heavier Celt-Iberians wearing chain mail.

Celt-Iberian heavy infantry

Spanish infantry - Caetratii with small round sheilds.

Spanish Scutarii

Balearic slingers. These are metal figures made by HaT

Spanish Cavalry. These figures are out of production and very hard to find, but
I was able to find another box of 8 cavalry on eBay from a seller in Australia.

Libo-Phoenicians (Libyans or Africans)

The heavy infantry core of Hannibal's army came from the countryside around the City of Carthage. While they were not deemed to be citizens, they had a close connection to Carthage and I would not rate them as "mercenary troops." 

African infantry in Hannibal's army.

African heavy infantry - the backbone of the army.

HaT also makes figures that it calls "Carthaginian Cavalry", but I don't know what their origin would be, but they appear to be small in numbers in the various subjective orders of battle that I have seen for Hannibal's army.

HaT Carthaginian Cavalry. I bought these painted figures on eBay. Decently painted
and look better once they are based (see the second rank).

Libyan light infantry

Numidian Cavalry

These light cavalrymen from North Africa were perhaps the finest cavalry in Hannibal's army. They also defected during the final Zama campaign, which tipped the scales in the Roman army of Scipio's favor. Had they all stayed with Hannibal, then he might well have won the battle of Zama.

Elephants

The elephant contingent in Hannibal's army. Each elephant also has one stand of light infantry.

A pair of war elephants and their supporting light infantry. The infantry
serve to protect the elephants from Roman Velites (light infantry).
All figures shown above are 54mm HaT plastic figures.

So there you have it, all of the components of my 54mm Carthaginian army. Most of the figures were painted two years ago. Recently I added a 32-figure unit of Celt-Iberian infantry and five elephants.

My plan is to add two more Celtic/Gallic infantry units and another Celt-Iberian heavy infantry unit. I will also add another African heavy infantry unit. The idea is that each player will have four elements of foot or cavalry or elephants to command in the game.

More on the Romans at a later day.

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