Carthago Delenda Est!

At the beginning of the year those fiendish folk at War and Peace Games had a sale of Agema plastic Roman Republican legionaries for about half price. Wargaming the triplex acies of the middle Republic has long appealed to me, so I succumbed. 'Now is the time for decisive action' I growled, pressing the 'buy' button.



The great thing is that Steve from our Odin's Night gaming club happened to have a Carthaginian army in his plastic mountain, so I am now enjoying the rare pleasure of painting up an army in parallel with an actual live opponent. Our goal is to make an army each that can be used for Impetus and Sword and Spear, so we have set ourselves a couple of deadlines to make the project achievable.



First up, the goal is to prepare a Basic Impetus army by 2 August, which happens to be the anniversary of the Battle of Cannae. The next 'stretch goal' is 19 October (the Battle of Zama), by which we should have a larger force for a full game of Impetus and Sword and Spear.



Units are based on 120mm frontages, and I've finished my first two units of Principes, the second line of the Republican Legion consisting of men in their prime. All the figure are from Agema, but I've mixed in a few of their metal characters and command figures among the plastics for some variety. I am very impressed with their figures overall, particularly since the more realistic 'true 28mm' scale appeals to me. These wouldn't mix well with the likes of Victrix or Crusader Miniatures, but they are pretty nice by themselves. Hand painting all the shield was a bit of a swine.



Note that I've decided to give this army north African-ish deserty bases. This is entirely aimed at psyching out Steve, as they are based for Zama rather than any of the Italian battles. Heh.