2nd Punic War: Carthaginian Elephants and Veteran Spear

 

I know I've caved to the wargamer's bane and completed the crown units of the army before doing the masses but I couldn't resist getting these guys converted for Hail Caesar.

War Elephants

The units have been rebased from DBA/M and a general's elephant element added.

The fighting bases are from the HaT Set 8023 War Elephants and depict the smaller African Forest Elephant with howdah. Some of them were painted nearly twenty years ago and needed quite a bit of touching up.

I also added some shield transfers I'd commissioned from a local printer and most have been based two to a base to create four HC bases.

The elephant general is from the Linear-A Set 023 Hannibal Makes a Triumphal Entry in Italy and as the name indicates, is meant to depict Hannibal riding on Surus - the last remaining elephant of that epic trip. The companions are from the same set and the HaT Set 8056 Carthaginian Command and Cavalry, shield transfers are from Big Little Men Studios Carthage Punic range.

That Surus seems to be a bigger than the other elephants supports the idea that he was an Indian/Syrian elephant - a lot larger than the smaller forest elephants. I just wish, instead of going directly backwards, Hail Caesar had similar stampede rules to the old WAB ruleset, where a scatter dice was rolled to see which direction the elephants went when they stampeded 😂  

Veteran Spear 

Another crown unit, Hannibal's veteran spear from HaT Set 8020 Hannibal's Carthaginians - African Infantry and command set from the same company mentioned above. There's also a standard bearer/officer and trumpeter from Newline Design's Carthaginian Command pack and as always, they mix in well with the HaT troops. Shield designs are also from the Little Big Men Studios Carthage range.

Again, some of these figures were painted nearly twenty years ago so have received new paint on their spears and a dose of PVA glue to stop the paint from splitting off when the spears bend. Listed as Phalanx in the army lists, these guys are four ranks deep as opposed to the normal two for HC.

With the transfers applied, they make me want to have a game of HC, better rebase and transfer some more units.