2nd Punic War: Romans and Carthaginian Spear

This was my historical tally over the new year's break, more conversions and unit completions for Hail Caesar.

Feels good to make some progress against the total rebasing started a few years ago.

Romans

Having finished the Hastati, I thought I'd get some Princeps going while starting on rebasing some cavalry and command.

The Princeps are from HaT Set 8017, Republican Romans Princeps & Triari and Set 8051, Roman Command. The shield decals are from Little big Men Studios and a private commission.

The cavlary are from HaT Set 8021, Roman Cavalry with a commander from Set 8051, Roman Command.

The commanders are a mix of the HaT Roman Command set and Newline Designs command packs (Roman and Etruscan) - both companies' figures mixing seamlessly. To go with the Hastati commander done previously, I've made up a cavalry division command (far left), Princeps commander (left) and two consuls for generals (right).

I figure for large, "Oh the gods! The Carthaginians are going to whip our asses again", kind of battles, while one consul is overall commander for the day, it's not out of the question to have both of them in the field.

I also continued on with the theme of having the Latin divisions made up of two legions (10th and 13th), hence why there's two eagles for the main consul (right). Also love the Etruscan foot command as it comes with trumpeters and Lictors (administrators/servile aides), which probably originated with Etruscans but were adopted by Rome.

Carts

Also got a couple of Lybian spear units done from the HaT Set 8020, Hannibal's Carthaginians - African Infantry

The LBM shield decals really make these units come alive. Would share a link to them but I see they're no longer listed on their website 😞

Got some more Princeps on the go, two units of Triarii to finish off, and some cavalry to rebase and that will be the Latin Romans completed.

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.