Epic Punic Wars - A project of epic scale

[Chris Abbey]

Today I received a very exciting parcel from the postie. Warlord Games have very kindly sent me a preview set of there new epic Punic Wars set to paint, demo and blog about. Anybody who knows, me will know that I am very excited about Roman history in general and miniatures gaming set in Ancient Rome in particular.



The miniatures are approx. 13.5mm high, in the bizarre (to an outsider) wargames system of measurement from toe to eyeball of an average adult male. This scale gives a pleasing 10 miniatures to a 60mm frontage base. Units consist of three bases, so a units frontage is typically 180mm, similar to the frontage of a 28mm unit, but with lots and lots more figures on the base. Light troops tend to have 5 figures to a base, medium / heavy infantry have 20 figures in two ranks and the well dressed, close order Romans have 30 figures to a base in three ranks.



The rulebook is really nice. The rules are basically 'Hail Caesar' but the book also includes a handy introduction to the armies of Rome & Carthage, a background to the campaign and scenarios for all of the major battles.

My aim is to paint two 300 point starter armies over the next 4-6 weeks, to be able to play some demo games before the rules and miniatures are actually released at the end of July. This will involve painting and basing around 30 units of between 15 and 90 miniatures per unit.... so lets see how we go!
I'm planning to use Army Painter Speedpaints, and hopefully the small size and strip design will make them easy to paint. I will update both my hobby blog and this thread every couple of days, as new units get completed.

Additional photos and information in my hobby blog @ https://wargamesbuildings.co.uk/warlord-games-epic-punic-wars-the-adventure-begins/

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Will follow with great interest.

[Frostie]

Looking forward to these posts, although I am only interested in the rule book as I have thousands of Punic Wars 15mm minis covering most nationalities (NOT BLOODY FACTIONS )

[Chris Abbey]

I agree completely, when did 'Factions' every come into wargaming? nationalities all the way.

I don't think this release (other than the rulebook / campaign guide), is going to be of any interest to gamers who already do Punic Wars in 6mm / 10mm / 12mm or 15mm. I already have 28mm armies and I'm interested to see the spectacle of having a unit with the same frontage of 180mm with 180 miniatures in 3 ranks with only a 20mm depth rather than the same unit in 28mm with 12 miniatures in 2 ranks with a 50mm depth.

As I progress I will be able to share some photos of same units in 28mm and 13.5mm!

[VonAkers]

Hi Chris
Gotta say that does look good, thanks for the preview.
Anything on the Punic Wars is always welcome!!
That Campaign rulebook does look excellent I will most certainly  buy that , the Casualty tokens ive seen look good , but seem way to overpriced &  expensive,  :osame for the rest of the range  .
Problem is and will be .. another scale .. again
Sorry but they wont mix with anything most people have , figures other armies terrain etc  .. nothing .
I already have a Double Roman Consular Army ( 4 Legions )  in 15mm at 1/20 scale,  using the Wonderful Battle Honours Romans by Anthony Barton,.
Add in my Beloved Carthaginians and I have 2 Armies of 700 point s each already ,that look better than anything Epic will ever be .
However it  will fit for some people and thats Great to Introduce them into Ancients .
Cheers
 

[nikgaukroger]

I agree completely, when did 'Factions' every come into wargaming? nationalities all the way.

Acceptable for a civil war situation, but otherwise just say no 

[Ninefingers]

(NOT BLOODY FACTIONS )

I agree completely, when did 'Factions' every come into wargaming? nationalities all the way.

I've heard Bolt Action players call them "teams" 

I've got Punic Wars in 28mm, but looking forward to the free sprue on the next issue of WI.

[Citizen Sade]

‘Ackshually’, we should be referring to many of the factions as ‘non-state agrarian societies’ rather than tribes or nations according to the wonderful A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry blog. Bit of a mouthful though, isn’t it?

On a serious note, the author’s running a series of articles on raising tribal armies which are well worth a read. As are the posts on legion vs phalanx. I recommend delving into the blog archives.

[Chris Abbey]

I did wonder about the costs, and will be investigating in more detail in my blog how they cost compares to other alternatives.
Epic miniatures are about 7p per figure. 28mm plastic figures £1.10

A three base unit will therefore cost £4.40 with 60 epic miniatures on it or £13.20 with 12 x 28mm miniatures.

This is based on buying the Allied Contingent box which is £26.35 on pre-order from Sally 4th and contains 360 miniatures (330 infantry and 30 cavalry). The £28mm cost is based on a box of Warlord Games plastic Romans @ £22 for 20 miniatures.

To me, £4.40 per unit does not seem bad, and even although I have Punic War armies in 28mm metal, I'm looking to do epic armies because I think that 60 figure units will have a different look and feel to 12 figure units.

[Chris Abbey]

At the weekend, I undercoated first box of Punic War minis, the Allied Troops Division and made a start painting first couple of units.







Figures painted using Army Painter Speedpaints.

Additional details and photos on this weeks hobby blog @ https://wargamesbuildings.co.uk/warlord-games-epic-punic-wars-week-1-a-start-to-painting/

[Norm]

Very nicely done. I have visited your blog piece and found all of that very useful, especially, the masking tape, the side on horses and the inking before paint, rather than after paint.

With other Epic, I find the gap between bases (result of a 55mm strip on a 60mm base) distracting to the eye, but these, with their offset shields look like that as an issue is reduced.

Also good to see what a division looks like from a painting perspective. I am following this with interest. Thank you.

Miniature Realms (YouTube) did a flip through of the rulebook and I tried to stop the vid on the page of each scenario and was surprised to see that a goodly number of scenarios are designed specifically for a 6x4 …. Hoorah!

[Chris Abbey]

Glad you found it helpful, Norm.

I have just put another Epic Punic War article up on my hobby blog.
This time it is a step by step painting guide for painting Republican Romans using Army Painter Speed Paints.





You can read the article @ https://wargamesbuildings.co.uk/warlord-games-epic-punic-wars-roman-infantry-painting-guide/

[macsen wledig]

lots of lovely painting. Looking forward to getting mine next month

[Basementboy]

Looks great!

[Norm]

Thanks for sharing this stuff, it is very helpful. I just noticed that the thread has been visited 1552 times yet you only have 13 replies, 4 of which are your own! That is disappointing

Not much that can be done about that it seems, it is increasingly the way. I note from the blogging world, in the last three months there has been a significant drop off from bloggers creating posts - likely because of the lack of visible support versus the effort put in to writing posts.

As an aside, I picked up the latest wargames Illustrated mag (in the UK) and it is carrying a free Epic sprue. Apparently all 5 sprues are in circulation, but at my local Sainsbury’s, they only had two copies left and both carried the Roman sprue, so that is what I have and the mechanics of those 3 rank roman units are very inventive, especially in the way that painting time is significantly reduced.

All the models I saw were crisp and well detailed. I can see this being a big seller for Warlord Games.