Advice on painting Carthaginians

[Phil]

Hi,

I am starting to get the figures together for a Carthaginian army and wondered if anybody could recommend a good source for information on painting/colour schemes for the Carthaginian units.

Currently have a box of the Vitrix figures and a few packs of Aventine Miniatures and can't wait to et started.

Phil

[Mithridates1]

Phil

Like you I am slowly putting a Carthaginian army together - project for 2016.........

I would suggest:

Check out Osprey's publications, they produce a number of books on Carthaginians.   Plenty of colour shots.
Ask Mr Google - enter 'Carthaginian 28mm' and you will see any number of examples of other people's work
Look at the Agema Miniatures (plastic and metal) site - number of very useful examples

Hopefully that will get you started.

Garry

[cram]

The 'Warhammer Ancient Battles Hannibal and The Punic Wars' book should have good info in it. Discontinued now, but still comes up on ebay for around £15.

[Steve63]

Very little is known about the Cartaginians.  The Romans had a very go at erasing them from history.  I think most people just go for what looks right to them, however there is a contemporary reference that describes the Carthaginian army as a "Ocean of white".  With this in mind I painted mine mostly with white cuirasses and white fields on the shields.

[Phil]

Thanks to all for the very useful comments. I'll try and get some pictures online once I've got a few figures done.

Phil

[Mithridates1]

Just saw this post on the Forum - may be of some assistance.

http://scarabminiatures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1937

[Phil]

Hi Mithridates, thanks for the link. I have a couple of Wars of the Roses command stands to finish off and expect to start on the Vitrix figures straight after Xmas.

[n815e]

It's expensive, but Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars is a good book.
No color pictures, but good descriptions.

[HerbyF]

Well the Carthaginian army is a pretty mixed lot. A lot of mercenaries & allies. The Carthaginians themselves dressed & armed pretty much like other hopilite armies of the period. Citizens would have dressed in white or unbleached linnen or cotton. The sacred band is said to have worn purple but didn't serve out side the homeland. Their Libian mercenary/allies were said to dye the clothing with maddar, giving them dark red to redish-brown clothing. Other mercenaries or alies would have been dressed & outfitted acording to their nationality.

[Phil]

Thanks for the latest info on the Carthaginians, very helpful. Somewhere I know I have, or at least had, a copy of Ian Heath's book. I can' remember seeing it for twenty years or so but today I'll be venturing into the "Land that Time Forgot" (the loft) to see if I can find it.

[Peithetairos]

Hi Phil,

I wrote some articles with painting ideas/suggestions on my blog covering Liby-Phoenician spearmen, Numidians, Celtiberian and Iberian Scutati. All in 15mm, but I think you can transfer some of them to 28mm. Maybe it can provide you with some pointers.

https://daggerandbrush.wordpress.com/projects/

[Phil]

Hi Peithetairos ,

Thanks for the link to your Blog - very interesting. Loved the camp.

[Peithetairos]

Hi Phil,

glad you found it helpful. The camp is my personal favourite .

[SteveBurt]

If you are still looking for 'Armies of the Macedonian and Punic wars', the author is Duncan Head, not Ian Heath.
There's also some useful painting info in Warry 'Warfare in the Ancient world' and various Ospreys.
But as others have said, we know very little about Carthaginian shield colours and designs.
Come to that, we know very little about Roman shield colours (though we do have evidence for designs).
Bizarrely, the only thing we know for sure about Roman shields is the colour of the back as paint was found on a shield at Dura Europos.
Roman shield backs should be a reddish brown (Burnt Siena is perfect).
Other than that, red or white are always likely shield colours.

[AdamPHayes]

On the subject of shields, unless depicting Hannibal's army, the Roman style scutum in the Victrix box should be junked. Replace them with theuros or hoplite style shields.