Newline Designs 20mm Carthaginian African Pikemen

A few old scans of Newline Designs 20mm Ancient Carthaginian African Pikemen codes. Originally posted on the 1/72 Ancients yahoo group. They may not be much use as listed because the idea of Carthage fighting in the Macedonian manner has fallen out a favour some time ago now. I think this was due to misunderstanding over the translation of "Longchephoroi" which was translated as a pike bearer in earlier versions I believe. However the longche is currently believed to be a light spear or javelin.

However these are great miniatures to use as Hellenistic Successor pikemen if paired with ANM01 Macedonian foot command figures. They could also be mixed along with the Macedonian pikemen (ANM02-04) to give a nice variety of helmet types, especially with the addition of the masked helmeted 2nd ranker (ANM03a). I am hoping to do that for a unit of 48 mixed pikemen for a "citizen" phalanx for the likes of the Achaean League for example.

I am also hoping to use the 2nd and some 1st rank figures as spearmen with larger Agrive type shields. The larger shield should cover the left open hand whilst the thin bristles I use for spears should be able to be angled away from the larger shield. Hopefully they would then have an appearance akin to a hoplite. The only issue would be the extra strap moulded on, but it'll not be too much of a problem to me. Initial experiments have convinced me this is doable. Anyway to the scans.

These are currently unlisted, African veteran pikemen in chainmail, front rank and pike upright pose:

They are reminiscent of the Hellenistic pikement illustration featured in Peter Connolly's Greece and Rome at War:

African pikemen ANA02 Front rank, ANA03 2nd Rank & ANA04 Rear ranks which have a few conical helmets which could be fashioned into the simple pilos helmet potentially:

My Seleucid Phalanx using "African pikemen", half the ANA02 figures and ANA03 codes:

 

As ideas change and some fall out of favour and others rise into prominence some figures will become defunct however there could be ways to give them a new function or lease of life. A bit of re-branding or renaming could make this line more relevant to current trends for example; ANM## Successor pikemen. Ultimately I am very pleased that these figures are available whatever their designation as I have stockpiled quite a lot of them because of their usefulness.

Carthaginian Mounted Nobles

Another cheat post! These 20mm Newline Designs Carthaginian cavalry miniatures had been sat on my desk waiting to be refurbished and rebased for some time now, I just kept putting them off. Now I want to have a clear of the half done projects on my desk ready for a big push on light infantry units and Zama units (of which this is one!). I was never quite satisfied how they had turned out originally, the clouding of the varnish and my over zealous bending of their arms left me feeling "at least they are done".

With the plan to play Zama with Lost Battles at some point I thought I would base the individuals on to 60mm x 40mm bases like my other mounted units. So I also needed to "fix" the arms, apply some highlights (particularly the bronze) and inject some colour into the riders. I ended up leaving most of the horses some still look cloudy but its not too bad with them being mottled grey. I also changed  the shields to slightly flatter ones which are the same diameter, various colours and some Veni Vidi Vici transfers from their 15mm Hellenistic range. The laurel wreath design was from an aborted homebrew transfer project. Now I feel happier with them and look forward to them taking the field in their new guise.

In the past few weeks since the last post I have tried to at least spend a little bit of time preparing the figures listed in the post before that. I still have the Greek javelinemen and Grenzers to clean up, they all need mounted and spears attached. I still need to find and prep some shields for the Punic citizens. I may if I get a bit of time post a "to do" on the PARADE GROUND WORKSHOP sister blog, at least for units for Lost Battles anyway. I have seen these sort of lists on blogs and it will be an added bit of incentive to keep on at it. In some ways I am enjoying the shorter bursts at the work bench but the slow progress is a bit frustrating.

It may be a long while before there are some more pictures of finished figures on here, as well as game reports, of which I still have yet to find an opportunity. With things being hectic at home and lots of things to do around the house a re-fight appears only in the far distance. I will have to console myself with short bursts at the desk which will allow more battles when the chance appears as more units are slowly finished.

1/72 ancients