As I mentioned in my first post, Punic Wars in 10mm: Army of the Roman Republic, I wanted to build matching armies; a Roman force, and one of its historical rivals. Rome only ever had one rival which truly threatened the very existence of the future empire, Carthage.

The Punic Wars, from the Latin Punicus, the Roman term for the Phoenician descended Carthaginians, lasted over 100 years, from 264 to 146 BCE. The three wars were battles for domination over the central and western Mediterranean, testing the military might of the Roman Republic and the economic power of Carthage. The winner, Rome, went on to dominate the entire region.

The Carthaginian Army of the First Punic War

“Forever being an enemy of Rome.”

Because of it’s wealth, Carthage often spent freely on mercenaries and courted allied people, rather than use a mostly citizen army, like Republican Rome. This allows Carthage’s army in To the Strongest! to field a wide variety of units from allied nations. Unfortunately, I ordered Pendraken’s Carthage Army Pack (a great value) before I had really looked at TtS!’s army list and missed out on buying some miniatures to represent the various units Carthage can choose from. For this reason, my army better represents a force from the First Punic War, heavy on north African troops, rather than Hannibal’s mixed African, Spanish, Gallic, and Italian soldiers during the Second Punic War. Beyond this, please note that my unit descriptions will be a bit lighter on the historical background of each troop type, as my knowledge of Rome outstrips my background on Carthage.

African Spearmen

Who wants to mess with long, pointy sticks?

The core of the Carthaginian army are their spearmen. Not as tough as Roman legionnaires, the advantage is in their lower cost (7 instead of 12 points). The spearmen can also be upgrade to deep units, veterans, or both, making them more expensive to field, but also last longer. Finally, to represent Hannibal’s veterans of the Second Punic War, armed with captured Roman arms, the spearmen can be swapped for legionaries, though I don’t have the figures to show this.

Iberian Scutarii

Those Spanish sure look like Romans to me…

Iberian scutarii were named by the Romans after their shields, the scutum. The scutum was such an effective shield that the Romans would actually adopt it as the shield for their own troops. This fact allowed me to use some leftover Roman figures, cut off their helmet crests/feathers, and paint the pilum up as a javelin. Please note that Pendraken does have Iberian/Spanish figures, I just neglected to purchase any (my bad). These extra troops allow me to add some variety to my masses of spearmen.

Punic, Spanish, Italian, or Gallic Cavalry

What’s better than spearmen on foot? Spears while riding horses!

The rough equivalent of the Roman equites, Carthage can field far more cavalry to harass their enemies. Although my figures are all Punic, almost any figures from this time period can represent the allied or mercenary cavalry fielded by Carthage.

Numidian or Spanish Light Cavalry

What’s better than spears on horses? Historically famous spears on horses.

Perhaps the most known of Carthage’s allies, the Numidians were famous throughout the world for their light cavalry, harassing enemy forces before, during, and after the battle. The Romans would spend years courting the Numidians, attempting to peel the away from the Carthaginian sphere of influence and deprive Carthage of their most valuable ally. My figures are Numidians, but almost any people’s light cavalry could serve in this role for as allies or mercenaries.

Libyan and African Skirmishers

Tiny spears are better than no spears at all!

Representing two different units, the Libyan variety of skirmishers are a bit heartier and the African skirmishers are only supposed to be fielded when defending the Carthaginian homeland. Mostly, they throw spears at Romans until they’re out of ammunition and run away.

Libyan Archers

I guess arrows count as very tiny spears?

Yet another allied skirmisher to help the Carthaginians harass the Romans until, hopefully, the legions just go home.

African Elephants

WHAT ARE THOSE GIANT BEASTS!!!

It simply would not be a Carthaginian army without some elephants to scare the bejesus out of the Romans and their horses. In TtS!, elephants are not unstoppable, stomping machines, plowing through soldiers left and right. Rather, their presence disorders enemy cavalry, whose horses are scared by the sight and smell of these huge, strange beasts.

Carthaginian Heroes and Generals

Heroes

Generals

Mounted Generals

Finishing up the army are the heroes, on square bases, and generals, on round. Nothing particularly special to say here, other than the fact that I got to use some purple paint, which no Republican general would ever be caught in, for fear of other Romans accusing them of wanting to be king.

Units Not Appearing

TtS! allows the Carthaginians to field all sorts of varied units, coming from the forces of their allies. If you wish to include some of the following units in your forces and you are concerned about historical accuracy, follow the notes in TtS! army lists or feel free to perform your own historical research, as not every nation/tribe/people worked with Carthage during each of the three Punic Wars.

Hannibal’s Veterans (in place of African Spearmen)

Gallic Warriors

Italian Allies

Italian Allied Hoplites

Balaeric Slingers

Artillery

Thank you again for reading. My last article will be a review of the figures I used for these armies, Pendraken.