""Zuluesque" Liby Pheonician" Topic

I had a Carthaginian army in the 1970's and the Libyan Spearman, according to Phil Barkers 1976 Macedonian and Punic Wars publication (I still have it)had a hairstyle decorated with an ostrich plume. The Minifig 25 mm figures of that era were cast with the ostrich plume. I eventually sold that army.
Fast forward to 2015, and in my dotage decided to relive my youth and build another Carthaginian army. This time for DBA not WRG 5/6. My Libyans have helmets, nary a plume in site. However I did come across a large quantity of older Libyan figures for sale at a recent convention. Don't know who the manufacturer is, but not Minifigs. They don't have an ostrich plum, but do have a headband with what can best be described as a feathered pompom at the front. Of course I bought them ! My question is; is there any mention in any of the sources describing Hannibals Libyans with feathered head dress ?

Pompom at the front of a headband; might they perhaps be classical Indians rather than Libyans?

I had three full 24 figure units of them and the similar Ral Partha figures. Garrison also used that design.
It was in Phil Barker's WRG book but was not in Duncan Head's more authoritative WRG tome. I doubt its accuracy, but they fought well for me.

Biblical Libyans had the plume:

link

Funny you should write "Zuluesque" as this chap actually uses Zulus to create his Libyans:

link

Heritage's 15mm Libyans from it's Punic Wars line also had bare heads with a headband and plume in front. No armor, just a large shield and spear.

Always follow the Rule Of Cool: if sources are sketchy, do what looks best!

On the AWI board, we call that a pimp hat.

Big Red Bat Don't think so. They came with large round shields cast on, mail shirt, and separate long thrusting spears which remind me of some Ral Partha ones I bought many years ago. Also included were a couple of Carthaginian officers/standard bearers and musicians. Maybe Phil was influenced by representations of early Libyans. I'm going to paint up a couple of stands. I will follow the Rule of Cool

Mails shirts certainly wouldn't be Indian- as you say they were probably intended to be Libyan spearmen, and since we don't know what they looked like… whay not?

We can guess all we want based on a description, but pictures would make our speculation a lot easier.

Possibly Libyans in Roman armour ?

I still have my 40 (Minifigs), and though I intend to replace them for the Punic War era, I will still use them for my Early Carthaginian army.

For an idea of a 70s Carthaginian army:

link

And Libyan PB figures link link

Weirdly, I only have a bought-in Carthaginian army so don't have lots of photos of Garrison Libyans…

Perhaps someday.

My question is; is there any mention in any of the sources describing Hannibals Libyans with feathered head dress ?

No. The idea comes from Phil Barker's original 1972-ish "Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars" and he seems to have based it on Bronze Age Libyans.

And at least 4 manufacturers based figures on that plumed guy.

I always had my doubts about them, but they fought well. I called those units my Zulu Hoplites.
I had only a single stand of Garrison figures like that. They were marketed as Libyan. The Garrison Carthaginians did have some "real" hoplites looking types. Never bought them. I should have.
I also used RAFM "imitation legionnaires" with various Hellenistic heads.

Thanks for the input. I'll do a little more investigating and dust off some of my old figure catalogues to see If I can find anything.

They turned out to be Ral Partha figures circa 1975. Some of the "ostrich" plumes had been clipped, so looked like pompoms.