"Carthage is perfect for the Beginning Wargamer" Topic

The title says it all.

This realization came to me earlier in the week when I was purchasing 1/72 plastics for my 18 year old brother who has expressed interest in playing DBMM with me. Among his boxes of plastic soldiers were Numidian horsemen, gallic warriors, Spanish Scutarii and Caetrati, as well as some Libyan hoplites, javelin-men and of course the ever ubiquitous war elephants.

Now, I own all of these boxes of 1/72 plastics many times over. It's the scale I game in. It's the scale my grandpa gamed in when HE was playing Phil Barker's rules as a teenager. The epiphany struck me as I handed the boxes over to my eager brother. This isn't just a carthaginian army. This is the "core" of a Gallic, Numidian, Iberian, Celtiberian and Oscan army, plus roman allies and even a pyrrhic army. One could theoretically do the battle of Sentinum with the same figures.

This staging point is perfect for someone like my brother. The troop typed are varied and easy to learn, they are relatively easy to paint and they are affordable. Once his core grows, he will have the figures available to teach others to game or even delve into solo gaming at very little cost.

I know this isn't profound, but I find it a to be a useful bit of knowledge for getting younger hobbyists interested. Carthage is the perfect staging point for our future generals!

Thanks
Austin

I heartily agree. And of course, the best part is that you will have to paint a Roman army next! 1/72 figures these days are very nice. Advance the legions!

Don't disagree with any of the pros…but there is a con worthy of note. Carthage in most ancients army lists has a lot of different troop types with different characteristics that require different tactics and which can make it challenging for an inexperienced player to master in many rules systems. Polybians are generally much easier for a newbie to run and if you want elephants and gauls and iberians and libyans, etc., you have to be willing to suffer through the learning curve to be competitive with it. But I get the Hannibal thing and most of the army can be used to morph into other armies down the road (e.g. Gauls, Iberians, Numidians, etc.)

ChrisBrantley,

I hadn't considered the difficulties associated with the variety of troop types, but thinking of it in DBX terms, you're right.
There is a silver lining however: as a new player playing the role of Hannibal, you have to learn the rules and the match-ups. Over a few games you'll learn to set up traps by forcing blades into bad going, or pressuring cavalry with elephants etc. It does require patience, but I think in the case of my brother at least, he's willing to put in the energy to learn, as I hope other new and amateur wargamers would be. Admittedly, a new player with such a mixed army will likely only win by luck or poor play from the opponent, but winning and losing early on in a hobby designed to be fun aren't a big deal from perspective

Thanks for replying!

Austin

Yep. I must admit that my eyebrows were raised reading the title. But you're right; it has the core of lots of interesting armies. And the romance of the outnumbered Hannibal brilliantly beating the might of Rome is hard to beat.

1/72 is no where near as cheap as it u see ed to be. Most kits now are 15.00 base cost vs. 8.00 average only 2 years ago.

Hat run about 8 bucks a pack from Scale Hobbyist. 1/72 are still great value compared to other options. Only 3d printing is cheaper.

Thanks

John

Any ancient empire army from the period 275BC to 146BC offers a lot of usage.
Carthage vs. the west crosses over in Sicily vs. Rome and Syracuse and Epirus. Which leads to Roman and Italians and Gauls, and Epirotes, Macedonians and Successors. The battle for the Mediterranean is one of the most competitive gaming time frames because if different outcomes had occurred all of them could have ended up the winning empire.
I discussed the Eastern empires side of this in the WSS issue 108 article called "Crossover Ancients" the parallel Western side is overdue :)

link

Those Hat boxes are great and they form a good part of my 20mm Ancient armies, however as noted above, Carthos are quite a complex army to run, esp for a beginner. Republican Romans are far more straightforward.

I would make a broader argument: The Punic Wars are ideal for wargaming. You have many different armies, that all have a distinct core troop (Gauls – warband, carthage- spears, romans – pilum, numidians – light horse). And, like you said, many troop types are as allies in different armies.

The bottom line is that you must have Romans to fight your Carthaginian army. Yes, ROMANS! Advance the legions! :)

Sorry Legionarius but Carthage can fight Spanish, Syracuse and Numidians without a Legionary in sight (advancing or otherwise)

bobm1959 true but Rome vs that north African nation of shopkeepers is the main show! Rome can also fight the Spanish, Syracuse, and the Numidians--and win! Advance the legions!
Cheers!