HaT CarthaginiansA ReviewThe web master from HaT has very generously sent me some spare samples he had lying around of some of the soon-to-be-released Punic war series - #8019, Hanibals Carthaginians, Spanish Infantry and #8020, Hanibals Carthaginians, African Infantry. [Note: When I first got these figures (and started this review), they were still about 4 weeks away from the stores in Europe and about 6 for the U.S. (and goodness knows how long for New Zealand!). But what, with sick kids and extra work I havn't had the time to pull this together. They are now available in Europe, and have hit the U.S. on the 23rd of July.) So much for a sneak preview!] HaT #8019, Hanibals Carthaginians, Spanish Infantry
#8019, Hanibals Carthaginians, Spanish Infantry contains four [identical] sprues with:
HaT #8020, Hanibals Carthaginians, African Infantry
#8020, Hanibals Carthaginians, African Infantry contains four [identical] sprues with:
The figures themselves are nice, well moulded and clean with very little flash on them. And all of the poses are actually usable! Not a crouching figure to be seen - a nice change when compared to all the other plastic figures I've come across!! Great value for money. Ok, so what can you do with them (in DBA terms)? Well, the first thing that comes to mind are...
(Please note that I have pillaged the above list from the excellent DBA Resource Page, specifically from the Carthaginians page. Please visit this page for a much more in depth look at this army.) Ok, so you'd need to get both Carthaginian packs (#8019 & #8020) plus the Celtic Cavalry (#8023) and Numidian Light Horse (#8024) packs (and Roman Cavalry (#8021) if you want to use the Greek Cav option), but once you've got those, you could then turn around and pull together Later Hoplite Greeks, Syracusan, Ancient Spanish and Numidian armies without having to get any more figures. Later Hoplite Greek 450BC-375BC (DBA list #32) The end of this list coincides with the start of the Later Carthaginian one, so I figure the spearmen at the end of the Greek list will be wearing pretty much the same thing as the spearmen at the start of the Later Carthaginian list. Of course, this would be even more the case if you use the Early Carthaginian list (550BC-275BC, DBA list #31a).
(Please note that Stephen Montague has just done an army essay for the DBA Resource Page, on the Later Hoplite Greeks. For a much better look at this army, go have a look!) Syracusan 410BC-210BC (DBA list #34) [Steven Montague, the fellow who wrote the Ancient Spanish and Numidian army lists on the DBA Resource Page from which I have pilfered these lists, saw this review and has suggested another army that could be used with these figures. Thanks, Steven!]
Note: I think manditory Art is a mistake and should be an option instead of 1x2Ps or 1xArt
Steven
(Please note that I have pillaged the above list from the excellent DBA Resource Page, specifically from the Ancient Spanish page. Please visit this page for a much more in depth look at this army.)
(Please note that I have pillaged the above list from the excellent DBA Resource Page, specifically from the Numidians page. Please visit this page for a much more in depth look at this army (including a cover shot of one of Tony De Lyall's Numidians from this site!).) If your interested in using the HaT figures to pull together a 350 AP (25mm) Numidian DBM army click here to have a look at some quick calculations that I have made as to what army you could pull together using the HaT packs. So, there you have it. A couple of really useful packs that you could do heaps with, way more than just the five armies listed here. I would suggest, all things considered, that these packs are great value for money and are a very welcome addition to plastic wargaming. I heartily recommend them. (Also, have a look at HaT's Carthaginian War Elephants, Polyibian Romans, Roman Artillery and their Ancient Cavalry.) |