HaT Carthaginians

A Review

The 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

(Box art copyright Hat - reproduced with kind permision)

#8019, Hanibals Carthaginians, Spanish Infantry contains four [identical] sprues with:

6 Scutari (Spanish Heavy Infantry) with helmets, swords (two poses) or spears (two poses) and large oval shields.

3 Caetrati (Light Infantry) with plumed helmets, small shields and spears (two figures) or a sword (one figure).

and 3 Baeleric Slingers, running around with head bands and bare feet.

on each spure. So that makes 24 Scutari (6 Blade elements), 12 Caetrati (3 or 4 Auxilia) and 12 Slingers (6 Psiloi).

HaT #8020, Hanibals Carthaginians, African Infantry

(Box art copyright Hat - reproduced with kind permision)

#8020, Hanibals Carthaginians, African Infantry contains four [identical] sprues with:

6 Heavy Infantry (5 with spear (in three poses - three one pose, with the other two in two different poses), one with sword, all in Hoplitish armour (for the lack of a better term!) with plumed helmets, round shields and greaves)

3 African Light Infantry (two with spears, one with sword, large oval/rectangular shields and helmet)

and 3 Numidians (bare headed (and footed), tunics, round shield and spear).

on each sprue. So that'd make 24 Heavies (6 spear elements), 12 Light's (3 regular auxilia) and 12 Numidians (4 auxilia/6 psiloi depending on what you do with them).

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...

Later Carthaginians 275BC-146BC (DBA list #31b)
2*3Cv	Gallic Cavalry	HaT #8023 - Celtic Cavalry
2*2LH	Numidian Cavalry	HaT #8024 - Numidian Cavalry
2*4Sp	African Spearmen	HaT #8020 - African Heavies
2*4Ax	Spanish Scutari	HaT #8019 - Spanish Scutari
2*3Wb	Gallic Warband	Revel Gauls/Celts or Esci Barbarians
1*2Ps	Baeleric Slingers	HaT #8019 - Baeleric Slingers
1*El or 3Ax	African Elephants or Italian Auxilia	Model Elephant with Hat Numidian Cavalry crew (no howdah) or HaT #8019 - Spanish Scutari / HaT #8020 - African Light Infanty

(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).

Later Hoplites 450BC-375BC (DBA list #32)
13Cv or 12LH	Cavalry	HaT #8021 - Roman Cavalry or HaT #8024 - Numidian Cavalry
1*3Cv or Art or 2Ps	Cavalry or Artillery (Bolt Thrower) or Skirmishers	HaT #8021 - Roman Cavalry or [Scratchbuilt artillery piece - though HaT do have some in the pipe line] or HaT #8019 - Baeleric Slingers
4*4Sp	Spearmen	HaT #8020 - African Heavies
1*4Sp or 3/4Ax or 2Ps	Spearmen or Auxilia(!) or Skirmishers	Hat #8020 - African Heavies or HaT #8020 - African Light Infantry or HaT #8019 - Baeleric Slingers
4*4Sp or 2Ps	Spearmen or Skirmishers	Hat #8020 - African Heavies or HaT #8019 - Baeleric Slingers
1*2Ps	Skirmishers	HaT #8019 - Baeleric Slingers

(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)

By Steven Montague

[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!]

Syracusan 410 BC - 210 BC (DBA list #34)
2x3Cv2xPs	Greek cavalry	HaT #8021 Roman Cavalry
1x2LH	Greek light cavalry	Hat #8024 Numidians
2x4Sp	Greek Hoplites	HaT #8020 Heavies
2x4Aux	[See Below]
2x4Sp or 1x3Wb(Gaul) + 1x4Aux(Spanish)	Greek hoplites or	Hat #8020 Heavies or Revel Gaul's and Hat Spanish Scutarius
1xArt	Ballista	[Scratch built]
2xPs	Greek archers and slinger's	Hat #8019 Baleric Slinger's [Archers?]

Note: I think manditory Art is a mistake and should be an option instead of 1x2Ps or 1xArt

Auxiliaries were provided by:

Greek mercenary Theurophroi	Hat #8020 Light Infantry or HaT #8019 Spanish Scutarii without the long sinews helmet
Campainians or Samnites	Hat #8019 Spanish Caetratus / Scutarii without the long sinews helmet, or Hat #8018 Roman Haststii (with no armour).
Ligurians or Sikels	The Ligurians were a people living in north west Italy/southeast France. They wore long sleeved tunics with a broad leather belt and a cloak. They were equipped with javelins, swords and shields. The shields were Gallic style but chopped of at the top and bottom. Archaic conical helmets may have been worn. Their Carthaginian light spear man with a cloak added would be ideal for this. Sikels were natives of Sicily so were probably like Greek peltasts.

Steven

Ancient Spanish 240BC-20BC (DBA list #52)
1*3Cv	Iberian Heavy Cavalry	HaT #8023 - Celtic Cavalry
1*2LH	Iberian Light Cavalry	HaT #8024 - Numidian Cavalry (Just paint 'em Spanish!)
3*3Ax	Iberian Scutari	HaT #8019 - Spanish Scutari
33Ax or 22Ps	Iberian Scutari or Lusitanian Caetrati	HaT #8019 - Iberian Scutari or HaT #8019 - Spanish Caetrati
13Wb or 12Ps	Mercenary Celtiberians or Lusitanian Caetrati	Revel Celts or HaT #8019 - Spanish Caetrati
3*2Ps	Lusitanian Caetrati	HaT #8019 - Spanish Caetrati

(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.)

Numidian 215BC-25AD (DBA list #53)
4*2LH	Numidian Cavalry	HaT #8024 - Numidian Cavalry
4*2Ps	Numidian Foot	HaT #8020 - Numidian Foot
12LH or 1El	Numidian Cavalry or African Elephants (armies of Juba and Jugurtha)	HaT #8024 - Numidian Cavalry or Model Elephant with HaT Numidian Cavalry crew (no howdah)
12LH or 13Cv	Numidian Cavalry or Spanish Cavalry (Juba's bodyguard)	HaT #8024 - Numidian Cavalry or HaT #8023 - Celtic Cavalry
22LH or 24Ax or 2*4Bd	Numidian Cavalry or Roman trained foot, Spainish Scutari, or Ligurian deserters or Imitation Legionaries	HaT #8024 - Numidian Cavalry or HaT #8019 - Spanish Scutari or HaT #8020 - African Light Infantry

(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.)

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