Oscan / Samnite Hoplite custom / kitbash - Sat May 07, 2022 12:47 pm
HH Model and HaoYu Toys recently released their "Carthage Infantry" (HH18045) set. The figure is supposed to represent a Carthaginian infantryman, somewhat accurately recognizing that Carthaginian forces were largely mercenary and equipped with non-Carthaginian (Greek, Italian, Spanish) arms and armor. As usual, HH & HY spruced up the set, giving it additional items and messing up some of the details. I picked up some of the better pieces (including the head, which is a bit reminiscent of Eric Bana) and put together my own, using a seamless TBL body (M33 for the first figure, M32 for his colleague in a couple of the photos). Luckily, everything fit pretty well.
HH & HY based the set on professional historical reconstructions. As already noticed by Skippy, the immediate reference was an illustration by Steve Noon for Nic Fields' Osprey Warrior 150: Carthaginian Warrior 264-146 BC. On p. 44 (plate F), Noon has illustrated an Oscan mercenary in 202 BC, sporting items such as a Montefortino helmet (an excavated Samnite example is illustrated on p. 31) and a Samnite or Oscan triple-disc cuirass (as found in a tomb in Tunisia, illustrated on p. 35), Samnite or Oscan belt, Greek greaves, a large scutum-type body shield, and a sword and scabbard. Very similar figures, both as mercenaries in Carthaginian service and as Samnite warriors in Italy were already illustrated by Giuseppe Rava in Salimbeti and D'Amato's Osprey Elite 201: The Carthaginians 6th-2nd Century BC, p. 55 (plate H), and by Richard Hook in Sekunda and Northwood's Osprey Men-at-Arms 283: Early Roman Armies, p. 30 (plate F). HH & HY supplemented this with leather (or rather pleather) vambraces and sandals (or rather sandaled feet), and replaced the historical shorter throwing spears with a single extra-long and heavy spear. Needless to say, I did not pick up or employ these additions, and substituted some old Ignite spears that were about the right size and look. HH & HY otherwise did a great job recreating what was illustrated by Noon. Strangely, while the detail on the cuirass is very impressive, they managed to make a mistake here: on the chest plate the two discs should have a stylized flower-like ornamentation, and the top part should not be decorated with the same necklace-motif as the goddess' head at the bottom. The back plate, the top two discs are correct, but where the bottom disc appears, there should be another representation of the goddess' head (there exist other examples of such cuirasses that do have three plain discs); the actual artifact is shown more fully in Sekunda and Northwood, p. 39. The belt ought to be made mostly of leather, but HH & HY's choice of soft metal that can be opened or closed easily was inspired. The HH & HY shield is quite a lot smaller (and especially shorter) than it ought to be.
I bought enough pieces to outfit two Samnite/Oscan warriors, putting the first set on an M33 and the second set on a taller M32.
Here are a couple more looks at some of the equipment.
Overall, I'm very happy with the set (even if I only picked up a bunch of parted out pieces) and wish that HH & HY would continue putting these out, but hopefully with better attention to details: it is one thing to add additional pieces that can be removed to achieve a more historically accurate look (like the vambraces), it is another to get "creative" with actual artifacts that you are supposedly replicating.
Since the look, although quite historical, is relatively unfamiliar, I used it for guards in my Lady of the Lake fantasy thread.
As always, what do you think?
#hh #haoyu #hy #carthage #italy #ancient #historical #male #custom #kitbash
HH & HY based the set on professional historical reconstructions. As already noticed by Skippy, the immediate reference was an illustration by Steve Noon for Nic Fields' Osprey Warrior 150: Carthaginian Warrior 264-146 BC. On p. 44 (plate F), Noon has illustrated an Oscan mercenary in 202 BC, sporting items such as a Montefortino helmet (an excavated Samnite example is illustrated on p. 31) and a Samnite or Oscan triple-disc cuirass (as found in a tomb in Tunisia, illustrated on p. 35), Samnite or Oscan belt, Greek greaves, a large scutum-type body shield, and a sword and scabbard. Very similar figures, both as mercenaries in Carthaginian service and as Samnite warriors in Italy were already illustrated by Giuseppe Rava in Salimbeti and D'Amato's Osprey Elite 201: The Carthaginians 6th-2nd Century BC, p. 55 (plate H), and by Richard Hook in Sekunda and Northwood's Osprey Men-at-Arms 283: Early Roman Armies, p. 30 (plate F). HH & HY supplemented this with leather (or rather pleather) vambraces and sandals (or rather sandaled feet), and replaced the historical shorter throwing spears with a single extra-long and heavy spear. Needless to say, I did not pick up or employ these additions, and substituted some old Ignite spears that were about the right size and look. HH & HY otherwise did a great job recreating what was illustrated by Noon. Strangely, while the detail on the cuirass is very impressive, they managed to make a mistake here: on the chest plate the two discs should have a stylized flower-like ornamentation, and the top part should not be decorated with the same necklace-motif as the goddess' head at the bottom. The back plate, the top two discs are correct, but where the bottom disc appears, there should be another representation of the goddess' head (there exist other examples of such cuirasses that do have three plain discs); the actual artifact is shown more fully in Sekunda and Northwood, p. 39. The belt ought to be made mostly of leather, but HH & HY's choice of soft metal that can be opened or closed easily was inspired. The HH & HY shield is quite a lot smaller (and especially shorter) than it ought to be.
I bought enough pieces to outfit two Samnite/Oscan warriors, putting the first set on an M33 and the second set on a taller M32.
Here are a couple more looks at some of the equipment.
Overall, I'm very happy with the set (even if I only picked up a bunch of parted out pieces) and wish that HH & HY would continue putting these out, but hopefully with better attention to details: it is one thing to add additional pieces that can be removed to achieve a more historically accurate look (like the vambraces), it is another to get "creative" with actual artifacts that you are supposedly replicating.
Since the look, although quite historical, is relatively unfamiliar, I used it for guards in my Lady of the Lake fantasy thread.
As always, what do you think?
#hh #haoyu #hy #carthage #italy #ancient #historical #male #custom #kitbash
