Here is a look at my second 28mm Impetus army based on the Punic wars. The Numidians fought for both the Carthaginians and the Romans over the course of these wars hence the title Friend or Foe. Although the army contains enough units to hit the table, at this stage it is technically not correct/finished for the intended period. List wise it should exchange the elephants for a fourth element of light cavalry as the elephants were only available for the army of King Juba I who ruled well after the last Punic war finished.
Light Infantry
Making up the bulk of the Numidian infantry these four elements of light foot are fast moving but lightly armed and have little in the way of protection. Although not as strong in melee as the heavy classes of troops they are armed with javelins so are capable of short range missile attacks. If creating Syphax, Masinissa or Micipsa armies one list option for these troops is to upgrade one of the light infantry elements to a unit of Roman trained heavy foot. A Mix of Foundry, Crusader and A&A miniatures were used for these elements.
Light Cavalry
Unlike the mix of infantry models above these cavalry figures are all from a single miniatures company. Although I like both the Foundry and Crusader cavalry models in this range there is a couple of reasons I only purchased Crusader figures for these elements.
Firstly: The horses from each range differ in size. Foundry horses tend to have shorter bodies with their legs tucked in close to the body. Crusader miniatures are taller and longer with their legs out stretched. I found this overall size difference a bit too much when the figures are placed next to each other.
Secondly: Having decided that I didn’t want to use a mix of figures here I went with Crusader models because only their range contained a command pack ideal for the general’s medium cavalry unit.
December 2018
In the four years since creating this page my Numidian army has undergone some restructuring and grown somewhat in size to boot. This was mainly done in order to keep up with army list changes incorporated in the 2nd edition of Basic Impetus. I also wanted to increase the over all size of the army so larger BI2 games (containing three commands) could be played. Pictured below is an extra six units of light cavalry that I’ve added to the army so far. Four of these elements were drafted in from my old FoG Impearl Roman army while two more stands were made from the median cavalry unit shown below. This median cavalry element is no longer required in BI2 so I simply re-based those figures into a couple of light cavalry stands.
Picture below for your reference is a side by side photo of both the Crusader and Foundry mounted Numidian figure ranges.
General/Medium cavalry element
To right is the only element of medium cavalry in this army and as such contains the army’s commander. All figures in this unit, like the light horse elements pictured above are from the Crusader miniatures range.
Below
These two elephants are from the Foundry range and although there is no real evidence of the small North African elephants (in use at the time) having Howdahs, size wise they are closer than most other elephants I’ve seen.
Elephants
Figures in the Howdah are removable so if need be the elephants can be drafted into the Carthaginian army by simply replacing the Numidians with Libyan spear-men.
Skirmishers
Completing this army are two elements of javelin armed skirmishers. Originally painted for my Carthaginian army they have now been replaced in that force by an equivalent number of Spanish skirmishers. All six figures shown here are from the Foundry range.
December 2018
Like the cavalry arm above, my skirmisher force has also been greatly increased with an additional three extra javelin elements and two stands of slingers. Unlike the original two skirmisher units these new elements all contain figures from the Crusader range as opposed to the Foundry range. 2019 will see the release of the second edition of (full) Impetus which no dout will require me to tweak the army yet again but, hey if I was being honest with myself I don’t think any of my armies are ever truly finished.
