Celtiberian General, Horse and Foot

The two-pack of Spanish (Celtiberian) generals from Crusader was the other big attraction of the Crusader purchase. 

If finding a variety of Roman Generals can be challenging, finding Carthaginian officers other than Hannibal is even more so. 

These fine fellows could command Spanish foot and horse contingents within a Punic army, or an all Spanish Army. 

I gave them black cloaks like the Scutari are said to have worn.

They are very welcome additions to the command strata!

Roman Medium Cavalry #2

 

A second unit of Medium Cavalry joins the mounted forces of Rome!

The gold SPQR on yellow (Delta CC "Straw", of course!) required a little black lining with the ink pen. 

Once again, the Command figures are Crusader and the others are Old Glory. 

Definitely keeping up the "yellow" vibe!

The Punic view once again!

Black horses for these fellows, once again a nice contrast to the yellow, I think. 

Roman Light Cavalry

A unit of Roman Light Cavalry, perhaps to counter the darned Numidians!

Once again the command figure is Crusader, and the rest Old Glory.

Some Republican Roman army lists allow them some light cavalry, others don't. It hardly matters to me!

In part the numbers added up right for 10 Old Glory and 6 Crusader figures; that allowed me to make two 6 figure Medium Cavalry units, plus this 4 figure Light Cavalry unit. 

The Roman bean counters would be proud of the efficiency, especially considering the enormous toll the Punic Wars inflicted on the Republic!

Roman General, Horse and Foot

This "two-pack" of a Roman General on foot and his equestrian counterpart was the biggest motivator for the Crusader purchase at Historicon 2018. 

To the Strongest! games can require quite a few Generals, and there are only so many such figures on the market!

I love the hairstyle, or lack thereof on the mounted general; it pretty much screams "ROMAN"!

I as going for a sort of faded purple/magenta on the cloak. I'm not sure it quite succeeded!

"Well, our cavalry may be crap, but our infantry Legions are second to none!"

Roman Heavy Cavalry

This unit of Roman cavalry is composed entirely of Crusader miniatures.

At the last Historicon held at the ex-Host in Lancaster in July 2018, there was a vendor on the upper level who had a pretty wide selection of Crusader miniatures, and was having a nice sale for the Convention, so these were among the packs I picked up during my Sunday pas through prior to departing for home. .

Perhaps they will  fare better against the dreaded Carthaginian mounted arm? 

They were fun to paint up, especially the cloaks. 

At least they'll look as god from behind as from the front!

The Bay horses set off the other colors well, I think. 

Roman Medium Cavalry

The Roman armies of the Republic were never particularly  known for their cavalry, but with  the  expansions to their infantry in recent years, the cavalry arm was in serious need of reinforcements.  

Thus we have these fellows kicking off  Roman Month on the blog.   SPQR!

The Command figures are Crusader and the rank and file are Old Glory Roman Medium Cavalry.

 

Watch out for those sneaky Numidians!

The view the Carthaginian Cavalry usually has of the Roman mounted arm!

Thracian Cavalry

The armies of Alexander and his successors contained a number of contingents of  allied cavalry to supplement the famed "Companions". 

Among them were the Thracians. It wasn't clear to me whether they fought as Light Cavalry, Medium/Heavy cavalry, or both. 

The Greeks considered them "Barbarians"... and those trophies are pretty Barbaric!

These nicely sculpted figures are by Crusader miniatures, and are still more from the original lot of Macedonian lead I purchased from Edgar back in 2015. 

By Пакко - File:Thrace modern state boundaries.png, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7567013

Here's the second unit of six. I have chosen to represent them as Medium cavalry equipped with Javelins/Spears. I have still more Thracian looking cavalry figures in the stockpile I got from Edgar, probably from Old Glory, and those will probably be painted as Light Cavalry.

The Osprey on Macedonian Armies after Alexander indicates that the Thracians wore purple cloaks. 

This seems improbable to me, but it certainly is distinctive, so I went with it! Besides, how often do we get to use purple! :-)

The same book suggests that the stripe at the bottom of the cloak seen on some depictions probably indicates an officer, so I added one to this sword armed figure. 

Alexander himself, or some other Macedonian general. 

This one looks like a Foundry figure. 

Hmm, missed that bit of errant yellow; I'll go back and touch that up!  

Not as convincing as I'd like with the tiger skin, but it will have to do!

Later Macedonian Companion Cavalry

This Companion Cavalry (by Crusader miniatures, I think) was part of that same giant Macedonian acquisition from a number of years ago. 

2 stands of 6 figures is enough for a unit with To the Strongest or my old  Legio Quaternarius rules.

I painted them according to the information in the Osprey on the post Alexander Macedonians by Nicholas Sekunda.

This first group would be from the double sized  "Sacred Squadron".

The second squadron is only slightly less richly attired. 

The saffron yellow cloaks were a surprise to me since I last read about the Macedonian armies. 

The cloaks actually had weights sewn into them so that they would drape and fall "just so"!

Evidently white tunics and/or bronze armor painted white was common for these troops.