Painting: 6mm Punic Wars, Carthage Cavalry

Carthage Libyan Cavalry
Models: Baccus 6mm



While I don’t game much these days, and don’t really own that many miniatures, what I do have is a rather large 6mm Roman Army, and a rather large collection of unpainted metal that is their Carthage opponents.

These guys are supposed to be Libyan Cavalry, but I should point out for the purists out there that when I paint 6mm I tend to over exaggerate colours so they stand out more on the battlefield. I also have a tendency to paint my armies with a familiar scheme and to try and keep it throughout the units even if this means sacrificing a little historical accuracy along the way. I suppose its the computer gamer in me, I like to see all my forces my colour!





On that note I should mention the armour (gold) is over exaggerated so as to stand out on the field from other, less armoured units, and the theme of white/red for my Carthage is carried out on the shields, plumes and skirts.



Another note is the skin colour. Probably not the best choice but having dark skin African cavalry units already as part of the army I wanted these guys to be recognisable against them.



When painting 6mm I often find less is more. Use solid dabs of colour and if a detail looks to thin, or hard to paint, leave it. Nobody is going to notice if one belt isn’t painted, or the corner of a shield isn’t perfect. This scale is all about mass effect – what all the models look like together.



Another point to note is shading. Where colours are easy to blend into each other when painting 28mm, this doesn’t work at 6mm level. Try to avoid any shading or highlighting. Instead use the 'blob method' and try to paint a smaller blob on the top of your base colour.



I will do an article on basing these in a future blog, so please check back often.
Thanks
Chris