I have made a small army contingent for the use as Allies for either the Republican Romans or the Carthaginians. They could also be used against other Italian tribes, though they only bordered the Lucanians, or the Greeks that lived along the coast, in their colonies.

The figures used are from sets HäT 8040 (Italian Allies) and Hät 8054 (Italian Ally Cavalry), both for their Punic Wars range. You can buy both of them at the Linear-A shop.

Bruttians are the hardest of the four Oscan tribes to get information on. All I had in my notes were Blue clothes, Gold Armor. Not a lot to go by. So I trawled the internet, books I could find and such. I even asked ChatGPT what color would be more expensive lighter or darker blue: Light blue is the answer. Not having much to go by, I used 4 different colors of blue, and a very blue/dark shade of grey to make their clothes. Some trimmings I made different colors. I did not experiment with vertical patterns, but I think I might in the future.

Shield designs I went off the many shield transfers and plates I could find in books, without using symbols I did not want or could not make good enough. One of those was the 8 pointed star, that is very common in shield designs. I tried making it, but the star would become a blurry mess in the center (probably because of too much paint being there), and I have yet to find a method to make it good. Instead I used plenty of dots, which I know they used, "+" and "x" signs and the occasional Oscan letter. It turned out ok. I think.

There are 66 figures in total, 6 of them mounted. The Bruttians were not ones to use much Cavalry, so I made it light cavalry. I did make a few conversions. If you are very good you might spot them all :) I used weapons and heads (for conversions) interchangeably from the two sets. I had used a hand drill to make nice holes in the figures body and heads, and a paper clip I cut down to size, when I tried to glue them. But the Glue I first used, was not really able to glue these figures. So I used a very strong glue, that dries within seconds. I did not have to use the pins at all! It said don't get this on your fingers... Well, that is like saying to a toddler I expect you to wash your hands and they be clean after you eat... I did clean my hands afterwards, and luckily it was not as tough as I feared.

Here are some pictures.

First the Army from up top.


Then three pictures of the whole army.






A picture on the Left side of the Army, this one without flash and only natural lighting. I would take more of these, if they did not turn out mostly blurry.


The Right side of the Army.


The Armies left side.


The Whole Army viewed from the side.


And finally the Cavalry... I see spots on them where the painting is missing... :(


Those are the pictures I will show of the army. I might take some more of each unit.

Perfect. I'll take my time looking at them carefully.

Two things to note:

Look I got a Battle Mat to take your eyes off that dreadful wooden table under their feet.

I know that the "standard" is really a piece of clothing and an Oscan belt. It looks good on the Cavalry man, because it is positioned right (so it falls downwards) it is positioned wrong on the Oscan holding it straight in the air... But when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade... as they say in USA.

Well Claus, I really like shields. They are historically accurate. I also like the battlefield. I will finally stop looking at your table more than mine. Now the trees look more realistic. How much did the battlefield cost and what are its dimensions?
In general, everything is beautiful. Nice battle formation and army size. I like the yellow shields better.

Thanks,

I actually don't like the yellow shields :) Just shows how different tastes are :)

First two units are the same:

They are equipped with Shields and Spears, and a heavier armored "leader".





The two above pictures show them front the front and slightly from the top and front. The next two pictures will show them from slightly at the side view.





Then I have some pictures of the "Yellow shields".





And finally the "White shields".





I converted no figures to make these, and these were among the first that I painted.

Here is the next batch of pictures. This time a Medium unit of 12 with Shields, Light Armor and Spears/Javelins, and a more Heavier unit with Medium Armor, Shields and Spears.

First up pictures of them both:





Then here come the pictures of the Lightly Armored ones:







I did make at least one conversion in this batch, should be easy to spot :)

The next unit has quite a few conversions. I have not counted them, but they were fun to make. Some of them turned out better than others.







And that is it for the non-skirmishers, and non-cavalry.

Up next, the skirmishers (can be formed into one unit I guess if you don't want to use them as Skirmishers)

First the unit with yellow shields (the last figures I painted):







Then the other skirmisher unit:







Each of the Skirmisher units has a conversion in it. I like one of them a lot, the other not so much. I cut off too much of his head. I tried to make it so it was not too visible in the photographs.

Then my favorite of the units, the one I probably spent the most time on, and that I learned a lot about painting (it was the first Cavalry unit I have painted with the figures glued on to it before painting).

First a view from above:





Then some views from the sides. Two conversions in this one.

The figures are also nice up close. Nice banner.

The conversions are also nice. I liked that last cavalry unit.

And very good this last photo shoot, next to the trees. Very realistic.
Well done.

Thanks :) I like making armies, and taking the photos was easy, but, the editing took time of course.

Très belle unités, les motifs sur les boucliers sont de votre imagination ou tirés d'une documentation ?

J'aime beaucoup l'effet de masse que procure beaucoup de figurines en formation comme ici, bravo.

Thank you Brist. :) Yes, formations, and mass effect has a quality too.

The shields are partially made from imagination, partially from "sources". The sources are shield transfers that you can find on the internet. For instance when you do a picture search on "Samnite transfers" or "Italic transfers" etc. The colors they used are definitely mostly whites for shield backgrounds, and sometimes yellows. Can be blue and reds too, but that seems to be rarer. The motifs are from those too. I should have made some 8-pointed stars, but, the scale at which I should make them was too hard for me to paint. There is also a symbol that is forbidden by German law that was common, but I omitted that. ... Also made some letters from the Oscan alphabet on some.

D'accord, très bien, merci pour ces informations.

No problem, Brist, I however forgot to mention that I went on the primitive side on the shields. Mostly because they were the ones least influenced by Etruscans or Greeks.

Originally the Samnites colonized Lucania, and then the Lucanians became their own masteres, and colonized Bruttium, and then the Bruttians revolted against the Lucanians. So in a sense they are proto-Samnites.