Carthage Veteran Reinforcements Arrive, but Flawed

When I first ordered a starting pile of figures for my Carthaginian army from Gripping Beast, I purchased several of their "unit deals" which grouped together several of their offerings into larger bundles for convenience and, probably, a smallish discount. When the models arrived, and after they had been sorted, I noticed that I was lacking figures in anything that resembled an aggressive attacking stance. It appears that Gripping Beast only included figures from their Veterans Spears Upright and the Veterans Throwing Spears units and completely excluded figures from the Veterans Attacking/Advancing. I'm not sure if that was done intentionally by Gripping Beast or if it is simply a random pull of models from their inventory, but it was a very different experience from the one I encountered with Eureka Miniatures which hand picked all of my ECW models to ensure I had a wide variety of all models possible with little duplication. Well, that was a bummer, but easily remedied by placing another quick order.

Yesterday I received several of the attacking models which will allow me to complete two full units of Carthaginian heavy infantry - which I am excited about. What I am not excited about is the quality of these new models. I had no problems with the original order I placed with Gripping Beast, but these latest figures are so covered by large casting lines and seams, some of them in the worst possible places like down the middle of the face, that I will probably never get them right. They have all been cleaned up as best as I can for now and have been mounted for painting.

If I am lucky I can have both units of veterans completed and fully based next week.

Attacking reinforcements from Gripping Beast.

WIP of the second veteran unit and their commander.