Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[Mark Stone]

I'm in the surprising position of polishing off my current painting projects. I need to paint two more chariots and one more stand of spearmen for the various Chinese lists I want to play, I've finished my Medieval and Byzantine figures, and I just need to paint a few dismounts for my 15mm Mongol army.

So I'm about to embark on a project that will probably take me two years at least. I picked up about 1200 points worth of half-painted 15mm Carthaginians for a bargain price off of eBay last fall, and my aim is paint first a 15mm and then a 25mm Carthaginian army.

This project is driven mostly by my son Alex, who has developed considerable interest in Carthaginians in general and Hannibal in particular. This takes me into an area of history that, frankly, I know very little about. So, my question(s). What books would people recommend as:

A good general introduction to the history of Carthage;
A good military history of Carthage;
A good biography of Hannibal.

Keep in mind that these are not just for me to read, but also for a 13 year old to read. Although the last two biographies Alex read were Joan of Arc by Vita Sacksville-West and Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford -- not exactly light reading.

Anyway, any suggestions would be appreciated.


-Mark Stone

[John Murphy]

There was a show on the hystery channel Saturday about Carthage. The historical background info for a first-timer was pretty interesting. Maybe they'll show a re-run (they usually do run the same programs a couple hundred times into the ground).

Not the 'scholarly discourse' you are probably looking for though.

[Peter Celella]

Mark:

I recently read "The Fall of Carthage" by Adrian Goldsworthy. I thought it was a good general history of the three Punic Wars. If you son could handle the other books you mentioned, he should be able to tackle this.

Peter

[Bill Chriss]

Mark,

For a readable intro, see The Punic Wars by Brian Caven. For a Hannibal bio, see Hannibal by Ernle Bradford. These were featured Barnes and Noble titles of about the usual quality one finds on the display tables there, and cheaply obtainable used, I would think. Very serviceable. For my son, I would use them to introduce the subject and then supplement with Polybius' chapters on events in Africa and Spain and Plutarch's Lives of Fabius and Marcellus.

[scott holder]

Peter Connolly's book is great, albeit out of print. Scour online book sellers for a potential copy. If I can remember, I'll pull the ISBN number.

scott

[Kelly Wilkinson]

Just curious about the above troops. How did these guys fare in stand up fights under Hannibal in Italy against Legionaires?

[lilroblis]

I bought 8-10 books on this period when I first started playing Carthaginian, and will look them up for you when I get back to the US. I am happy to ship them to you if you send them back when you are done
Robert