1/72 Italian Allied Cavalry

Here's another set from Hat Industrie (Set 8054 Punic Wars Italian Ally Cavalry) that I'll be adding to my growing Carthaginian Army as well as the opposing Roman Republican Army. The horses also benefited from my less than scholarly research on painting ancient warhorses. The horses are sculpted with armor for their faces (a chamfron), decorative breastplates (poitrail or peytral) and no saddles nor cloths since they were known to have ridden bareback.
Plastic Soldier Review identifies some of the spear-armed & shieldless riders as Samnites (the figure with a cuirass decorated with three discs) while the others are representative of generic Oscan speaking tribes. The Samnites were composed of at least four tribes: the Pentri, the Caraceni, the Caudini and the Hirpini and later may have been joined by the Frentani. The other figures represent the other allied Oscans such as Apulians, Lucani and Brutii.
Warriors such as these served both Carthage and Rome. They could also be fielded solely as Samnites fighting Rome during the Samnite Wars. The army of Carthage relied almost entirely on mercenaries and allies to fill its ranks and recruited light horse cavalry such as these from much of the ancient Mediterranean world, including parts of Italy not under the control of Rome. These riders were employed heavily during Hannibal's campaigns in Italy with many proving to be effective and trustworthy troops. However, riders from these same tribes and peoples also served with the Roman army, providing the Socii --Rome's Italian military confederates, often referred to as "Latin allies." These allies continued to form an essential part of a Roman army's line-up for over a century.

The figures are based individually on 40mm x 20mm stands for Warmaster. Each cavalry unit will have 3 riders to represent it with each rider facing the 20mm edge. I'll be texturing the bases as soon as I finish another box of these models.