Byzantine Kitbash
Since I first saw the Riders of Rohan in the Peter Jackson film "The Two Towers" I was impressed at the depiction of cavalry fighting, during the destruction of Pippim and Merry's captors by Eomer's warband.
The combination of close fighting and horse archery brought to mind Byzantine practises and the early medieval influences in their clothing and armour worked for that too. (Other scenes such as the charge down a "cliff" at Helms Deep were less inspiring!)
When the Perry sculpted miniatures based on the film came out I bought a few to see how they looked with half a mind towards converting them into a historical force For various reasons this went nowhere and the idea joined a plethora of similar parked project ideas...
Recently I found myself reading about Byzantium of various periods and I decided to take another look at the feasibility of a cheap Rohan to Byzantine conversion army.
Do they look like Byzantines?
Well... sortof. They are equipped with headgear that are a mix of ridge helmets and segmented type that are fairly ubiquitous during the 6th to 10th Centuries. There are some fancy horse themed crests that can be trimmed back to make them less obviously fantasy based. The armour is an appealing mix of scale and what looks like leather. Some of it could also be easily painted as padded cotton which was in widespread use after contact with the Arabs.
Quite a mixed/scruffy bunch they are, which fits my image of self-equipped regional Byzantine forces. They all wear big cloaks which were certainly a thing in Byzatium, although it is generally thought they would not have worn them during a battle as too encumbering. (Other sources specify a dull coloured cloak as required equipment for keeping out of the notice of enemies in the prevalent raiding and guerilla type of warfare.)
Weapons are bows, straight swords, axes and spear/lance (used overarm.) This is all fine although it could be argued that not every rider should be equipped with a bow. I can overlook that.
Overall I think it is close enough. The long viking style hair that a lot of the riders have can be ignored or changed to a hanging neck guard like the illustration above. Carved flat it can be a fabric/leather version or some might get scales or mail sculpted on. The Byzantines ot the 9th to 10th Centuries look like the best match. This is the period when Byzantium was counter-attacking the enemies that surrounded them. The army was formed of regional forces (Themes) backed up by the Emperors guards from the capital (the Tagmata) which makes for an interesting composition of units.
So a positive start but is there usable option for the infantry component that is required?