An Army for Byzantium III

 The Cavalry

The first group of 8 are the most beaten up of the pre-loved figures that I have. I decided a second rate Theme part-time regiment would be a good start to the cavalry contingent. Bows as an integral part of each cavalry regiment are most likely on balance with what evidence there is for this period. Two bases (4 figures) then as a back rank mainly shooting bows. 

 

Lots of broken weapons so I added a spear, a mace, an axe and a standard pole to the figures and mended one of the bows. The other modification was to sculpt on neck guards to all the helmets. Quilted fabric was an easy finish for my skill set, so the majority got this. The more likely mail version was done (in a vague kind of way) on a couple for variety. 

I have a variety of replacement shields available. The 9th. to 10th Centuries see the introduction of early kite shields to the Byzantine armoury but round shields were still the majority. For this unit though I decided to use some of the detachable shields supplied with the figures. The moulded patterns are mostly horsie-related but one of them is a sort of starburst pattern that that is not too dis-similar from typical Late Roman/Byzantine types.

The armour on these figures consists of a diagonal pattern scale or padded form in either long or short versions. The one exception is a pose in a shortish mail shirt with some sort of thorax armour on top. These work quite nicely as padded cloth armour (kavadion)  with the thorax painted metallic as a lamellar klivanion. I also painted the long plain coats with an impression of padding. Most of the figures also have lower leg armour and bracers on their arms which can be painted as leather or iron. (I did a 50/50 split for these self-armed, provincial part-timers.) 

 

                                        10th C. Icon with Klivanion Lamellar armour

The unit standard is a vandon banner which perhaps had a common symbol for each Theme and the individual unit identified by the colour of the triangular tails.

They have ended up looking a bit more uniform than I intended but with the cloaks in subdued browns I think they still have more of an ad hoc feel to the.

   

For the next group I will try a smarter scheme that could be a posh Tagmata guard unit.

An Army for Byzantium II

Starting With the  Infantry

Because I have more of them. So destroying some as I work out what I'm doing will be less of a problem for me. I have collected several dozen of the foot version of GW's Riders of Rohan. All second hand and in various states of disrepair. If you buy them new they are on sprues of 12 figures, 4 with bows and 8 with spears and swords.

These are one-piece figures with just a shield that needs adding. For my first unit of foot I chose mainly spear wielding poses or ones that could be converted. The spears are frequent casualties in the used miniatures I have collected, so I was replacing most of them anyway. I have not decided on integral archers with my foot regiments as yet but a rank of archers is an easy add later.

Dull coloured cloaks and miscellaneous equipment suits my vision of part-time Theme regiments so these were finished in a variety of colours and with most of the body armour  painted as padded body armour.

I replaced the small shields with larger ovals (from Newline Designs.) These could as easily be kite shaped shields or large round ones in the 9th - 10th Centuries.

 I found some suitable decals for the crosses on the shields and a sheet of LBMS banners which I scanned to create the cross part of the typical "tailed" standard. The (slightly wonky) cross on the top of the standard was made from beads superglued together. Most of the weapons were trimmed off and replaced with steel spears. 

Apart from weapon and shield swaps, the only piece of conversion I did on these figures was to trim back the luxuriant Rohirrm hairstyles and modelled instead the neck guard commonly shown on the byzantine soldiers of this period. Some of these were painted as fabric and others as mail.

Reasonably happy with these. The plastic is easy to cut and shave when making changes to the figures. The infantry are the junior part of the army however so the acid test will be how this works with the cavalry figures.

An Army for Byzantium

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?

 

New Painting Desk

 I finally had a chance to reorganise my study and replace the huge clunky computer desk with a separate desk and painting station.

 

 

I went for a pair of Hilver Ikea desktops with a bamboo finish. They are  hardwearing, reasonably sustainable and look quite smart. The most useful part is that they can be matched to adjustable legs (for the desk not me) so that I can have one set at a height that suits me for painting.  For the computer / writing desk I have re-used the base units from the old computer desk that give me a comfortable height for typing and writing, which is about 10cm lower than the painting station.

 

 

I adjusted my rolling drawer unit  a draw lower so that it will fit under the surface. The top drawer has all my small pots and dropper bottles of paint, so it is quite easy to look down onto them and pick out whicher ones I need. The first deep drawer has a bunch of craft paints in 60ml bottles as well as   glues, varnishes and spare 20ml pots. Another draw has all my tools, extra brushed and all the bits and pieces that we seem to accumulate "because it will come in handy one day." 

There is a nice big window facing east, so pretty good light during the day. I might in the future add additional light to augment the three adjustable spots in the ceiling and the lamps. No excuse now but to crack on with getting some toy soldiers painted..

 

Republican Roman Cavalry

 Whilst I am trying to stay focussed on one main project and not more than 3 or 4 side projects (maybe 1 "official" distraction too*)  I do still make time to plan other armies that will some time in the future again be the main focus...

(*Yes I'm a nightmare.)

Sorted through some Republican Roman cavalry that are patiently waiting in the queue and as there was a question about sizes on the Lead Adventure Forum I took the picture below to show a comparison of the cavalry figures that I have. I stuck a plastic Victrix figure alongside as these are a well known size as a benchmark.

Sizewise these are all close enough for me to have in the same army. Mixing within a unit I try to match styles rather than sizes but I am quite tolerant about differences. My daubings will mask a lot of the differences anyway. Horses I am a bit more picky about. I will often try to have the same brand of horses within a unit so that they all look more of less the same species of animal...

 One "successful" conversion of an early 17th Century Tufeci (musketeer)  into a late 17th Century Azab did of course leave me with te conundrum of whether to do the same to the other 14 or so figures that make up a unit? The decision was tipped by the receipt of some of the excellent second batch of command figures from Warfare Figures.

These gave me three figures that could slip into place in the Azab unit with minimal adjustments required. So I gritted my teeth and set to with the epoxy putty to get the whole unit converted.

Just getting rid of the feathers on their hats quite dramatically changes the look off this unit. I decided to do a mixture of baggy trousers, of various lengths, turbans round the hats and a few adjustments to coat lengths. Every figure would get at least one of these and some two.

I need to make a few more yatagahan swords from plastic hoplite swords as only a few of these militia types would have access to / preference for a posh scimitar. The command figure waving a rare scimitar was given a  musket from the Perry box of plastic Afghans which comes with qute a few useful bits like this. Although these will probably be graded as low quality regulars, they are mostly going to be brigaded often with Bosniaks, Albanians and similar irregulars. They'll make an interesting contrast to the others.

Ottoman Azab

I've never liked Tufecki infantry. Always thought they looked weird and not very Turkish. Every miniatures range seems to have them (Warfare, Old Glory, TAG...) but  I have never been able to find a reliable reference for them beyond the early 17th Century. I was interested then to see them illustrated in the Bruno Mugnai book (just published by Helion,) plate F, and labelled as a "European Azab". Azabs are described as being a well organised local militia who are able to take on garrison duties or fight in the field as a part of the regular army. It makes a lot of sense that their dress should look similar to Croats and other Balkans soldiers if this were the case.

In the same colour plate is an illustration of a European Azab from the end of the 17th Century.  This figure has done away with the shonky feathers in his hat, he has very voluminous trousers and a slightly longer kaftan. A rather more fine figure of a man to my eye!

So I decided to have a crack at converting one of my 28mm Warfare figures to match.  Here is the result.

I  much prefer the look of him now. I might try another with a longer coat next. I also gave this chap a yatagan style sword, made from a trimmed down Victrix Greek kopis. You can only see the hilt from this side. I decided that a militia man would be very unlikely to have a nice scimitar like the one that is supplied with the figure.