Byzantines

[TinyTerrain]

Hi

I am not sure who it was but someone mentioned Byzantines in a recent post, which is something I have been looking at for my Crusader era games.

I am in no way an expert in Byzantine arms and armour so this post is very much open for discussion, but I have been pouring over various books and websites of recent days and was wondering if a reasonable Byzantine force could be cobbled together from existing ranges:

Spearmen - New Carthaginians Spearmen (ACR 2)
Javelins  - New Carthaginian Javelins (ACR3)
Bows - A mix of Late Roman Archers (ARL4) , Carthaginian Light Archers (ACR4) and Norman Light Archers (N5)
Cavalry - Maybe something Roman with a conversion to change the helmet?
Varangian Guard.......looking or advice, happy to make a conversion using GS as I will only need 1 base of these (8 pieces)
Command-As with Varangian Guard.

So any suggestions or coments on the above please? Any big "no nos" that Ive overlooked, any other ranges to consider Etc.

Cheers,

Craig
Tiny Terrain Models

[FierceKitty]

It can be done, but Magister Militum and Pendraken between them give you all your heart could desire. See an earlier post (December?) on the subject.

[TinyTerrain]

Found it FK.

So I reckon Anglo Saxon Huscarl (AS2) for Varangian Guard and AB9 from the Arab range for the Cavalry.

For command the Republican Roman ARR10, with some modification should fit the bill.

Cheers,

Craig
Tiny Terrain Models

[DanJ]

It depends somewhat on which Byzantine army you want to field.

For an early army I'd use mostly late Romans, mid period I'd still use late Romans infantry and add in the fiures you list, I'd also add a lot of heavy cavalry from the Late Roman and possibly Sasanid ranges.  For late armies I add in units of medieval mercenaries.

[Leman]

Would'nt it be useful if there was a section either in the forum or the online catalogue which listed armies not specifically produced by Pendraken but for which Pendraken produces compatible figures, which would then list those figures, with their codes, and what they could be substituted for, eg Great Italian Wars, Unbarded gendarmes, ELM28 - Mounted knights on unbarded horses.