The Byzantines part one...

Greetings!

I am a history teacher, coach, sculptor, and wargamer. I have always had a keen interest in the Byzantine Empire and the Crusades Era of history. I also have a strong interest in the Franco Prussian War of 1870 and the U.S. Civil War, but my brother already has a great website on that topic: http://web2.cs.cvtc.edu/~cooleyjc/fpwar/ My blog will cover the progress on a project that I have undertaken recently. That is to re-create the forces necessary to stage a campaign set roughly during the early Crusades period in the latter part of the 11th Century. For this purpose I began collecting figures to create Byzantine, Muslim (Fatimid, Syrian, or Turkish), and Frankish armies. Some figures I bought pre-painted on E-bay when I could afford them and some I bought from various companies or sculpted myself. I decided to do these armies in 25mm scale which is also referred to as 28mm scale. I will try to identify which figures are made by which company in the photos. I also made use of the fantastic shield decals and banners of the Little Big Men Studios company as this saved me hours of painting and they were far better than anything I could paint! Some of the Byzantine banners were sent to me by my friend Javier who is the best painter that I have seen.

Here are my Byzantine Turcopoles or "Turkopouloi". They are based on a figure that I saw on the DBAOL site a while back. They are armed with bow, shield, sword, and a light spear. They are light skirmishing cavalry from the Comnenan Period wearing a padded quilted coat favored by the Byzantines.
Turkopouloi were a mainstay of Comnenan Byzantine armies and a unit of them accompanied the First Crusade Armies as they marched across Anatolia to Antioch in 1097-98.

This is a unit of Crusader Skutatoi or Kontaratoi if you prefer. They are splendid figures and are equipped with the teardrop shield instead of the oval shields of my other infantry units. Shield designs by Little Big Men Studios (LBMS). Skirmishers in the foreground are Old Glory psiloi archers.

Heavy Kavallarioi from one of the Themes. These troops were used to support the heavier Tagmatic units or to deal with raiding parties of Bulgars, Pechenegs, Cumans, Rus, Slavs, Turks, Arabs, etc. that plagued the frontiers of the Empire during its later history. These figures are Gripping Beast with lancers in the front rank and hippo-toxotai (horse archers) in the rear rank.

They would be used to pepper the enemy with arrows and then withdraw behind the heavier armored lancers for the charge!

This unit is a well-equipped unit from the elite Anatolikon theme in the Nikephorian period or can be used as a Comnenan Imperial Tagmata unit. It is made up of converted musicians from the Crusader Tagmatic Command set. The rear-rank Hippo Toxotai are Gripping Beast Light Cavalry archers. The horses are Old Glory with the front rank from the Byzantine heavy lancers bag and the rear rank horses are from the Russian Heavy cavalry bag.

Now come the truly elite units of the Byzantine armies - the Imperial Tagmata! These regiments were maintained in the capital of Constantinople and used to form the core of any major military forces that were necessary in the long defence of the Empire. These regiments were maintained at great expense by the state and were given the best equipment available.
The next two pictues could be used as any of the Imperial Tagmata regiments. The front rank heavily armored lancer figures are converted Crusader Miniatures. The Crusader Byzantines are some of my favorites! The rear-rank "hippo-toxotai" archers are converted Essex Byzantine heavy horse archers. The Essex heads were too big for my liking and I replaced them with some Old Glory heads on some spare figures that I picked up from the Historicon flea market a while back. Much better looking IMHO! Shield designs once again from LBMS (Russian teardrop pack). I gave this unit the Imperial Purple pennons.

These next three pics are the Athanatoi (Immortals) created by the Basileus Alexious Comnenus. Alexious found himself seriously strapped for cash and manpower after the crippling series of civil wars that devastated the Empire following the defeat at Manzikert in 1071. These civil wars were much more crippling to the Byzantine Empire than the defeat by the Seljuks at Manzikert. Alexious was only able to afford one heavy Tagmatic cavalry unit after he became Emperor (Basileus) in 1081. He created the Athanatoi (Immortals) regiment of heavy cavalry reminiscent of the kataphraktoi of Nikepheros II a century earlier. He then supplemented this regiment with many mercenary units such as the Varangian Guard, the Skythikon, the Vardariots, Turcopoles, etc.

These figures are my own sculpts based on evidence from a Byzantine manuscript from the Comnenan period, Osprey books, and from a mod for "Medieval II: Total War" - a game that I play frequently!

I used some old Hinchliffe horses because I like the "feel" of them. The shields and swords are from Gripping Beast. Shield designs - well LBMS once again. Banner from my friend Javier of Jaiko's Studio. Javier is one of the best miniature painters that I have ever seen - a true artist and a generous person! Check his work at: http://javiko.com/

Last, I conclude with a shot of the whole force drawn up in battle array. No self-respecting Byzantine general would ever draw up a battle array in one line, but I did for the sake of photographing each unit individually. I will follow up this blog with more Byzantine units in the near future. I still have the Varangian Guard, Skythikon, Vardariots, and many other units to take photos of. So watch for updates!

So, my plan was to tackle the Muslim forces first, then the Byzantines, and to finish with the Frankish Norman Crusaders. I figured the Muslim forces would be the most time consuming to paint, then the Byzantines, and the Frankish Normans would be the easiest. I would finish one army and then move on to the next until I had all three complete. Well, that was my plan anyway...things worked out a bit differently. I did quite well building a nice sized Muslim force of six units of Ghlimen/Mamluks heavy cavalry, two units of Arab heavy cavalry, three units of Turcoman light cavalry, one Bedouin light cavalry units and three units of spearmen and archers infantry. Then it was on to the Byzantines. This is where the plan started to break down slightly. I got a great deal on some Old Glory Norman infantry so I bought them. Then I saw some really cool paint jobs on the net and I had to copy them (best I could). I simply lost all control of the Byzantines. I went from a rather modest army to a massive force designed to cover from the 10th Century through the 12th Century! My Byzantine Army became the biggest part of the project.

I am currently working on two (of course) Emperor stands. Perhaps in case of a civil war???
Also on the work bench are my Byzantine baggage stands of mules and drivers, more Turkish light cavalry, and a host of Frankish knights.

I will post more pics of the Byzantines that I have done, the Muslim troops I have done, and the Frankish Norman Crusaders as I finish them off.