11th Century Byzantines - 15 mm

[Ben Bob]

I finished my 15mm Byzantine force. These are Khurasan and Donnington miniatures.
In this period, many Byzantine armies were dominated by mercenaries as the empire tended to have lots of money and only a few trained soldiers. Also, they had so many enemies that they would typically appease one faction with a temporary alliance (and lots of money) to fight a new campaign against another faction.
The core of the army were the Thematic divisions - standing units of foot soldiers from each imperial province. Another permanent unit were the Varangian guards who acted as the imperial bodyguards.
I have tried to reflect some of this here.
Thanks for looking.

Norman mercenary cavalry:


Pecheneg mercenary horse archers:


Seljuk mercenary cavalry (surprising, I know! But they did fight in the Balkans against the Frankish incursions):


Nobles and their household:


Varangian guards (front) and Anatolian (or Armenian) levy:


3x Thematic infantry divisions:


Finally, some action shots from Manzikert:

[Michael Robert]

Hi Ben Bob,

great painting and beautiful compositions.
I was just musing - it is now possible to make a similar composition in my favourite 1/72 scale.
Well done and inspiring

Cheers
Michael

[Mr. Andrea]

Great job, fine brush work, colorful! I am myself a fun of 5mm figures: once painted they really rock, despite the smaller size! Bring more in, please

[Ben Bob]

Thank you both

Hi Ben Bob,

great painting and beautiful compositions.
I was just musing - it is now possible to make a similar composition in my favourite 1/72 scale.
Well done and inspiring

Cheers
Michael

I think so. Orion has some useful sets for infantry and Pechenegs. The Noble cavalry may be a problem though. Maybe Rus cavalry or some late Roman cataphracts could pass. Of course the Normans are also widely available.

[Kekso]

Really good... in that scale even better

[Peter]

Wonderfull painted figures!