Saturday 8 August 2020

Early Byzantine Front Ranks with Hand Painted Banner

Hi,

After a lot of going backwards and forwards in my head over what to do about the banner for this unit I decided to go 'old school' and paint up my own. It's been years since I have done this for a couple of reasons one which ought to be obvious; transfers save a hell of a lot of time. The other being I couldn't find a suitable transfer/flag sheet that was very representative of 6 CE Eastern Romans. Many of the depictions of the various saints etc on these transfers were clearly from a later era thus they would look out of place on a unit on the cusp of the genesis of the Eastern Roman Empire beginning to reassert themselves by making their presence felt in Western Europe, particularly in north Africa and Italy.


It has been such a long time since I painted up a banner from scratch I have to admit to a little trepidation. I think that the result has come out quite well. If I were to go back and do another version I would have made the border of  of the banner a little more complex, perhaps incorporating a number of Chi Rho symbols etc.

Over all though, I'm quite happy with it. The last two ranks of the unit are now complete but after being left for the acrylic to to thoroughly dry and being given a coat of gloss I'm going to take the advice of Redzed and leave the models for a day or two longer before matting  down.





20 comments:

  1. That is great work, you would get a good laugh if I showed you the one I did for my Byzantines.

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    1. Thanks Paul- you would have a good laugh at some of the others I have tried my hand at lol

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  2. Smashing work on the banner, Darrell. :)

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  3. That is superb and showcases the talent you have. Can I ask a daft question though?
    When you paint a banner like this what do you do about the back of the banner? Do you paint it as plain coloured cloth . I cam across the same with LBMS transfers.

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    1. Hi Valleyboyinnz,

      Basically i was so mentally exhausted after painting the front of the banner I resorted to just painting in the folds of the fabric in red. I reckon that may have actually constructed the larger (army) banners in this manner- several layers of fabric sewn together as they had to last the rigours of a campaign and would not have easily been replaced. Well, that's my excuse anyway lol

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  4. Very impressive brushwork!

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  5. Lovely work as always. Now do tell how you made the cross piece.

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    1. Thanks Martin.

      It was actually quite easy but a little fiddly.

      i/ Cur and file the rods to size.
      11/ lat out in cross shape supported by bluetac
      iii/ Tiny dab of superglue to join.
      iv/ Twist fine copper wire (or fuse wire) around middle.
      v/ Smother with superglue.

      Hope that helps. I'll do a "How To" on my blog when i do the next lot.

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  6. The unit looks great and the hand-painted banner is awesome. Fantastic work!

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  7. This is amazing, well done.
    Are those shields LBMS? I am tempted to order the Aventine Byzantine infantry, as they look like beautiful sculpts, but their note about which shields to order vs. which shields might work with LBMS is super confusing...just wondering if these are the original shields with LBMS, or if you had your own solution? Cheers, and great work!

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    1. Keith at Aventine is doing two different shields as there was a delay in getting Steve at LBMS/Victrix to produce the transfers for the larger shields. I *think* that this is about to change but I would certainly get in touch with Keith at Aventine as he will be able to give you a more accurate answer. He's a lovely chap and will certainly get back to you.

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