Thursday 17 September 2020

Early Byzantine Army General/Magister Militum Command Stand


 

It has been just ten days since my last post. I've been cleaning up and assembling some of the beautiful new Perry plastic Afghan Tribesmen as well as being a little ill. The illness was a bit worrying for a few days as it was certainly a cold. As I'm 'shielding' this was I must admit an anxious moment. I have not developed any of the classic Covid 19 symptoms so I have probably just picked up a cold from somewhere, though given my steadfast shielding, I know from not where.

I'm just happy to be in one piece.

I've managed to complete the Byzantine Magister Militum Command Stand who will be standing in as my army general for my Early Byzantines. The base of the stand is all of 10 cm in diameter which is admittedly on the large size. I purchased some round white plastic rings of various sizes to fit a couple of rules systems that can be placed over the top of the model in order to adhere to the requisite basing conventions. Some rules just measure from the commander's head so not a problem really. The back of the stand looks just a litle too bare for my liking so I will be adding a little bit of clutter in the form of a few Sassanid shields, perhaps a kontarion and sword as well. Whatever completes the composition really.

The banner is hand painted and is based on the famous mosaic of Emperor Justinian. It was a toss up between Justinian and Belisarius as they are depicted on the same mosaic. In the end I opted for Justinian as he looked more magnificent (and pompous).

As usual the mini's were chosen from Aventine Miniatures Early Byzantine range from two packs- three from the BYZ22 Senior Foot Command 1 and one from the BYZ23 Senior Foot Command 2. The miniatures chosen for the task are below:

 

I know I have said it before but I have really fallen in love with this Aventine range. They have just the right amount of detail to add an Eastern Roman flavour to distinguish the range from that of a Late Western Roman range. The sculpts are delightful and jam packed with detail. My original plan was to speed paint the army up but any notion I held in that regard was soon suppressed when first package was opened and the mini's were in my hand. These had to be painted up carefully and with a little bit of TLC.

All the images are "clickable" so feel free to dive in and see them warts and all. 











Next up will be either a unit of Armoured Spearmen in shieldwall or an Unarmoured of Spear again. Both are cleaned up, primed and undercoated thus ready to go.

22 comments:

  1. Inspired and wonderful work!!

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  2. Magnificent work sir, that hand-painted banner is particularly impressive.

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    1. Thanks Jack, a lovely compliment coming from you sir!

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  3. Gorgeous work. I would love to see a group shot of all of them together.

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    1. There will be; eventually. With not being able to get to the club this is proving to be an ongoing problem. I'm going to build some terrain at some point with either the Battle of Dara 530 CE or Solachon 586 CE in mind. So..... watch this space :)

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  4. You are really inspiring me to paint more Byzantines! Great job!

    Saludos!

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    1. Great to hear that my painting is serving as inspiration. The Byzantine period; all 1000 years of it, is a really fascinating subject. I've now got plans to do an Early, middle (beginning of the Themes) and Tagmantic armies!! LOL

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  5. Splendid command stand, bravo! Absolutely agree with you about Aventine's sculpt and only one thing makes me upset (a bit) they don't have Byzantines for 11-12 century, which I mostly collect.

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    1. Thanks for the kind words Dmitry. I agree. It's a shame that there are not a few more Thetamtic/Tagmatic 11-12 CE ranges out there. The obvious ones like Gripping Beast and Crusader are good. Have you thought of using some of the Essex miniatures 28's as extras for officers etc? I can't think of anything else off the top of my head though there must be something else that could add variety(?). I'll let you know if I think of anything. Not so much a fan of resin miniatures which is why I left out V&V.

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    2. Essex miniatures might be an option. Also Drabant miniatures has nice Byzantines and I hope they will develop this range more. Eureka has some models too, but they are too far :(
      As for plastic - Fireforge miniatures has light and heavy infantry kits and we’re waiting for cavalry.

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    3. Drabant are excellent. I've got some of their 'Saxons'. I have no idea how I forgot about them as I've had my eyes on them a lot of late.

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  6. Very impressive command stand. Fantastic painting as ever and I really like the use of a rock outcrop to give some extra height and variety.

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    1. Thanks Midlander. I wanted the Magister Militum to be doing his job and surveying the field. I think it's come off quite well overall. The only problem is that the command stand is 10" in diameter! I I suppose I will just have to measuring from the top of his head LOL

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  7. Great work I’d be interested to know what colours you used for the grey rock out crops, thinking about my Falklands project 😉

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    1. Thanks mate. Nothing special. Just Scalecolour Matt Black highlighted up with VMC Pale Sand. It's pretty simple really. What the photo's don't show is the ever so slight yellowish tinge to the rock formation.

      I hope that is of some use to you?

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  8. Beautifully painted. Love the banner.

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