Early Byzantine Isaurian Light Infantry?

I'm trying to figure out what miniatures to use for Isaurian Light Infantry for my Early Byzantine army; insofar as I can see, things are hazy to say the least. According to my WAB V.2 AoA V.2 army lists (yeah, I know!) they were Light Infantry but this is seemingly not the case not so when consulting The Strategikon though there are hints. This is obviously problem. 

So where did the Isaurian soldiery originate from? Well, as wargames folk law would have us believe the Isaurians were depending on what you read were in some way related to The Daylamites who inhabited the mountainous region of Daylamān (modern-day Gilan, Iran). Rather, it would appear they came from the Isaurian Mountains in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). Obviously, with any human population we would expect gene flow between the two populations given their close-ish regional geographic locations, but, as this is not going to stand out on the wargames table I am (warily) unconcerned in terms of appearance.

Daylamite Warrior (In Sassanian service):

I still remain in a wee bit of a pickle as the only visual representation (unless I missed it in WRG, Armies of the Dark Ages, Heath) is from the very good Justinian's Wars, Belisarius, Narses and the Reconquest of the West,Roy BossMontvert Publications (see blow):

Isaurian Warrior:

The Montvert book describes the Isaurian Warrior as follows:

"Isaurians are distinguished from regular units and perhaps served as distinct units. This man is based on the figure at the foot of the cross in the Rabbula Gospels and has patterned oriental trousers and light shoes. He carries an issue sword and an Isaurian javelin, which could be used for throwing or thrusting. He could carry lead weighted darts in his belt, as specified by The Strategikon. It is likely that some Isaurians had bows (slings in my list!) and that the leaders could have worn mail shirts. Isaurians were valued fighters, but were quite likely to betray their post if unpaid (as they did at Rome). Persian armies possessed similar units of Daylamites, the later Dailamis." (again, more possible confusion between the two distinct warrior cultures!)

So, the fun part. what to use for miniatures in 28mm? It may be possible to buy plastics, convert from various kits etc then have them snap on me so not going to happen! Instead I'm going to look for metal alternatives, maybe even do the old school conversion thing.

I've have found what I consider to be the closest models to the speculative image of the Isaurian above and irony piled upon irony, they come from the Footsore Miniatures Daylami Infantry from their Armies of the Caliphates range. These miniatures are, at the very least, from a century later and two of the miniatures have solid one piece/single piece helmets which are anachronistic. I may have to paint them in a lather dyed caps (of which I have zero evidence for!).

Footsore Daylami Infantry:

After all of that, I got to thinking; maybe I'm overthinking this? Maybe the Isaurians were just regular units capable of performing light infantry roles on the battlefield or in skirmishing? This is probably the most likely explanation. The Footsore Byzantine Spearmen and Byzantine Javelinmen jumped out at me! These miniatures would do very nicely as either regular Byzantine Spearmen and Byzantine Javelinmen or Psiloi with throwing spears and javelins.

Footsore Early Byzantine Javelinmen:

Footsore Early Byzantine Spearmen:

Not being able to make up my mind about the appearance of the typical Isaurian soldier in the armies of Belisarius and Narses the only thing to do was to do both! I will put together a formed Isaurian Light Infantry unit based on the Footsore Daylami miniatures and a couple of Psiloi type units based on the Footsore Late Roman/Early Byzantine range.

Inconclusion, a pedantic look at future additions to the army or an abject lesson in how to talk oneself "back to the drawing board." LOL. I'll leave it for you to decide! 

Next, probably Lombard Heavy Cavalry in Early Byzantine service or the even more confusing/controversial The Heruli.

Dice & Lead Magazine #2 is out now!

Dice & Lead 2 is out now!

What’s in it for Impetus players?

• The Battle of Pavia – includes a link to download the full Pavia campaign game (originally in Extra Impetus 1) for free, in case you missed that supplement.
• The Mithridatic Wars – featuring brand-new army lists for both Impetus and Basic Impetus.

Dice&Lead is a non-regular publication (1 or 2 issues per year) featuring a curated selection of the best articles from the Italian edition. It is available in both print (via Amazon) and digital format (via Wargame Vault).

Who Makes These Archers (Please)?

Panic Over- they are West Wind Productions, Romano British/Sub Roman range from pack, RB04 - Roman British Archers (SHS)

Hi all, Does anyone happen to know who makes these archers please? They're quite barrel chested and look like they're drawing Yewbows but I cannot place them. They would make brilliant Goth archers!!! As they have done in this image from The Emperors Little Soldiers Facebook Page. 

They are lovely miniatures and the question of who makes them is doing my head in as I type! I'm sure I've seen them before! 

Thank you to all who answered here, and on Social Media- no prizes for guessing where I got the flux of guesses, many correct! 

Late Byzantine vs Early Crusader WAB Game- 5500pts A SIDE!

Just a few photo's to show as far as this week's game went. We decided on 550pts the week before for a WAB game at the club. My aim was to write a full AAR/Bat. Rep. but for a couple of reasons I couldn't manage that this week- juggling the AAR with playing the actual game, being present tactically and the simple fact that with all of us crowded around the table it's hard to flit about taking pictures due to lack of wriggle room! 

In the game the week prior to this, it took much longer to deploy so we decided to get to the club a little earlier than normal and draw up "Hidden Deployment" maps. We must have saved us about at least an hour and a half and resulted in much more realistic and challenging deployments for both armies. The result of our efforts was thnat we more or less completed the game. A few more turns each would have yielded a more decisive outcome but the seven turns each we managed, at 5500pts, was very good going. 

Deployment? The Crusaders refusing one flank whilst the Byzantines did the same as last week where units were almost matching their opposite numbers! Extremely "unrealistic" but perhaps worse; they take the guesswork out of the game which I find enjoyable with the "Hidden Deployment" method. 

Here's a few snaps of the game. There really isn't any point in attempting to write anything up as the photo's are quite disjointed ergo the tale they might tell would be amorphic. I'll do my very best to get the right pictures together for next week's game (probably a change of rules over to Rapid Fire). AAR's/Bat. Reps. are one thing i need to start to do a lot better as they are usually a lot of fun to write up.

It was a close game with the fortunes of both sides ebbing and flowing. In the end, thanks to some excellent dice rolling, the Byzantines probably just tipped it past the post. Just. 

As per. All the photo's are "clickable" if you want to see more detail. 

Cheers