"Who makes best looking 15mm Thematic Byzantines?" Topic

Being novice on the subject (btw, I didn't find a lot of specific informations about it, is there something more detailed about their appearance that Osprey Men-at-Arms 247?), I don't know for instance if Lurkio Miniatures fit the bill for the VIIIth century. Do I have to search for Late Romans, or Early Byzantines, or what?

Alain Touller figurines by an imperial mile!

Late Romans are a mite too early in appearance. Some Early Byzantines, e.g. light cavalry and light infantry could be used but others, e.g. heavy infantry and archers would probably look out of place in a Thematic army. Cannot comment on other ranges as I only have Essex figures – these are nice, especially the heavy infantry and the archers, and reasonably accurate. Other extensive ranges are Khurassan and Old Glory – both have pics on their websites. If you want to see a fantastic paint job on Byzantines then google TAGMATA DBMM and follow the links to the tagamat site. There are pics of painted 15mm armies including Byzantines. Great inspiration but, if you're anything like me as a painter, you need to fight against the inferiority complex that can be induced by such magnificent painting.

link list a variety of ranges for Byzantines. It also goes throught terminology used by FoG – DBA/M/MM is pretty much the same until the 11th century. These terms might help you to find more info.

As far as books go, there isn't a lot around for the 8th & 9th centuries. The Osprey covering the period after Osprey 247 might have some useful bits and pieces. The WRG book Armies of the Dark Ages is okay but is possibly shoing its age more than some of their others. There are various fairly academic texts and Byzantine manuals if you want to go into that level of detail. e.g. link The same page has links to various other books which might be if interest.

Lurkio are possibly okay but I think are intended for c.600 so a century or two earlier than you are looking for.

Touller are good (confusingly you'll find them in the 'feudal' section of the online store.

OG15s generally paint up better than they might look in the lead. For the 8th century you might want to mix some of the figures from their two Byzantine ranges.

Khurasan are the best historically

Mainly pointed toward a slightly later period they are still a better historical representation than the older ranges from other manufactures.

I have 15mm Khurasan, Alain Touller, Old Glory, Essex, Minifigs, Irregular, and Outpost Byzantine figures. I think that the Touller figures are best for the period that you are looking to build. The cavalry archers are two-part figures that have to be assembled, but that gives a lot of variety in poses! Try this source for information too: link

Thank you for all these informations, so I suppose Alain Touller would be a base, and that Khurasan, OG, Essex and others could be useful for variety. As for the well researched Khurasan, they have two ranges, I supposed you were speaking about the later Nikephorian range, which leaves a question: some of the Nikephorian miniatures have kite shields, which replaced round shields at some time. Would kite shields be present as early as 750, and if yes, in which proportion?

A very nice looking Byzantine army, made with Old Glory and Alain Touller miniatures:

link

"Would kite shields be present as early as 750, and if yes, in which proportion?"

I _think_ kite shields didn't start appearing until later but I'll see if P can find anything more certain.