For the next DBA tournament at the local group, with a Crusades theme, I painted a "Komnenan Byzantine" army. This is the army of the Eastern Roman Empire during the time of the First to Fourth Crusades. It's an eclectic mix of everything from heavy cavalry, to mercenary horse archers, to some interesting infantry. For miniatures, I mainly used Khurasan Miniatures' excellent Nikephorian Byzantine line. These are very nice miniatures, although they are a bit early for the time period. I also used horse archer miniatures from Essex to fill in gaps.
This is the general stand, with figures in excellent lamellar armour giving commands.
These are all of the heavy cavalry stands, including the general. Between the two alternate lists for this army, these can be used as cavalry or knights.
A close-up of a cavalry stand.
These are the light horse stands. At this point in time, the Eastern Empire mainly used steppe nomad mercenaries for horse archers. These are from Essex's "Asiatic Hordes" line.
Some Bulgar horse archers with distinctive mustaches.
Some Pechenegs, who were the more common mercenaries found in the Empire.
During this time period, East Roman armies were cavalry-oriented, but they still had some infantry. These are regular foot archers, who can be quite useful in games.
And here is probably the most famous infantry unit they had, the Varangian Guard, Vikings who fought for Byzantium.
I don't have all of the options done, but the above are the ones I use the most. For the upcoming Mayday tournament, I'll stick with them.(Well Mark, you've got what you wanted now. )
