Unarmoured Early Byzantine Skutatoi Close Ups of the Individual Bases

as I promised in my last post of the Unarmoured Early Byzantine Skutatoi Unit Complete I managed to find some time to take some close ups of the bases.

And why not?

My preference for basing the miniatures in large units to have a degree of synergy and interaction between figures goes back quite a while to when the Perry twins first produced their Agincourt to Orleans range in metal. The sculpts in that particular range were so dynamic, so suspenseful so full of life they just screamed out "vignette style basing" to me. To help illustrate my point, here are a few quick pictures taken by David Imrie (Saxon Dog to many) of the Perry HYW stuff completed many a moon ago:











I have tried to achieve something similar with my Aventine Miniatures Early Byzantines; but in a more uniform manner. I think the more regimented look of the units just says Eastern Roman/Byzantine discipline a little more then the "all out scrum" look of my HYW English. With the Byzantines I have made an effort to try to get the Command Models to look as though there is a high degree of interaction and a sense of suspense whilst the rank and file are either, depending on the units, standing their ground, fighting or, in some cases, just milling around waiting for action.

Here they are, "Warts and all":

Sensational stuff for 'warts n all'....yep I'd be very happy with that. That Aventine range is outstanding.

Tarty wrote:Sensational stuff for 'warts n all'....yep I'd be very happy with that.

Thanks. Your goodly words are very much appreciated

Tarty wrote:That Aventine range is outstanding.

They are just that. It's my dream range as I've been trying to put together a Justinian era army for, well, it must be 20 years ow but I was never completely happy with the models.

Here's an image of one of the units from my last attempt, from the early 2000's!!!

Nothing wrong with those at all !!!
Yeah Aventine have 'set the bar' with everything they've tackled so far, amazing stuff.

Tarty wrote:Nothing wrong with those at all !!!
Yeah Aventine have 'set the bar' with everything they've tackled so far, amazing stuff.

The whole army of five cavalry units, two foot skirmishers and one infantry unit (such was Beyond the Golden Gate WAB supplement!) took about three weeks to paint! I think it must rank as the fastest army I have painting since I first picked up a Humbrol Gloss pot of paint!  

The "older" painting army was based on Belisarius invasion of Italy where he took on substantial numbers Persian reinforcements; if you look closely at the unit you can see they are made up of miniatures from Gripping Beast's Sassanid, Late Roman and British and Welsh Kingdoms ranges!!

I have been very lucky as Keith has been sending me previews of all the greens etc prior to their release so I have been able to really dig in when it comes to planning what is to be painted and when. I realise that we are quite limited for 530 plus CE Byzantine ranges (to put it mildly!). The Aventine is head and shoulders above anything else out there by some margin.

'Humbrol Gloss'....hehehe

Ah yes think my first armies were painted with Humbrol Gloss (Airfix 1/72 Ancient Britons and Romans) Very durable !

Tarty wrote:'Humbrol Gloss'....hehehe

Ah yes think my first armies were painted with Humbrol Gloss (Airfix 1/72 Ancient Britons and Romans) Very durable !

Mine too. With me it was Hinchliffe- quite classic ye olde models