Thursday 28 October 2021

28mm Heruls / Heruli cavalry for my Early Byzantine army

 Hello guys!


After a year without any posts about my late antiquity collection, now is the turn of a little update, a couple of bases of Herul cavalry, for my Belisarius army, based for Impetus.




My plan is to complete my Early Byzantine army of Belisarius at the battle of Dara, 530 d.c. and there was a Herul contingent commanded by Pharas "the Herulian", one of the commanders of Belisarius.

These horsemen were painted a long time ago (2014!), but never placed them on bases. Also my painting style have changed a little bit since I painted them.

Appart from being my Herul foederati, they also can be almost any generic germanic cavalry from III d.c.-VI d.c. in my opinion.

The miniatures are a mixture of Gripping Beast metals, some Crusader and Westwind.







The Heruli were often mentioned during the times of Justinian, who used them in his extensive military campaigns in many countries including Italy, Syria, and North Africa. The afordmentioned Pharas was a notable Herulian commander during this period. Several thousand Heruli served in the personal guard of Belisarius throughout the campaigns, and Narses also recruited from them. They were a participant in the Byzantine-Sasanian wars, such as the Battles of Dara or Anglon.

I used this miniatures because all the illustrations and reconstructions, like the previous one, I have seen so far, depict Heruls as (mostly) unarmored horse lancers.

In further post I will show here the complete Early Byzantine army I have so far for the battle of Dara 530 dc.


7 comments:

  1. Ideal squads for Impetus. I would put more figures on the bases, but it looks great anyway

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  2. Thanks mate! I put 4 figures on medium cavalry bases, and 5 for heavy cavalry (6 be more ideal, but... almost no room for them!)

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  3. They look very nice Jose…

    Let’s hope that their venerable age will not inhibit their ability to harass the enemy…

    All the best. Aly

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  4. Thank you Aly! In hope that too, haha, they will start their career as part of my Belisarian left wing along some regular cavalry an Huns for Dara 530.
    Cheers!!

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  6. I like your Heruli. I am doing a similar army. Any chance that u have a complete Belisarius Army list

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    1. Hello Keith, Yes, I have a list from Impetus rules:

      Boukellarioi 1xCM*
      Kavallarioi 2xCM*
      Moors 1xCL
      German auxiliaries 1xCP2
      Skoutatoi 1xFP*
      Supporting Archers 1xT V
      Isaurians, Armenians or Slavs 1xS
      1st option: change 2 CM and 1 CP2 with
      Kavallarioi 3xCM*
      Isaurians, Armenians or Slavs 1xFL
      Isaurians, Armenians or Slavs 1xS
      2nd option: change 1 CM and 1 CP2 with
      Kavallaroi 3xCL
      3rd option: change 1 Boukellarioi CM with
      Skoutatoi 1xFP*
      Supporting Archers 1xT
      Isaurians, Armenians or Slavs 1xS V
      4th option: change 1 S for 2 initiative rerolls
      Skoutatoi must form Large Units with Supporting archers

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