15 mm Byzantine Heavy Cavalry (Essex MIniatures)

Introduction

This is the second batch from the 52 riders I purchased from eBay. Like the Georgians before them they came without horses. So the riders are mounted on a few horses I found in my lead pile and others I bought from Fighting15s and eBay.

They form another part of my "fantasy" Byzantine army. I say fantasy as I'm making absolutely no attempt to be even remotely historically representative. All the units will have one thing in common: they all started as "bargain buys" at a show or from eBay.

It's habit forming

My "bargain packs" always seem to end up as major projects.

In 2024 I bought two dozen Museum Miniatures Byzantine light spearmen which I eventually turned into medium spear and light infantry. I bought additional figures from Donnington (they are a good size match) to introduce some variation in pose.

In 2025 I bought two dozen Museum Miniatures Byzantine light archers which I'm halfway through painting. I will be using these as medium archers, rear ranks of mixed spear/bow units, and light infantry. Again I've bought additional figures from Donnington: just three command figures so far, but I will use Donnington figures for the front rank spearmen.

I've come to enjoy the process of assembling an army from bargain buys. I paint so slowly that I have plenty of time to look for anything else I need, and no individual purchase has been more than a tenner (so far).

I had no intention of starting a new army when I started doing this and I still haven't decided if the units will be for Midgard or ADLG.

Figure review

The Essex riders (BZA23 & BZ24a) are excellent sculpts and I had no issues painting them. I chose to paint the forearm of the lance arm red with yellow trim despite the fact it's sculpted as armoured: pure artistic licence as is the regimented look.

This following shows the Minifigs (14ZH) and Fighting15s horses from the side as well as the shield design. The legs of the Minifigs horse are a bit thin and I will have to be careful with them during games. However the armour on the horse was a lot easier to paint.

Closing remarks

It's good to post some new figures. The last few posts have all been a bit techie. I have another six of these to paint and will start them as soon as I decide on a shield design. After that there's four light horse and 12 medium cavalry to do. Better get cracking.