Early Medieval Byzantine Flags II (Conjectural)

Introduction

On Monday I posted a set of these that included flags with square tails. In it I said:

They are all highly stylised compared to the reference image. The absence of swallow tails is deliberate. I printed mine 10 mm high and, at this size, simplicity counts for a lot.

If you are feeling brave you can cut, shape and curl the tails to match the reference. I decided not to. Mainly because I really didn't fancy cutting a shallow taper on something 2.5 mm high.

This is a case of famous last words. After I posted a link to Bluesky I received some photos of Varangian Guard re-enactors with a very similar banner design. Of course theirs had swallow tails, but some photos showed banners with only three tails. I also received various contemporary images also with three swallow-tailed banners:

From "Synopsis of Histories" by John Skylites, late 11th century. Images from Wikimedia.

I began to wonder...

More flags

After a few days I realised that with three swallow tails each would be 3.33 mm at the base. More importantly, I might stand a chance of cutting them out. So it was back to the graphics package to produce these:

Again very stylised and the tails are nowhere near the length shown in the images above, but I have erred on the side of practicality: the points are fragile enough.

I am pleased to report that the tails on these can be cut out relatively easily. I folded the flags in half, stuck them together and shaped them round some brass rod leaving the tails flat (see my guide for details of my technique). Once thoroughly dry the light grey inserts were removed with a very sharp blade.

Colour variants

These look a bit bright on the screen but when printed they will look right. Any darker and they lack impact when printed the right size for 15 mm figures (10 mm in the hoist).

I've included lots of variants for the tails so you can choose the ones that fit with your chosen colour scheme.

More free flags.