Early Medieval Byzantine Flags (Conjectural)

Introduction

For those following my progress of my "fantasy" Byzantine army, will have noticed that I've started the command bases and have recently finished the mounted commanders. I'm about half way through the foot commanders and have one base in need of a flag.

I decided to design my own. I based them, very loosely, on illustrations 27b & c from page 75 of Ian Heath's classic WRG book "Armies of the Dark Ages 600-1066":

It's worth noting this from Heath "[Leo's Tactica] records .... a new type of swallow-railed bandon had become the principal standard of both infantry and cavalry units". Must have been awkward for the infantry.

ADLG: Good And Bad V4 Lists

Background

Recently, I wrote my final piece on the subject of "super" armies in Art de la Guerre (ADLG). The main points were:

From a visual, and statistically naive, analysis I concluded that there are no "super" armies in ADLG. By "super" I mean armies that offer all players an advantage.

My underlying hypothesis was that as games increase, luck, player skill and list choice even out, so efficacy tends to 50%, leaving only inherent list differences (if any).

More rigorous testing showed that luck does even out. What is left behind is real and not chance, but that leftover is a tangle of list strength, player skill and popularity. The tests can only measure its size, not pull the tangle apart.

My hypothesis was only partially right. In a perverse way my initial conclusion still holds, but for totally different reasons. There still aren't any "super" armies because, given the data available, it's impossible to prove or disprove their exstance. It's case unproven.

One of the "byproducts" of the rigorous testing was a list of 20 (yes just 20) statistically different armies (good and bad) in ADLG V4. At first I didn't see it as particularly useful: the differences could be due to any combination of factors not just an army's inherent performance.

Now I've had time to reflect, I think the lists may be of more general interest; not least because they contain a few surprises and people do love a good list or two.

ADLG: Super Armies, The Final Solution

Summary

Since 2018 I have always answered no to the question are there any "super" armies in Art de la Guerre (ADLG)? After the thorough statistical testing described here that's still the case, but for entirely different reasons.

Until today I thought, given a high enough number of games, any variation in army performance (efficacy) could be ascribed to the inherent strength of the list and nothing else. That's not the case.

Chance genuinely evens out, and what is left behind is real and not chance - but that leftover is a tangle of list strength, player skill and popularity. The statistical tests only measure its size, but cannot pull the tangle apart. This applies to all the data I have available. More data will not help.

The answer is definitive, but it's case unproven. Therefore this post is the final piece to look at the issue of "super" armies in ADLG. Time to move on.

Those of a statistically nervous disposition read on at their peril.

ADLG: V4 Six Years On

Introduction

I’ve been looking forward to writing this post for a while, and this week I finally can: the online database now shows more recorded Art de la Guerre (ADLG) V4 games than V3. Each version has surpassed 20,000 competitive games from events worldwide.

Contents

Having reached this significant landmark, it seems a good time to:

• look at the history of ADLG,
• highlight any differences between V3 & V4,
• revisit the super army debate,
• discus what's happening with V5.

Looking To The Future

Background

This week I finally sorted out an issue with the new administrator of one of my occupational pensions. I wanted confirmation that my wife was the sole beneficiary. They repeatedly sent blank forms for me to nominate her, but I did this years ago. They should have a record of this.

The customer support was patchy. After yet another form arrived and the person on the phone could only say "the computer says no", I raised a formal complaint which was sorted in five days; in my favour and to my satisfaction.

What's this got to do with this august blog. Well, it set me thinking. I'm not getting any younger and I began to wonder whether I should save this blog for posterity? After all I've put a lot of work into it, especially this year.

Read on if you'd like to know what I've done.

Adventures In AI

Background

I'm sure you've all seen the media hullabaloo about Artificial Intelligence (AI). I'm also sure you've asked yourself: what has AI ever done for us (me)?

After some twelve months of dabbling and delving deeper into AI's capabilities, I'm pleasantly surprised at how helpful it can be. I started down this path because, although I know enough about how things work to ask the right questions, my coding skills are rudimentary. The AI is so much better and quicker.

To show what's possible, I thought I'd list the things I've been able to do with the help of Anthropic's Claude AI (mostly). I have only used the free service.

15 mm Byzantine Mounted Commanders (Donnington "Originals")

Introduction

As a change of pace I've painted two command bases for my "fantasy" Byzantine project. This time they are figures specifically bought for the project, not cheap figures from eBay.

In keeping with my "fantasy" approach to this army I painted one commander astride a white horse. Every wargamers knows that all the best commanders ride white horses (except for Alexander the Great of course).

My intention is to use these for the Byzantine armies of Justinian to Nikephoros a five-hundred year span marked by frequent changes in arms and armour. Accordingly, I’ve opted for models whose equipment is indicative rather than strictly historically accurate. Even so, I’m reasonably confident that each figure will be plausible for at least some point within that period!

I'm rather enjoying this flexible approach.

15 mm Byzantine Infantry Archers (Museum Miniatures & Donnington "Originals")

Introduction

This is the third in a series of "cheap" purchases, or should I say bargain buys? Last year, at 2025's "The Other Partizan", I bought three second hand bags of Museum Miniatures' Byzantine light infantry bow (BZ10), from those nice people at Instant Armies.

The bags contained twenty five figures, which is a lot for me, but later on I realised that if I bought three command figures I could make two light infantry units for ADLG (4 figures), two medium bow units (12) and four bases of three archers (12).

15 mm Byzantine Heavy Cavalry (Essex Miniatures)

This is the final batch of heavy cavalry figures from my eBay bargain buy. For the project background and my review of the figures & horses go to my June post on the first batch.

I painted these with a red & blue theme so I can use then as elite troops should the need arise. Varied colour schemes always help me identify different grades of troops on the table.

List of all project posts

15 mm Pecheneg Light Horse (Tin Soldier)

Introduction

These are the latest addition to my "fantasy" early medieval Byzantine army.

I’m describing this as fantasy because I haven’t made my usual effort to ensure historical accuracy. This is partly because the term “Byzantine” covers many centuries, and partly because a large proportion of the figures came from cheap bulk purchases at shows or job lots bought on eBay.

15 mm Byzantine Heavy Cavalry (Essex Miniatures)

Introduction

This is the second batch from the 52 riders I bought on eBay. As with the Georgians before them, they came without horses, so I mounted the riders on a mix of horses from my lead pile and others I picked up from Fighting15s and eBay.

They form another part of my “fantasy” Byzantine army. I call it fantasy because I am making no attempt to be historically representative. The only thing the units have in common is that they all began life as bargain buys at a show or on eBay.

CSV Search And Blog Features

Introduction

For some years I've used Google Sheets to create data tables. I've created quite a few specifically for my blog posts. It's really easy: any tab can be published as a web page and it comes with a unique URL for use in HTML hyperlinks.

I like using them because Sheets can both organise and maintain the data and, once linked to a blog post, everything else is automatic. They are particularly useful displaying tables that are too wide for a standard blog post (600 pixels in my case).

They have one drawback: searching is a bit clumsy. Readers need to know that Ctrl+F will find what they are looking for on most browsers. Even so it's not ideal not least because you can't filter the table.

Enter AI

Last week I did a lot of work indexing the illustrations in the WRG books resulting in a spreadsheet containing 1,322 rows. This was far to long to use without a search or filtering mechanism.

After a bit of research, I found that it's possible to display CSV (comma-separated values) files on web pages without a background database: an ideal solution for Blogger which doesn't offer (or allow) this functionality. All I needed was a code widget I could paste into Blogger as Google Sheets can export any tab as a CSV file..

WRG Illustration Index

One of my best wargaming "investments" was a collection of hardback reference books released by the Wargames Research Group (WRG) in the early 1980s: the famous "Armies & Enemies" series.

In the intervening decades they have been used again and again; not least because so many 15 mm figure manufacturers use them as sculpting guides. I'm glad I bought the hard back editions as they have stood the test of time with few signs of wear and tear.

Birth of a project

The books' greatest strength is the sheer volume of illustrations. The books' greatest weakness is the sheer volume of illustrations. Thus a project was born.

My Fifth Bisley!

Today I collected & refurbished a 15 drawer Bisley cabinet. I have four already. They house my 15 mm wargames figures. Here are the main three:

The 10 & 15 drawer cabinets are ideal for everything except certain pike models and elephants hence the six-drawer cabinet on the left. They are very space efficient.

They currently hold a collection that has taken decades to acquire and I still have three empty drawers and one just started. I am not going to need another for years. Which is precisely why I bought another!

Social Media Posts From The Archive

Background

Whilst checking my Bluesky feed I noticed someone posting links to, and images from, their blog. Not new posts, but posts from years ago. It struck me this was good use of a blog archive. However, I didn't want to do this manually: even daily posts would soon pall.

In January I removed over one hundred low‑value posts, improved the underlying HTML code, and brought the layout of all the remaining posts up to my current standard. Today there are 464 posts on this blog, which is more than enough for a lengthy series of recycled posts. I just needed a suitable script I could automate.

Thanks to the perplexity.ai, I now have working python scripts, for both bluesky and the fediverse, that produce posts like this:

Read on if you are running Linux (Xubuntu 24.04) and you'd like to try them (at your own risk of course).

Desk Upgrade

I've replaced my decades old piece of hardboard with a new A2 cutting mat because, no matter what I did, I couldn't stop the hardboard sliding on the glass top of my desk.

I hoped the mat would be non-slip, but it isn't. I ended up using two strips of double-sided sticky tape underneath the mat; so problem solved!

The mat was £10.00 from The Works (UK), but be prepared to ask if they have any in stock. They are too big to be displayed with their regular items. Mine was tucked away at the back of the shop in a dusty corner. Even the staff weren't really sure if they had any. They are available online.

15 mm Medieval Georgians (Essex Miniatures)

Preamble

The genesis of this batch of figures began with a slip of the keyboard. I spotted 52 Essex early medieval riders (no horses) on eBay. At just over £10.00 delivered I couldn't resist.

There were 12 Crusade era figures amongst the job lot of Byzantine figures. Specifically, a couple of Syrians (CRU39a) and ten Georgians (CRU28). Perfect for four units of heavy cavalry for my allied Ilkhanid Mongol army. I've painted these figures twice before: in 2000 and in 2011.

15 mm Pyrrhic Cavalry (Donnington "Originals")

Background

In 2024 I took a Late Macedonian army to the King in the North competition. I had originally planned to use borrowed figures, but was lucky enough to finish painting everything I needed in time for the October event. I wanted to begin with a fairly plain, almost “vanilla”, Hellenistic army that I could adapt afterwards into other, more exotic forces.

As it turned out, the Late Macedonian army was perhaps a little too plain. It’s very solid, but it lacks a certain something in competitions. There aren’t quite enough units with real striking power, and I found myself relying too heavily on a small number of pike units to both hold the line and breakthrough.

After several competitions, I began browsing through the Art de la Guerre (ADLG) army lists to see what other options I might have. I briefly considered a Seleucid army, but eventually settled on a Pyrrhic army. That choice meant I needed to paint a few extra units: elephants, some hoplites, and of course some different cavalry.

Appropriate cavalry

These new cavalry units caused me the most "trouble".

New Improved

Introduction

After many years posting at least once a month, it's been six weeks since my last post. That's a long gap for me. It was brought about by quite a few factors. Some, like the Christmas & New Year holidays, were expected, but others were not (DIY for example).

Back in mid-November, I mentioned I was taking a break from ADLG for at least a year. The plan was to start fresh in 2026. That gave me about six weeks to wrap up all the ADLG posts I’d been planning (plus one that wasn’t). I managed to get the final post done just after Christmas. Since then, I’ve been keeping busy, but mostly behind the scenes.

With the weather grey and overcast, painting was out of the question - one of the drawbacks of relying solely on natural light. Looking for a way to fill the dark days, I turned to a bit of archiving. That small task soon led to some weeding, which in turn became a full-blown project lasting several weeks.

What follows is an account of that venture - a post about blogging and technology. You have been warned!

Analysing ADLG Player Numbers

Introduction

This carries on from the previous post with a much more detailed analysis of the data from the BHGS and ADLG rankings.

It is a more structured analysis using database techniques to correct the data (where possible) and tackle the quirks of the two data sets.

It aims to quantify the number of regular players, those attending infrequently, those who stop playing and also how many players haven't played since Covid.