by William John Edwards
Early Period (up to 1071)Shields Yellow on Red radiating 'teardrops' or 'flower' pattern. I used a combination on my Byzantine Infantry, 1 of yellow on red, 1 of red on yellow, 1 blue on white and one blue on red. All shield rims painted (white or metallic for the white shields). Green shield with with yellow dots close to edge, red edging (looks good). Cavalry Shields 'teardrop'. I have examples of red shields with a green cross and yellow dots and green shield with a small central yellow 'flower' Cloaks All examples are red with one cavalry example showing a small rectangle of yellow containing smaller rectangles of black. Located just above heart when the cloak is half drawn. Later Period 1071 to about 1400Shields all patterns are a mixture of western heraldic imitation with an eastern influence - e.g. crescents, short crosses instead of christian crosses, wavy lines, etc. Blue chevrons or parallel stripes on a white background seemed popular. This example is of a herladic style - red shield with a yellow lion rampant, metal edge, small yellow flowers around edging. Cloaks Infantry: Brown
Very Late (1400 to 1453 or later for Trebizond)All troops appear very Turkish - scimitars, no armour, Turkish style shields and shield patterns. Back to Saga #73 Table of Contents Back to Saga List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2000 by Terry Gore This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com |