Dan Becker's Late Roman Armored Infantry 28mm Figures

The Victrix Late Roman Armored Infantry set comes with 36 figures to a box. There are 6 main bodies with a multitude of heads, weapons, shields, and accesories. There is also is a leader sprue with more body types heads, and a few types of standards.

Given the multitude of options, I decided to make 3 groups of 12 figures: Arthurian Romano British, Germanic Goths, and Eastern Roman Byzantines.

The photo shows 12 Byzantines (in 2 rows) on the left, 12 Arthurians in the center, and 12 Goths on the right.

The 12 figures per type are useful for 1 or 2 elite units in the game Lion Rampant. However, the period and armor are close enought to allow a a unit of 18 or 36 in a larger game.

This photo shows the two Arthurian leaders in the center. The leader with the sword is done up as a King Arthur with a very Romanic helmet and crest. The standard bearer holds the "draco" standard, and has the very famous Sutton Hoo helmet and face mask. Both of these Brits have the optional cloaks.

The other two gents on the ends have the optional axes for their weapons.

This shows the Arthurian Leaders reverse side.

As with the last few sets of miniatures, I based coated these with black primer, then white primer from above, and a bit of white dry-brushing. This performs a fast highlighting and shading for the next step.

Then I block in the main color areas of the figure with Armypainter Speedpaint. Because the Speedpaint is semi-transparent (like an ink), the highlights and shades poke through the paint. Then I fill in details with regular Armypainter Warpaints.

This photo shows the Arthurian Armored Blades.

Like my other infantry miniatures of late, I base the figure on a ferrous metallic washer. This allows the miniatures to be used individually for skirmish game rules, or on a magnetic sheet tray for larger formed-unit rules.

Twenty and twenty-five millimeters are pretty common round base sizes. These Vicrix minis are rather large with wide plastic bases, so I opted for 22 mm bases which is about the size of a USA nickle. I cut off any projecting parts of the plastic base and I use lightweight spackle to hide the plastic base.

After drying I apply some talus or small peebles, some static grass (from Woodland Scenics or Armypainter), and any other base details. A few sprigs of "tufts" give the odd tall grasses under foot.

This photo shows the Arthurian Armored Blades from the reverse side. Again, I gave these Romano Brits the optional cloaks. It is nice that the cloaks can be draped from either the left or right shoulder.

This photo shows the Arthurian Armored Spears.

The shields are made with designs from Little Big Men Studios. By far these are the best shield and banner designs for 28mm figures.

This photo shows the Arthurian Armored Spears reverse side.

For most of these figures I gave the swordsmen the smaller round metal shields and the spearmen the larger oval shields. The oval shields were made with hardened leather stretched over a wooden frame. This view shows the incredible detail of the Victrix minis. You can see the leather and the nails on the reverse side of the shields.

This photo shows the Goth Leader Infantry. The leader has the big sword and the musician has the trumpet. The Goths have the big hair and the spangenhelm type helments.

I tried to make the Goth figures look less Roman, although by 400 to 600 AD, they certainly had many encounters with the Wester Romans and all the war technology the Romans had to offer

This shows the Goth Leader Infantry reverse side. Two of the body types in this set have scale armor rather than chain mail. For most of my figs here, the chain mail is metallic gray and the scale armor is metallic bronze.

This photo shows the Goth Armored Infantry blades. The Goths were noted for wielding axes to great effect. The smaller ones they often threw. The larger ones would be used for breaking shield walls.

This photo shows the Goth Armored Infantry blades from reverse. If you were wearing mail armor in the Dark Ages, you were almost certainly a noble with lots of fighting skills.

This shows the Goth Armored spear figures. The third gentleman has a nice aged bald head. I did not realize it but the head has an eye patch which I neglected to paint. Nice detail

This shows the Goth Armored spears from reverse. Again note the scale armor and chain mail on the various body types.

This photo shows the Eastern Roman Byzantine Armored Leaders. I wanted to make this group the most Roman looking of the set. So I gave them lots of crests and red tunics.

The "Late Roman" Arthurians would likely have been less Roman Romano Brits after the Roman Empire left Britainnia. The Goths arrived with their own culture and opposed the Roman Empire, but they eventually merged and became "Late Roman"

This photo shows the Byzantine Armored Leaders from the reverse side. The leader has the fancy cape option. The standard bearer as a Roman style banner.

This photo shows the Byzantine Armored Infantry blades.

The Eastern Roman Byzantine empire had the first Christian emperor, Constantine in the early fourth century AD. It is where the Istanbul, formerly named Constantinople, got its historical name.

As such these figures have the most religious motifs on their shields such as religious saints and icons, Greek letters Chi (Χχ) and Rho (Ρρ), and the Greek letters Alpha (Αα) and Omega (Ωω). Chi and Rho are the shorthand abbreviation for "Christo" and Alpha and Omega refer to the verse by Jesus symbolizing that he is the beginning and the end.

Here are the Byzantine Armored Infantry blades angled. You might ask "where is the reverse side?" So many minis, so many photos! It is easy to lose track.

Here are the Byzantine Armored spears. Again, more Christian religious motifs on the shields. Great art from Little Big Men Studios.

Byzantine Armored spears from the reverse.

Hats off to Victrix with some of the most detailed and varied 28mm minis I have put my hands on. Definitely they are artists and manufacturers at the top of their game.