The 3mm Byzantine Project

For 2022, I decided to do a Byzantine project in 3mm. I created a new label, 3mm Byzantine Project, to record my progress.

Here are my thoughts so far:

Focus

First I needed to decide what era of the Empire's 1,000 history I should do. There were two main contenders:

• Basil II (976 - 1025) vs. Bulgars or Arabs
• Sassanid wars of the 6th to 7th centuries

Basil had Varangians but the Sassanids had elephants. Elephants win.

Army Organization

I'll use my MicroBattle rules with One Hour Wargame scenarios. I'll pattern the army organizations on the lists from Neil Thomas's Ancient & Medieval Wargaming.

For reference, here are the maximum units per troop type according to AMW.

• Byzantines – 6 heavy cavalry, 3 heavy infantry, 2 light infantry, 2 barbarian cavalry
• Persians – 4 cataphracts, 3 light cavalry, 4 levies, 4 archers, 2 elephants

Because OHW armies are 6 units and AMW armies are 8, I may reduce the above numbers accordingly.

Miniatures

I'm going to order figures from Magister Militum. I need to work out what packs to order.

I ordered two Osprey books to get a better idea how the armies (especially the Sassanids) look.

Terrain

Here are my ideas:

• Brown felt for the battle mat
• Cork hills
• Pot scrubber woods - although I don't know if I need many
• Rough ground? Fields? Probably use construction paper
• Buldings - I have my eye on these Roman buildings from PicoArmor.