Belisarius in Africa

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FanatiChris
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Belisarius in Africa

Post by FanatiChris » Mon Jan 17, 2022 11:06 pm

Am putting the finishing touches on an African Vandal army and was looking at possible historical opponents. Of particular interest is Belisarius and the Justianian Byzantines during the so-called Vandalic Wars, because there is a good breakdown of his expeditionary force at Ad Decium by Procopius. The Triumph! Justinian Byzantine List, however, doesn't match up well with this special purpose-built army, which according to Procopius consisted off:

2000 Bucellarii (Belisarius' personal guard of armored cavalry, usually classed as Elite Cav, but presumably not cataphracts at that point)
5000 Cavalry (presumably Byzantine horse archers)
10000 Foot (unknown combination of regular limitanei withdrawn from the Persian border and foederati. Presumably a mix of heavy and light foot, but breakdown not clear. The foederati were commanded by John the Armenian, and Byzantium was using lots of Armenians foederati at that point in time, if that's a clue. Otherwise, they could be Alans, Ostrogoths, Lombards, or any of the other peoples that the Byzantines had taken to giving foederati status to and/or represent a mix of Byzantine natives and Germanic folks since most apparently were equipped and fought like Byzantine skutokoi, not as undrilled warriors. But it seems reasonable to assume there were some light troops /skirmishers in the mix).
600 Huns (horse archers)
400 Heruls (horse archers)

Both the Huns and Heruli played significant parts in the battles, typically fighting on opposite flanks, so it would be nice to be able to represent them as separate elements.

Anyone have any information or suggestions on how to translate this into a workable 48 point Triumph! army list?
RogerCooper
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Re: Belisarius in Africa

Post by RogerCooper » Tue Jan 25, 2022 1:59 am

2000 Bucellarii (Belisarius' personal guard of armored cavalry, usually classed as Elite Cav, but presumably not cataphracts at that point)
5000 Cavalry (presumably Byzantine horse archers)
10000 Foot (unknown combination of regular limitanei withdrawn from the Persian border and foederati. Presumably a mix of heavy and light foot, but breakdown not clear. The foederati were commanded by John the Armenian, and Byzantium was using lots of Armenians foederati at that point in time, if that's a clue. Otherwise, they could be Alans, Ostrogoths, Lombards, or any of the other peoples that the Byzantines had taken to giving foederati status to and/or represent a mix of Byzantine natives and Germanic folks since most apparently were equipped and fought like Byzantine skutokoi, not as undrilled warriors. But it seems reasonable to assume there were some light troops /skirmishers in the mix).
600 Huns (horse archers)
400 Heruls (horse archers)
I figure that unit of cavalry is half as many guys as a unit of infantry. So the percentages of units would be

15% 2000 Bucellarii (Elite Cavalry)4
46% 6000 Cavalry including Huns & Heruls (Horse Bow)4
19% 5000 Light Foot 3
19% 5000 Heavy Foot 3

2 x Elite Cavalry(4) = 8
6 x Horse Bow (4) =24
1 x Skirmisher (3) = 3
2 x Light Foot (3) =6
1 x Heavy Foot (3) =3
1 x Elite Foot (4) = 4
For a 48 point force
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