Late Roman Horse Archers

12 superbly detailed and animated models shooting to the front, side and rear representing the agility of these skilled mounted skirmishers. They come equipped with a powerful composite bow, bow case, arrow quiver, sword and small round shield strapped to their upper left arm.

The Romans steadily increased the use of mounted horse archers in the army as they came into conflict with more and more Stepp nomad peoples who excelled with the use of the bow, as well as having to face the arrow storms of Sassanid Persian Horse archers. Many of the Roman horse archer units were recruited from the very enemies they had to face.

The Notia Dignitatum a late Roman document listing the units of the Western and Eastern halves of the Empire lists nine units of light horse archers. There was probably a considerable amount more units in the Eastern Half of the Empire but the information is not as complete for this part of the Empire, but makes sense since most horse archer enemies were in the east.

These miniatures don’t have to be restricted to just use as Late Romans. They can be used as Early Byzantines representing the men that fought for Belisarius against the Sassanids and the reconquest of Italy from the Goths. And they can be used as Palmyran horse archers. Palmyra was a client state of Rome based in Syria. They acted as a buffer state against the Sassanid Empire and scored a notable victory over the Sassanids under their king Odenathus.

The Late Roman army was a fearsome foe. Its use of mixed arms, infantry and cavalry gave it flexibility and strength.

Pack Contents:

• 12 riders and 12 horses
• The torso is separate to the lower body so you can swap torsos onto alternative lower legs and rotate the torso to create more poses.
• A selection of powerful composite bow arms either being drawn back to shoot, loosed or being loaded.
• There is a selection of Bow cases and arrow quivers, plus small round shields to strap to the upper left arm and sword scabbards.
• There is a standard bearer option of an arm holding a Draco standard.
• The horse frames contain water canteens and bed rolls as optional extras. You do not use the javelin cases on these figures (These can be used as spare parts on other miniatures)