Christmas Eve in the Burrow

 

Gnomeland Security agents move in on suspected illegal immigrants .

Merry Christmas to everyone and here’s wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2026. 

Danish Napoleonic Light Battalion

It’s turning out to be quite a productive week, as this battalion of Danish light infantry heads off to barracks. Not the hardest of uniforms to paint but boring. These are of course 28mm Perry Miniatures.

There is one more battalion infantry on the painting desk and when they are done the Danish corps WILL be finished. 

Norwegian Ski Troops and early Bavarian Jäger.

Why not?  These ski troops have been laying around my painting desk for at least a year so I thought I’d get them finished. These are Steve Barber models and I’m unsure how to utilise them on the tabletop. Could be fun…..I have another half a dozen to do if I have a mind to.

I also managed to complete these Bavarian jäger for the early Napoleonic Wars or late Revolutionary War. The minis are I believe Bicorne Wurtemburg jäger, but the headgear is wrong as they ditched the Rumford’esque helmets for a sensible hat. No matter as I have a brigade of 1800 Bavarians for when I decide to refight Hohenlinden, so they now have some jäger with more or less the correct uniform.

Piano Wargames Wurtzberg Artillery

Adding to my growing collection of minor German states, here we have the Wurtzberg artillery, again 3d resin prints off Piano Wargames. As with all the other goodies from Piano they are splendid miniatures. I already have a battalion of Wurtzberg infantry completed and the light cavalry regiment is on the way, again they are Piano miniatures.

Apart from the brown uniforms and the brass bits, everything else on the gunner minis was done using paint pens –  use those from Sharpie and a superb white I found on Temu. 

The Køngens Livjaegerkorps

Just to prove I am getting back into actually painting some miniatures, no matter how obscure they might be.

Køngens Livjægerkorps (The King's Life Jäger Corps) was an elite unit formed as a result of the British bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807, when Denmark allied with Napoleon. They were a volunteer, bourgeois force, similar in spirit to other Jäger units across German-speaking states.

These are Steve Barber Miniatures designed specifically as the korps with their distinctive czapzka-like shako.

Kingdom of Wurttemberg #2

Here we have some of the remaining troops of my Wurtemberg division. There is a battalion of light infantry and the guard battalion. The Guard never saw action as far as I know but the uniforms are simply stunning so cannot be overlooked. There’s also a regiment of light cavalry. They are all 3d prints from .stl files acquired from Piano Miniatures. The quality is stunning but beware knocking off bayonets and swords. They are easy to reattach so not such a big deal.

Now all I have to do are the bases of four line infantry battalions and two limbers, of which I have a surfeit.

Birth of the Byzantine Army 476–641 CE

The Birth of the Byzantine Army, 476–641 CE by Philippe Richardot, presents a concise examination of the formative period of the Byzantine military apparatus following the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire. Published by Helion, the third in their new ‘A Time of Knights 476CE–1453CE series’, volume 1 asks a pertinent question; still Late Roman? The volume continues the publisher’s commitment to producing accessible studies that nevertheless maintain analytical rigour. This is volume 1 of a what I hope will be a long series.

The author traces the evolution of the Eastern Roman army during a period marked by profound political and social upheaval. Rather than engaging in perhaps contentious academic debates (which are more than likely way over my head), the work offers a lucid and well-supported narrative of how the Eastern Empire constructed a distinct military identity. This process is contextualised within the broader challenges posed by external threats, including my two favourite ‘enemies of Rome’ the Goths and Sassanid Persians as well as interminable and recurrent internal crises.

Particularly informative are the sections devoted to the development of the comitatenses and limitanei, which are presented with clarity. The explanations are unambiguous, and provided me with a better understanding of these key military formations.

The book is further enhanced by a variety of illustrations, including detailed colour plates (each with an attached commentary), map and diagrams. These visual aids contributed to my understanding of the material culture and organisational structure of the Byzantine army, and will be of particular interest to both scholars, war gamers and enthusiasts of military history.

In sum, Birth of the Byzantine Army, 476–641 CE serves as an effective introduction to a transitional era often overlooked between the ‘Late Roman’ and ‘Byzantine’ periods. The work succeeds in providing a concise, digestible overview of the army’s transformation, making it a valuable addition to Byzantine military studies.



ISBN: 978-1-804518-28-1 291 pages. Paperback