Fifth Century Berber warriors?

[area23]

I can't seem to find any information about late Roman or migration period Berbers/Amazigh. i.e. the people encountered by invading Vandals.
How much would they have been romanized? I'd like to use Ceasarian era Numidians but that probably incorrect.

[OmarR]

I cant speak heavily for the vandalic era but i know from my peoples history that when the we met the Arabs (7th century) the Berber kingdoms or just call us Moors, used  mainly light cavalry armed like numidian but more clothing/armour was worn

THIS IS 15MM scale but beautiful nonetheless and shows what Berbers/moors allied to to Romans might have looked like
http://lurkio.co.uk/lurk10live/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=73_99

[area23]

Brilliant, thanks. So these are roughly 4th century roman-allied Moors?
The trick seems to be the headscarves, as the arms are generic roman. I could possibly use Arthurian Picts as a base, mixed with earlier Numidians and a few selected later Dark Ages Moors.

I can't find any decent articles or books unfortunately.

[ErikB]

I would love to know more about this period.

My wife is Berber.  I call the kids "Bers" or "Halfricans."

[OmarR]

Brilliant, thanks. So these are roughly 4th century roman-allied Moors?
The trick seems to be the headscarves, as the arms are generic roman. I could possibly use Arthurian Picts as a base, mixed with earlier Numidians and a few selected later Dark Ages Moors.

I can't find any decent articles or books unfortunately.

Yeah sounds great i suppose mixing gripping beast plastics could work Arabs and late roman kit

[OmarR]

I would love to know more about this period.

My wife is Berber.  I call the kids "Bers" or "Halfricans."

She is a Hakri non muslim?

[delbruck]

The Osprey "Rome's Enemies 5 - the Desert Frontier" has some information. Personally, I don't think Gripping Beast Arabs are a lot of use for pre-islamic berbers - except perhaps some of the heads. I think using Pictish cavalry, plus a few late Romans is a good idea. A few traditional Numidians might also be a good addition, especially for light infantry. Gripping Beast used to have a small range of desert tribesmen, which if I recall correctly would have been perfect. Not sure what happened to the range. It's not on their website, and I can't find anything with Google. But for infantry I might consider using the Perry plastic Mahdist box.

[area23]

I think the Gripping Beast ones are called 'Garamante' warriors.

Another interesting notion is that in the area Donatist christianity apparently was a strong movement, so that's another thing to research, for eventual iconography on banners.

[delbruck]

Some of the old Gripping Beast desert frontier foot:

[WuZhuiQiu]

As from the Iron Mitten blog:

http://iron-mitten.blogspot.ca/2007/11/africa-prepares-for-war.html

[ErikB]

She is a Hakri non muslim?

She's technically a muslim but comes to church with me and encourages the kids to, as well.

What is a Hakri?

[area23]

So far I made these. Late romans with head scarf and 8th century Moors.
Most rank and file will be ancient Numidians. Possibly with contemporary shields and bucklers.



(p.s. these are doubling as fantasy corsairs in Middle Earth)

[Codsticker]

That looks like very nice work. You might be able to do something with Gripping Beast's plastic Dark Age Warriors heads on the plastic Arab Spearmen and Archers (you get 7 heads per 5 bodies IIRC)..

[3 fingers]

So far I made these. Late romans with head scarf and 8th century Moors.
Most rank and file will be ancient Numidians. Possibly with contemporary shields and bucklers.



(p.s. these are doubling as fantasy corsairs in Middle Earth)

Love the dusty look paint you gave these,the fella with the scale armour really stands out to me.