Legionnaire's Wish List

This is a record of my desired kit for a Byzantine legionnaire persona. I know that "legionnaire" is anachronistic, but we are calling our fictional unit the Chimera Legion so it works for us.

Items I already have are marked in gold font.

ARMOR

Helm with padded aventail

Byzantines often paired their helms with an aventail of chain, scale, or even padded cloth. I'm leaning toward padded, like this picture. 

Wyrmwick offers the cheapest helmet option that looks historical.

        

Here's a padded aventail for sale, but I may start by making my own.

Lamellar klivanion (body armor) - made of small plated laced together. I am in the process of making one using Newcastle plates from PlasticLamellar.com, but I am using a non-Byzantine lacing pattern.

One day I would like to get a Byzantine one. The plates are riveted to leather strips, then the strips are laced together.

Pauldrons - Byzantine pauldrons have some distinct features, as you can see above. There is a plate shoulder protector with upper arm protection hanging from it. The upper arm protection can be lamellar or leather strips. I'm thinking of leather.

One idea I have is to make the pauldron from a plastic knee pad, as shown in this video, then add leather pteruges.

Kavadion (padded armor)

As armor on its own or as a base for the klivanion, padded armor was commonplace. I already have an off-white, sleeveless gambeson but I'd like one in red.

I just found this on Amazon. It comes in red.

Bracers

The most common forms of bracers seem to be splinted or padded. For now, I want to get padded bracers, like these Farald bracers:

I ordered a pair from Medieval Collectibles but they are on backorder. They are also available from their sister company Dark Knight Armory as part of the Farald Arming Wear set.

Perhaps one day I will get a splinted bracer for my sword arm. Wyrmwick has a set.

Pteruges
These are leather straps hanging from a belt. You can see an example in the klivanion picture above. They provide lower torso protection.

I would love to get some in heavy leather, but price seems a bit steep. For now, I plan to make some out of faux leather layered with canvas so they are thick enough to count as light armor in WotS.

Splinted greaves

My bracers order comes with padded greaves, which are also historical. However, I would ultimately like to get heavy greaves. I own some faux plate greaves, but they are not typically associated with Byzantines. 

I would like to get some splinted greaves. I just discovered Wyrmwick's plastic version.

WEAPONS

I would ultimately like to have a collection that comprises all possible personal Byzantine weapons. No Greek fire just yet.

Spear - standard weapon of the heavy infantry. I have a 6' one.

Sword - Also standard issue. I have a few omnis but I would like to make flat blade that looks like a Byzantine spathion.

Dagger or short sword - I made a makhaira. I would like to recover it in gray.

Danish axe - we need some WotS "red" weapons. I figure a Danish axe is appropriate. I'll make it 4' long.

Bow and Arrows - I own a set.

Javelin - used by light infantry. I have a 4' one but it is made of PVC. I would like to upgrade to a kitespar core.

Plumbata - heavy darts. I can make some as WotS throwing weapons.

SHIELDS

I currently have a 24" round shield. I want to re-cover it in red and add our chimera sigil.

 

I also want to get a teardrop shield.