Byzantines - Komnenon and C11th

[davidharvey1]

Can anyone give some pointers on these two armies, both of favourites i'd like to try out under FOG

1) Komnenon

Between original sources (Kinnamos and Choniates) plus more recent work, I'm reasonably certain of interpretations, but how will Manual I's adoption of western knight tactics be treated? Do all or a proportion of kavaliaroi get the option to regrade to knight or do they remain as cavalry? What's the view on the balance of mercenaries against native's (often including foriegn pronoiars recruited into native units); yes, I think DBM balanced slightly too far to the former re the proportion of Latin knights. Are a fuller range of subjects (Alans, Serbs, other Slavs, Georgians, more in Kinnamos) and allies (Armenians, Hungarians, Crusader states) available?

2) C11th Byzantines

Presume most cavalry will be armoured, lance swordsmen, bow *, superior or average with superior/elite cataphracts. How will the frequent use of horse archers from tagmatic units to skirmish ahead before rejoining unit be treated, presumably with the bow* rather than a seperate type? How will mixed bow spearmen kontaratoi work? Difficult to see where menaulotoi fit since they were supposed to stop cavalry at impact - perhaps offensice spearman?

Thanks

David Harvey

[hazelbark]

Was that one question?

The Byzantine lists fall right when a few things are changing. This is gleaned from various postings.

The Knight classification is starting. And Armour is moving from Armoured to Heavily Armoured. So some with be cav and some knight and some A and some HA. All depending on who what when and where.

There were two options for the bow armed cav units

One was 1/2 bow+sword, 1/2 lance+sword. The other was Bow*+lance+sword.

So they will have limited shooting and some impact ability.

The foot appear to be 1/2 HF spear 1/2 MF Bow.

All and all some funky stuff that seems right from what I understand.