Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[John Murphy]

Late Thematic Byzantines

Okay, here is one my favorite all-time armies on the basis of Historical interest. The tail end of the period saw the rise of the military families on the Asian frontier that was the beginning of the re-conquests which flowered in the Early Nikephorian era. This particular list period is one which is on the early edge of my period of interest for them but is often overlooked (not just in Warrior btw) for their more glamorous Early Nikephorian descendants, with which they actually might have a fair amount in common.

Couple that with the more run-of-the-mill treatment they got in Dark Age Warrior and they become also an army I could play and lose with with some pride for at least making the attempt.

I do not want to take any of the allies, which puts some further restrictions on this list.
The LBS's are probably something I am not ready for yet, so they are out together with the ditches and camp servants.

Strengths (yes, there are some) -
1. The Psiloi bowmen/archers/skirmishers are just about perfect in this list and large numbers of them are available.
2. The fire syphoneers, a luxury, but I have used these with effect before and I might consider keeping them.
3. Loads of skirmishing loose-order cavalry which can turn and charge, well, theoretically...
4. The cats make a nice unit in some circumstances.
5. The skuts are likely to be seen as a liability but not many are required and they could be handy for some things.
(okay, 4 and 5 are a stretch)

Weaknesses -
1. No 1.5-rank LC is tough on a skirmishing army.
2. No real shock power as the CO foot are going to be hard to close with and the SHC (or worse EHC/HC) are not top-notch in this role although usable as follow-on troops.

Has anyone had the chance to try this list out and had any fun with it?