The Lion Rampant Byzantines

The Crusader States rules for Lion Rampant offers some interesting troop choices for the Byzantines.  My army fits into this pretty well, and with a mix of Crusader Miniatures, Fireforge and Conquest they are pretty snazzy.  

I depart from the set army list in several ways.  The Byzantine army was huge and at the level reflected by Lion Rampant it is difficult to generalise down to specific units.  Except that I would point out that the Byzantines used units, not ad hoc formations.

Byzantine cavalry could be very heavily armoured, more so than even their frankish counterparts, Alexius himself survived a charge by Norman Cavalry because of the strength of his armour.  Kataphractoi could be found in guard units as well as in the Tagmata.  Several Byzantine rulers drew the best armed Cavalry into Cataphract units, although these proved unable to face the Normans frontally.  An option to field Kataphractoi should be there, but only one unit.  The lack of aggression would however would lower their activation roll, something Frankish cavalry suffer as their weakness under the rules.

At 24 points I will be fielding only one Byzantine Cavalry unit, and will probably, generally, choose a Medium, reflecting the Empire's reliance on Mercenaries, with instead of Kataphractoi a group of Norman cavalry as the punch.

For Infantry I am going for a group of the Varangian Guard.  Drawn from English, Scandinavian and Russian mercenaries the Guard seem to have been used aggressively, and even over aggressively.   Added to these I will deploy a possible two groups of Byzantine Spearmen, with a group of Archers to back them up. 

Its a strong force, with more than sufficient punch between the Varangians and the Normans, as well as a stable line of good foot.  The Byzantines however are a tricky set of customers to deal with.  Enemies they face on table must come to terms with the fact that they may well have bribed your Officers and leaders to betray you.

They may have their own Morale issues but they also have an option to close up with their General until he unleashes the Varangians. 

• 1 Norman Knights, Mercenaries @ 6

• 1 Medium Cavalry, @4

• 1 Varangian Guard Heavy Infantry @ 6
• 1 Medium Infantry @ 4
• 1 Skirmisher Archers @2

Optional

•  A second Medium Infantry unit

•  A Byzantine Kataphractoi unit. Optional Minor sacred Item.

•  A full archer unit