A letter from AnthoniusII [An early preview inside]!

[AnthoniusII]

The Complete Byzantine Unit Project celebrates one year of life!

Dear friends.
As a TW games fan, i found out TWC two years ago (17 Feb 2007) and I was amazed by the work other fans did here ...
I must admit that the reason i became a full member was a mod known as MTR (Medieval Total Realism)...The only thing that i could do back then (even today) was to share my little knowledge about Medieval Romans (known by the majority of people as Byzantines)...
That mod died and then I had the honor to be chosen by a number of modding teams
(Dominion of the Sword was the 1st) as a researcher...
Soon I realized that there was a lack of historical based medieval Roman unit rosters in the majority of the mods because CA didn't bother to look deeply in that military culture's differences from the rest ones...
The whole idea was to provide the twc mods a line of medieval roman unit rosters following the history changes through time...
The project would be free for any member or modding team that would like to adopt such a project because I was always (and still am) a fan of the expression ”Sharing is always fun” or “A mod from the public for the public”!!
That way i could help modding attempts to survive to their release...
I feel that all the members that we "work" here in this forum we do so for the “public” joy!
The second reason I felt that i needed to create such a unit roster series was that I wanted to experiment in “action” all those i have read about tactics,formations,weaponry and above all to “see” with my own eyes the strategic problems that Empire had to deal with every historical era and as accurate as possible in a game.
I was afraid that such an attempt would be considered as an other “crazy” idea...
In 24th of March 2008 i posted my idea for the first time ...
I have to admit that i was not very optimistic (as always) back then.
But from the first day many members offered me the crucial morale support I needed those days..
Soon enough worthy members with the same interest of mine joined what i call CBUR's fellowship (because from the 1st day I saw the twc members as friends primarily and then as a forum members)...
I must thank the CBUR fellowship for their devotion,their patience and finally for the chance they gave me to see my dream come true!
In that 1st year of the CBUR project's life we have created the “Komnenean'” Unit roster and we hope that soon we will complete the “Nikephorean”one too...
We are happy and honored to see that a large number of modding projects adopted our work giving us the courage we need to continue in the future!But we would not be able to accomplish our aim without the help we received by Great and Worthy Creators of this forum that gave us their permission to add their excellent work into our project!!!
The success of this project is a result of their works too (please read the Team and Credits thread)!
At last CBUR team wishes to thank all the twc members that supported us all this time and we want to ensure them that we will continue our efforts to provide a result worthy of their trust.


AnthoniusII
CBUR fellowship's oldest member...

[AnthoniusII]

These pics are a small gift from Absinthia and Leif Erikson to our fans for their suport and their patience!

Scutatoi

TIER 1


TIER 2


TIER 3


TIER 4


Other pics:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

This is their work and we all should thank them any way we can!

Credits and special thanks also to:
Stefaneke
Pacco
RuTW TEAM
Lord Calidor
Caesar Clivus
Slash5

[S-te-Fan]

Good to see these models previewed! I think I've used too less polygons for the arms.

[Giorgios]

Brilliant models guys, rep all around

[sumskilz]

Wow, you guys have really accomplished something great here. These models look really good! The minute I first saw the Rusichi models I knew that some of the parts could be applied to creating historically accurate units for other factions. The quilted armor in tier 2 looks just like the recreations in the Osprey Byzantine Infantryman: Eastern Roman Empire c.900-1204 book.

Good to see these models previewed! I think I've used too less polygons for the arms.

Stefaneke, are you talking about the pteruges on the shoulders of the guys in tiers 3 and 4? I can see that they do look a little flat, but that is only a minor detail on an overall great effort. Maybe just learn from that for next time.

[S-te-Fan]

Stefaneke, are you talking about the pteruges on the shoulders of the guys in tiers 3 and 4? I can see that they do look a little flat, but that is only a minor detail on an overall great effort. Maybe just learn from that for next time.

There's even more, but this is an old model. I think I'm much better in representing the human anotomy now.

[AnthoniusII]

Wow, you guys have really accomplished something great here. These models look really good! The minute I first saw the Rusichi models I knew that some of the parts could be applied to creating historically accurate units for other factions. The quilted armor in tier 2 looks just like the recreations in the Osprey Byzantine Infantryman: Eastern Roman Empire c.900-1204 book.

Osprey books are just one of our sourses...
We seak for cooperation with greek historian and artists too...
Also all our members contribute in historical research(Leif finds a huge varity
of historical pics for his shields textures for example)...
The researching team is also great...i am begining to beleive that CBUR does not need me now...

[Babur]

nice work AnthoniusII

[Nakharar]

nice stuff also Happy Birthday for CBUR

[KoRnflakes]

Wonderfull Work ...

[Treize]

You can clearly see the evolution of this kind of soldier through there tiers, very nice!

[leif_erikson]

(Leif finds a huge varity
of historical pics for his shields textures for example)...

Anthonius is talking about other shields, not previewed yet, the ones from this preview are made by my bud Pacco.

[Mattress]

Wow! Awesome work people!!!!

[SigniferOne]

Those faces look very good! Glad to see you're employing normal maps to good effect.

[Arnspac]

Hmmm....pacco and leif_erickson....

Oh yeah I remember....they're the two old grey haired guys from that funny RTW mod aren't they??

Nice work fellas.

[AnthoniusII]

Those faces look very good! Glad to see you're employing normal maps to good effect.

The work that has been done here is realy amasing...
Give both Absinthia and Leif Erikson credits becaouse all that they get
from me is shouting!

Hmmm....pacco and leif_erickson....

Oh yeah I remember....they're the two old grey haired guys from that funny RTW mod aren't they??

Nice work fellas.

Yes worthy members of TWC that their wonderfull work expands to new projects and we are happy for that!

[pacco]

Hmmm....pacco and leif_erickson....

Oh yeah I remember....they're the two old grey haired guys from that funny RTW mod aren't they??

Nice work fellas.

[AnthoniusII]

Old members??
Well lets not talk about real age...

[byzantineklibanophori]

Good work guys.

Ive got some interesting concept art related to this mod if anyone wants to see them alter.

I also have another set of concept art which i never released. Its just a bit of fun in predicting what alternative future/course the Romans might have had

[sumskilz]

There's even more, but this is an old model. I think I'm much better in representing the human anotomy now.

That's how everything works when you keep at it, you get better. +1 rep

Did you do the modification of the textures as well?