Ltd.´s preview thread

[Ltd.]

So here are a some of the units for the Attila version of this mod:

Nicaea:

Scoutatoi



Spatarioi guard : in the Attila version they will be very heavy swordsmen instead of spearmen, like in the R2 version


The varangian guard:




Second Bulgarian Empire:

Heavy Spearmen / Tsar´s guard

[finix]

Beautiful!

[The_Fawn_Rescuer]

Everything looks fantastic. I especially love the swords/belts on those Varangians.

[nicolapv]

Bulgarian army in the Second Bulgarian Tsardom is very different than the army in the First Tsardom. The biggest difference is that the main component of the army is infantry, not cavalry.The feudalization is in more develop stage. The army itself is more infantry orientated ( still the most ellite soldiers are cavalry).Afer the liberation from byzantines the army structure copy the byzantine structures/names. The equipment was very similar. Usually bulgarians import weapons/armors from italian city-states- Genoa,Milan,Sicily,Venice,Naples,Ragusa(Dubrovnik). They import weapons and armors from Rus and Muslim worlds too but in lesser extend. Tactic depends on the enemy. Usually it was false retreat, then counter attack or ambush. “Nice” chivalry open field battles wasn’t the favorite tactic for bulgarians.I propose different roster, it is based on finix roster but with some differences. After 2 days I will provide pictures of warriors and arms/armors. Palace and ellite :Bolyars –High Bulgarian aristocracy,ellite of the nation, best arms and armors. In first part of the timeframe they should look like more byzantines. But after XIV century they should have more western armors, but no full plate . Tsar Guards/Palace guards-You can make two different units. One of them-heavy spearmen and another heavy archer with composite bows and good melee skills and maybe shields.Professional: They wear usually chainmail.Proniars - Pronoia system was integrated in Bulgarian state during the byzantine rule. Usually soldiers were granted land in return of millitary service. The difference between pronoia soldier and knight is that the pronoia title didn’t go from father to son. When called to war proniars need to provide horse and arms and armor for themselves. If they were granted bigger land they should bring some fully equipted soldiers with them. The idea behind this particular unit is that it represent the middle strata pronoia soldiers. These with medium armor and medium quallity weapons. You could arm them with mix of spear/sword, sword/bow, spear/bow or make more than one units from them. Javellins were wide spread used too. Swordsmen- better armed than the infantry and border guards. Sort of elite unit. Swords were expensive in middle ages.Infantry- they can be armed with composite bows and mix of axes, maces, swords and shields. In this timeframe bulgarians used a lot maces and axes. Or they can be armed with mix of axes,swords,maces and shields but without bows. In this case u should made separate unit of professional archers with composite bows.Granichari,Akriti/border guards- bulgarian army used border guards to slow down enemies,to catch suspicious suspects and to alarm the main forces abou infidels. There is one theory that bulk of Ivaylo’s forces were made from border guards from east balkan mountains- javellin,shield,sword. They can have mounted version too.Hookmen-armed with long hooks. They were used to dispatch knights from their horses. Used in battle of Adrianople (1205). You can make them with big anticavalry bonus and maybe good at ambushing, but really bad at mele or when they are charged. Peasants: Use leather armor or national clothes for them.Axemen- they can be armed with one-handed axes, oval shields and javellinsSpearmen –spear and shieldSlingers - sling, dagger or axe- slings were widespread used in Balkans for the whole middle ages.Archers - simple bow, dagger or axeFor balance reasons you can make professional spearmen.There is no evidence that Bulgarians used militia troops in the same way like western Europe and Italy. IMO you shouldn’t include any millitia units. By 12-13 century protobulgars and slavs have mixed in and evolve in bulgarians. If you want to put some slavic units they should be mercenaries. For low tiers good addition will be vlach troops- shepheards or hunters. Mercenaries- Second Bulgarian Tsardom relied lot more on mercenaries than the First Bulgarian Tsardom. Soldiers of fortune usually come from the north steppes . In the early period of the mod they are usually cumans,alans,rus. After 1300 mercenaries should change to western knighs, almugavars, Mongols and all kind of turks from Anatolia. Bulgaria has integrated the cumans in its army and command structure and if you want they can be recruited like regular soldiers. Afer 1300 Bulgaria has some sort of alliance with Golden Horde so a lot mongol soldiers go in Bulgaria. Another interesting group are Brodniks( Russian mercenaries). Ivan Asen II seize the throne with army filled with Russian mercenaries.

[nicolapv]

Please, can a moderator delete my first post?
Bulgarian army in the Second Bulgarian Tsardom is very different than the army in the First Tsardom. The biggest difference is that the main component of the army is infantry, not cavalry.The feudalization is in more develop stage. The army itself is more infantry orientated ( still the most ellite soldiers are cavalry).Afer the liberation from byzantines the army structure copy the byzantine structures/names. The equipment was very similar. Usually bulgarians import weapons/armors from italian city-states- Genoa,Milan,Sicily,Venice,Naples,Ragusa(Dubrovnik). They import weapons and armors from Rus and Muslim worlds too but in lesser extend. Tactic depends on the enemy. Usually it was false retreat, then counter attack or ambush. “Nice” chivalry open field battles wasn’t the favorite tactic for bulgarians.

I propose different roster, it is based on finix roster but with some differences. After 2 days I will provide pictures of warriors and arms/armors.

Palace and elite :

Bolyars –High Bulgarian aristocracy,ellite of the nation, best arms and armors. In first part of the timeframe they should look like more byzantines. But after XIV century they should have more western armors, but no full plate .

Tsar Guards/Palace guards-You can make two different units. One of them-heavy spearmen and another heavy archer with composite bows and good melee skills and maybe shields.

Professional: They wear usually chainmail.

Proniars - Pronoia system was integrated in Bulgarian state during the byzantine rule. Usually soldiers were granted land in return of millitary service. The difference between pronoia soldier and knight is that the pronoia title didn’t go from father to son. When called to war proniars need to provide horse and arms and armor for themselves. If they were granted bigger land they should bring some fully equipted soldiers with them. The idea behind this particular unit is that it represent the middle strata pronoia soldiers. These with medium armor and medium quallity weapons. You could arm them with mix of spear/sword, sword/bow, spear/bow or make more than one units from them. Javellins were wide spread used too.


Swordsmen- better armed than the infantry and border guards. Sort of elite unit. Swords were expensive in middle ages.


Infantry- they can be armed with composite bows and mix of axes, maces, swords and shields. In this timeframe bulgarians used a lot maces and axes. Or they can be armed with mix of axes,swords,maces and shields but without bows. In this case u should made separate unit of professional archers with composite bows.


Granichari,Akriti/border guards- bulgarian army used border guards to slow down enemies,to catch suspicious suspects and to alarm the main forces abou infidels. There is one theory that bulk of Ivaylo’s forces were made from border guards from east balkan mountains- javellin,shield,sword. They can have mounted version too.


Hookmen-armed with long hooks. They were used to dispatch knights from their horses. Used in battle of Adrianople (1205). You can make them with big anticavalry bonus and maybe good at ambushing, but really bad at mele or when they are charged.

Peasants: Use leather armor or national clothes for them.

Axemen- they can be armed with one-handed axes, oval shields and javellins

Spearmen –spear and shield


Slingers - sling, dagger or axe- slings were widespread used in Balkans for the whole middle ages.


Archers - simple bow, dagger or axe


For balance reasons you can make professional spearmen.
There is no evidence that Bulgarians used militia troops in the same way like western Europe and Italy. IMO you shouldn’t include any millitia units. By 13 century probulgars and slavs have mix and evolve in Bulgarian “nation”. If you want to put Slavic units they have to be mercenaries. Vlachs are good adittion to low tier units. You can include vlach sheepheards and hunters.

Mercenaries- Second Bulgarian Tsardom relied lot more on mercenaries than the First Bulgarian Tsardom. Soldiers of fortune usually come from the north steppes . In the early period of the mod they are usually cumans,alans,rus. After 1300 mercenaries should change to western knighs, almugavars, Mongols and all kind of turks from Anatolia. Bulgaria has integrated the cumans in its army and command structure and if you want they can be recruited like regular soldiers. Afer 1300 Bulgaria has some sort of alliance with Golden Horde so a lot mongol soldiers go in Bulgaria. Another interesting group are Brodniks( Russian mercenaries). Ivan Asen II seize the throne with army filled with Russian mercenaries.

[Ltd.]

Thank you for your input. I´ll take this into consideration when working on the bulgarian roster. I had roughly something similar in my head as well, but all help is welcome.
I intended to make some AOR vlach units, like medium javelinmen/ infantry with decent armour, shield, sword, then a lighter spear unit and maybe a HA unit.
I just finished the nicaean Emperor and some other units. I´m also getting rid of stuff from the R2 version that we won´t use in the Attila release. There is a lot of good stuff in the TW:A, vanilla, that can be used, retextured and so on so, well, when real life doesn´t call, I´m working on this .

[FrozenmenSS]

ASEN AND PETER' UPRISING - 1185
oil on canvas
Vasil Goranov

[FrozenmenSS]

Bulgarians defeated the Crusaders and captured Emperor Baldwin - 1205 AD.

Artist: Vasil Goranov


BULGARIAN CAVALRY
oil on canvas
Vasil Goranov



Troops of the Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan defeated the Latin knights crusaders in the battle of Adrianople (Edirne) on 14 April 1205. Last moments of the battle - the Latin Emperor Baldwin is surrounded by his barons, falling one after the other Koumanian arrows and swords Bulgarian. Illustration: Peter Stanimirov



Troops of the Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan defeated the Crusaders in Edirne- 14 april, 1205

Artist: Cvetan Dimchevski

[Ltd.]

So, here´s another little update on some units I have fleshed out more and a new unit. (for TW:A)

Hungary:

Heavy Spearmen:


Hungarian Militia Spearmen:


Hungarian Swordsmen:


AOR unit for Hungary, Cumans, Rus: Moldavian Warriors (Inspired by the picture below , in the upper left corner) :



And the Nicaean Emperor:

[nicolapv]

Hello, I have gathered some pictures about bulgarian soldiers and mercenaries that can be found in the terriroty of bulgarian state .12345678910
6,7,8,9,10- examples of proffesional bulgarian warriors
5- soldiers who use hooks to bring down knight from horses. Large spread weapon.
1,2- guys in front are good prototypes for peasant warriors
3,4- pronoia troops, horsemen

[nicolapv]

Mercenaries: 1Attachment 3223052Attachment 3223063Attachment 3223074Attachment 3223085Attachment 3223096Attachment 3223107Attachment 322304
4,5,6- vlachs
7- cuman horsemen
1,2- could be mercenaries after the begining of XIV century. Tatars, turks from Anatolia, serbian heavy horsemen, western knights can be additional merc units. Is is know that at that time saxon miners settled in region of north-west Bulgaria around town Chiprovci (Kiprovec) to explode mines. Maybe they establish some sort of local millitia which can be available to the arm forces of the country.
In the XIII century russian bands (brodniks) could be hired too. Many russian adventures and aristocrats seek their fortune in Bulgaria. Three of them are well known- Jacob Svetoslav(despot), Rostislav Stratimirovic( his daughter were married to the bulgarian ruler), Ivan Rusina ( very skilled protostrator).

[Oforrsteel]

Ha! Nicaean Emperor is awesome! I'm very curious to see the Bohemian units personally. Like the latest work though. The hard work of your team has made a huge impact on people.

Bohemian Hussite troops (late units) 1419-1434

[VoKi]

Great work LTD those units just look soo great..... keep up the good work its beautifull

[bobbydobby333]

YOU LIKE ASS

[Ltd.]

Beg your pardon ?!

[sschneider1998]

These units look super cool, I can't wait to see some more of them. also can't wait for some of these to be released for attila!

[Ltd.]

Thank you.
I´ve been working on the bulgarian roster for some time, an update may come this WE

[Ltd.]

So, I more or less finished the Bulgarian roster and thought I´d show you some previews. Some more units may come at a later point.

First the ranged troops:

Slavic auxiliary javelinmen


Bulgarian javelinmen


Bulgarian medium archers / strelec


Bulgarian elite archers




The melee infantry:

Slavic spearmen




Bulgarian axemen. Added dogs to them to spice thing up, but this unit only has 100 men, not 160. If adding dogs is totally wrong, they can be removed.


Bulgarian swordsmen


Bulgarian medium spearmen


Bulgarian heavy spearmen / palace guard

[Ltd.]

Mounted units

Bulgarian horse archers



Bulgarian noble horse archers



Bulgarian cavalry / pronoia lancers



Bulgarian Tcar (early era)



@ finix: I made these units to look a bit like a mix between your unit cards and other pictures I have found

[finix]

I see that you have led my guidance, bravo. They are great. Dogs are good, you do not need to take them off. As far as I know, we have not raise war dogs ... but we used a lot of them for guards.They are good and enrich the roster. Thank you from all bulgarian community