>Now...was such as, to put it briefly, had never before been seen in the land of the Romans be he either of the barbarians or of the Greeks (for he was a marvel for the eyes to behold, and his reputation was terrifying). Let me describe the barbarian's appearance more particularly, he was so tall in stature that he overtopped the tallest by nearly one cubit, narrow in the waist and loins, with broad shoulders and a deep chest and powerful arms. And in the whole build of the body he was neither too slender nor overweighted with flesh, but perfectly proportioned and, one might say, built in conformity with the canon of Polycleitus... His skin all over his body was very white, and in his face the white was tempered with red. His hair was yellowish, but did not hang down to his waist like that of the other barbarians; for the man was not inordinately vain of his hair, but had it cut short to the ears. Whether his beard was reddish, or any other colour I cannot say, for the razor had passed over it very closely and left a surface smoother than chalk... His blue eyes indicated both a high spirit and dignity; and his nose and nostrils breathed in the air freely; his chest corresponded to his nostrils and by his nostrils...the breadth of his chest. For by his nostrils nature had given free passage for the high spirit which bubbled up from his heart. A certain charm hung about this man but was partly marred by a general air of the horrible... He was so made in mind and body that both courage and passion reared their crests within him and both inclined to war. His wit was manifold and crafty and able to find a way of escape in every emergency. In conversation he was well informed, and the answers he gave were quite irrefutable.
>>18737217Anna Komnene was such a simp
Stupid sexy Bohemond
>>18737217Honestly from the perspective of the Romans the franks were hilarious, but also terrifying.You can literally see military manual talking about THE FRANKS commenting on how they all fight on foot like primitives, they lack armor, and their only tactic is to charge - but they ARE good at it.A few centuries later, and >So now they like horses so much I'm not sure they know fighting on foot is an option >these guys rolled over the varagnians >They WILL charge you>No it doesn't matter if you outnumber them, they actually can't count>Yes, it actually works >No, the cataphracts can't stop them, you have to move or they'll win>We don't know why they're so good at it, they hold their lances weird>Basically anyone can outmanuever them , they're idiots >They're somehow not retarded at siege warfare though >They're poorly dressed retards and don't know what forms are>We tried to teach them and they called us sodomites>Every women they see ends up pregnant The class retard showed up centuries later having pushed the single simplest tactic so far it broke military theory, and having somehow mastered the hardest form of war. While still clearly being the class retard.
>>18737446Pretty accurate.When I was history midwit I pondered on how the couched lance france tactics must have worked but now I realize that what the writers really meant is that the franks were just mostly insane and fearless. They would move their horses knee to knee lower the lance and just ride forward and never stop. This was evidently extremely novel to the easterners but also made me relize a lot of strategy and tacticsfagging is overrated. Battles were 50% won by whoever was the bravest and craziest. Thats how you see these 100 norman knights routed 5000 oriental savages. Finally they figured out feigned retreat was the hard counter but still the point stands.
>>18737454There's a ton of factors people don't realize, too. >Bigger, better horses >Better saddles >No armor on the horses so they charge faster and manuever longer >Consequently can make multiple charges and even catch light cavalry if well handled >Better armor The last one is huge. Mail varies a LOT from place to place, and though there are no rules, eastern mail is often what you'd expect - a mesh shirt you can see through.Western mail could be do fucking dense you can't get a needle through it or see light through it if you hold it up. This leads to a mismatch where the guy armored to potentially resist a lance doesn't really care about being shot with an arrow, and the guy armored for shooting and riding by with a saber will fucking die if he eats a lance. Or as we see in the first crusade, the frank, retard that he is, can sit around getting shot at all day and be perfectly fine while lighter troops hide behind him.
>>18737446Paretian class 1 elites encounter class 2 elites in a more militarised age the results are hilarious as the reckless class 2s just overpower class 1s by sheer willingness to commit to violent action.
