Golden Horde!

[gollum]

Originally posted by Stephen Asen
These are too slow for horse archers and not that devastating as the normal cavalry.

Byzantine cavalry are support units. You can keep them beside your melee line pre and during engagement as well as the missile line. Think of them as mounted heavy infantry that are fast and have bows and then you'll see their uses. They are not to be used for charges and pursuit too much as their considerable armor wears them out.

Instead they should guard flanks, and give a hand here and there; release a volley when your arbs are reloading, participate in the flanking of an isolated enemy unit; deal with an enemy heavy infantry or cavalry that made it to your missiles; plug the gap in the melee line to hold it or tip the enemy to rout if they seem to waver; flank the enemy line occasionally (if you notice that while you are guarding your flank with BC that the enemy flank is unguarded and all his units are far off or engaged); support other cavalry that have a strong charge and better speed/stamina. Similar in use are the Mameluk Horse Archers and the Faris; none of these units is a horse archer unit and their names are misleading; they are medium multitask cavalry that have a "libero" (for those that like football) role on the battle field.

They also make good general units.

Perhaps I underestimate the spears but their relatively low morale (esp. the morale) and humble fighting abilities are scaring me.

Any spear that has reached morale 2 is reliable if properly placed and supported. You will need some of them to pin the enemy. Of course an all Varangian army is better and easier if you can manage it financially, however it will cost you an arm and a leg. Asai's ratio sounds good to me.

I would bring a bit less than half a stack arbs and keep them in that proportion; (6-7).