I'm new to Swordpoint and have decided to go in a Horse archery direction, though which central Asian list to use is still undecided.
The Scythians with their superior shooters and nomad cavalry are very tempting, but the low number of formed units, and the lack of survivability is worrying.
1 General
2 Clan Chiefs
2 units: 6 Senior Nobles, Light armour, bow, shield, spear, half barding, superior fighters, superior shooters
5 units: 6 Warriors, Bow, skirmishers, superior shooters, nomad cavalry
1 unit: 5 Dismounted archers
Hopefully the superior shooters on the warriors can deal with opposing archers and then weaken the enemy line enough for the Nobles to charge the remnants. Chiefs with the Nobles, General standing behind the Warrior horse skirmishers to keep them fighting.
I'm assuming that it is sensible to have the Skirmish cavalry units with a narrow frontage as all bases can shoot from the centre front (presumably rationalised as a cantabrian circle or similar)
The second option I'm considering is Sarmatians, a ranked up and armoured force.
1 General
4 Clan Chiefs
6 units: Combined 3 bases of nobles (Kontos, Heavy armour, Bows and Cloth Barding), 3 bases of light cavalry (Bows)
1 unit: 6 Horse Archers, skirmishers
The Combined units can shoot and can take hits due to a 3+ defence against shooting, they also moderately capable in close combat, helped by the massed cavalry rule.
Both lists have most units with special deployment, so they don't waste a game turn before starting shooting.
The Sycthian list seems more like my mental vision of a cloud of deadly horse archers, but the Sarmatians seem a lot less fragile and more capable of adjusting from shooting to close combat.
Which list would be easier to use? I suspect learning the game with either list will be tricky.
Are there any fundimental game concepts that I'm missing that would hamper these lists?
Are there any tweaks (be they major or minor) you can suggest?
What other lists from the Classical book do you suggest?