Do we really need two horse lines from a non cavalry faction? They should replace one of their horse lines with a basic archer unit.
But they are also the 'archer' faction, only with no archers. Which is fine except for the issues with armor you already mentioned and how it affects the game. But Battania is left to rely on its noble line (or other cultures) for one of the most basic army slots in the game with their archers. Sturgian gets one of their heavy armor warriors on horse which is whatever, doesn't matter since they are a well rounded army. Aserai, Vlandians, Empire, and Khuzait all get noble lines that enhance playstyles already in the main army. Noble lines just add some exciting spice to the dish. Which means that creating a theme or gameplay feel for a culture's army relies almost entirely on their basic troops. Noble troops do not appear with enough consistency or numbers in the base game to make them a core part of an army.
Putting all your eggs into the Fian basket is bad design and not fun.
Let me get the big thing out of the way right at the start.
