i think the plate armor might have helped, you guys were really tough to kill in that ugly frisian jester armor - should use your theme armor of bear fur, its prettier.
Actually, the Byrnja isn't in our theme at all, I only use it because it looks decent for a lower/mid tier. We basically are fitting our theme in this transitional, since we originally used just basic Heraldic armor with a toss up of Eastern European gear. We also have no place to buy +3 Byrnjas, but if we did they would be used a lot more than those goofy druzhina mails.
