Mongol horsemen:
Under the banner of Genghis Khan did the Mongols create one of the biggest empires in history. Conquering Asia in a very fast pace, mostly attributed to their cavalry oriented army, the Mongol horsemen ushered in a new era in the world. Wielding the famous Mongol bow, or a recurved composite bow, adorned in light armor the likes of scale and lamellar, their hit and run tactics in the battlefield thinned the numbers of their opponents’ army, and tired them endlessly circling and pelting them with arrows, allowing for the heavy cavalry to brake the formations before giving chase to those that routed.
Japanese samurai:
The renowned samurai were a caste of knights that served the ruling clans, daimyos and shoguns. Wielding their fabled katanas, clad with the best lacquered wooden armor or mail if they could afford it, they were the law of the Land of the Rising Sun, yet their honor code called Bushido made them bellowed and inspired awe in the populace they protected. Their end would be dishonorable, and at the hands of their Emperor they swore to serve and protect, as he gunned them down with modernized rifles and cannons.
Norman knights:
The combination of Frankish nobility mixing with Viking invaders gave birth to the Normans, that governed over Normandy as the vanguard against other Viking raids and pillaging, eventually becoming the strongest duchy in all of France. Yet it would not quell the urge within their hearts to acquire and aspire for more, the Normans would eventually invade England and their rule would become the one that defines England to this day, while simultaneously expanding as far away as Sicily, north Africa and Anatolia, leading the first Crusades, they became the stuff of legends in history.
Roman legionnaires:
By their gladius did the Old World fall beneath them, and secure the rule of Rome over all. Professional and disciplined, trained to work together and never to brake, they would hold the line to twenty times their army size and still win, the legions would thunder the grasslands of Europe, the sands of the Middle East and North Africa, and made sure to raise their eagle banners up high to be reflected by the sun, marking their presence to be known to all that they came to conquer.
Aztec jaguars and eagles:
Wielding perhaps the most savage weapon in history, a giant wooden club with shards of obsidian protruding outwards and adorned with furs and hides of jaguars and feathers of eagles, the Jaguar and Eagle warriors of the Aztec Empire were the stuff of nightmare to their opponents. Stalking the bushes and undergrowth, taunting, bellowing, growling and thundering their war drums, the fear they inflicted before pouncing upon their enemies made sure the battle was over before it even began.
Macedonian phalanx:
Created by Phillip II of Macedon, and utilized best by his son and successor Alexander the Great, the Macedonian phalanx would usher in the biggest empire in early antiquity the Old World has ever known. Spanning from the south of the Balkan Peninsula, all the way through the Middle East, bringing Egypt under its rule and reaching Northern India, the Macedonian phalanx had won battles and waged wars in all types of weather, biomes and conditions alike.
Zulu impi:
Shaka Zulu had begun a warpath of conquest in South Africa, bringing rival tribes under his rule, his proficient use of Impi, the armed men of the Zulu Kingdom, with a very efficient tactic of pincer movement, or bull horns as they described it, managed to quickly become a dominant force to be reckoned with. Armed with an iklwa or stabbing spear, the iwisa club and a isihlangu shield while sporting the most fashionable war clothes made of cow tails and various skins of local fauna, the impi were devastating upon the battlefield, even outmatching gunpowder weapons used by the British.
Mamlukes:
Slaves forced into military servitude in the Emirates, Kingdoms and Empires that dotted the Middle East in history, mamlukes quickly rose to a status of honorable knights with their effectiveness upon the battlefield. The Islamic counterpart to the Christian Templars, they had held the lines and driven the Templars out of the Holy Land, securing total control for Islam, they were given the finely made armaments and carried the heaviest of armor alongside their noble horses or camels and were the first line of defense against the newly arrived Timurid Empire wielding gunpowder weapons.