Rehabilitating the past -Cossacks! ..err Kislev Horse Archers

I guess I need a more 'frosty' backdrop.

 Back when I collected my Empire Army, I was really taken with the Kislev units.  I tried to build a Kislev only army, but the rules did not properly reflect, in my opinion, the historical power that was light cavalry based armies.  I know, I know it is a fantasy game, but really...  How many games put all of the power into the units of heavy infantry or armored knights?  How well did said heavy cavalry fair against the Mongols?

Speaking of Mongols...

That aside, the Polish-Lithuanian and Russian influence of the early Kislev line made it a very visually appealing line.  They are from the tail-end of the 'historical' Empire figures produced by GW, before everything became more outlandish.  The Tabs on the feet of the Horse archers, for example, were labelled "Tarters" and "Cossacks" and not "Kislev,"  and many of my Empire foot have tabs labelled "Ersatzsolder"  or "Bergjaeger" I went looking for a few Empire figs to round out the pieced I am finishing last month, and was fairly disappointed in what I found.  The models seem more garish and cartoony now, almost a parody of themselves.  

The guy on the left is a converted Dark Elf I got for $2 from a used figure bin.  The guy behind him has not traveled well

These figures have much more subdued schemes, as I like the way I originally painted them, and wanted to preserve those schemes, rather than highlight over them.  My biggest frustration with all of these old cavalry figures are the tails.  I have a small mountain of broken horse tails on my painting table waiting for me to figure out their original owners.  

Not everything is as historical as I would make out, however.  I mounted this old Amber Wizard on a bear, because, well... BEAR!

I assume he would pronounce it "B'ar"