Cossack Cavalry

Cossacks are a free warrior people, fine horsemen and terrible foes.

Cossacks are cavalrymen without peer, as might be expected of steppe folk. There are few soldiers that can withstand their terrifying charge, making them excellent shock troops. As is often the case, their courage and eagerness to enter battle betrays a certain wildness; their undisciplined nature can find them plunging blindly into trouble, making them particularly vulnerable in melee.

Historically, Russians and other Eastern Europeans had an ambiguous relationship with the Cossacks. There was admiration for their warrior culture and freewheeling ways, yet a certain wariness of their wild nature. They lacked the discipline of other troops and had a certain fondness for drink, but it was their constant harassment that helped destroy Napoleon’s Grand Armée. Their reputation inspired fear in their enemies and won many a fight even before the Cossacks voiced their deafening war cries.