We all see so many Vikings, knights, and samurai for fantasy warriors and cultures...

because a. they lost and b. they're darkies.

Rajput warrior
> Has a weapon for all occasions
> Has a sword whip - The Urumi
> Was born for this

Don't forget dual-wielding dandpattas.

How different would be the behaviour of a Russian Cossack compared to his non-cossack fellows?

They're basically the noble savage archetype of Russian literature. Now consider how you think of the average Russian.

Right now I'm attempting to research for an Imperial Guard unit that combines Apache, Gurkha, and a couple other small cultural things. Just to mix things up.

Russians were a small part of the Cossackdom iirc (Don Cossacks? not sure)

Most of them were technically Ukrainian/Ruthenian I think, I remember that the Cossack Hetmanate of Khmelnitsky had to use interpreters to talk to the Russians

Why have hussars when you could have winged hussars

That's aesthetic

Still can't tell if the lance-sword is stupid or awesome.

No, we need to go fast.

>spear

laughinglegionnaires.fresc

These guys wear like 7 weapons at a time. All of them quite exotic masterpieces - murder discus, 3 pointed knife and of course the Urumi. These guys were amazing.

There were likely more Tatar Cossacks than Russian ones, and neither were significant. Majority was Ruthenian so by modern standards kind of Ukrainian or Lemko/Hucul/some other esoteric tiny eastern european group.

Also, speaking of Tatars - polish ones are apparently remembered for incredible loyalty to their country and Armenia attempted to gain various steppe nomad allies for the crusades, so maybe they could work as the to-go exotic allies for generic knight factions in fantasy?

A lot of Armenians became siege engineers and crossbowmen, too. Although I don't know how well their crossbows compared to the ones used by Italians.

Ninja mixed with Knight = This

The expanding katar was a novelty for Brits, real ones are just big punch daggers

...

These guys are sick

At the end of the day they are a warrior that is highly specialized to their environment. You would need a game/setting that focuses on the type on environment in which they thrived unless you wanted to make them magical.

I should probably get myself informed on these, they sound pretty baller.

>be light skirmisher infantry
>in the age of heavy cavalry
>win
>get excomulgated

is that a woman?

yes

That is a nice armor. Are they the bad guys from Lord of the Rings?

You should go out more.

What IS a hussar? Are they mercenaries? Are they drafted? Are they nobles?

>Lance-sword
???

>Urumi
No

>dandpattas
No

No

No

Jesus, you guys are pretty fucking clueless about anything non-European/Japanese

Long answer to this, let me know if you want it. In short, nobles who rode the best destriers in Europe

They were not fast. Mongols used smaller horses that were able to move almost constantly. The riders could even sleep through the night while the horses trotted on.

Gimmydat long answer.

So we herd you like decorated coats..

>Says everyone is wrong
>Doesn't bother to correct them
I shiggydiggy

Hussar just means cavalryman, usually from Hungary and Poland. Other than the fancy dress there isn't much special about them.

What most people mean are the Polish Winged Hussars, when it comes to badass. These were nobles who rode the heaviest horses and carried the longest lances. These were by far the best heavy cavalry in Europe of their times. The Hussars enabled the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth to win battles that just don't seem realistic. The Winged Hussars regularly beat armies that were 2 to 5 times larger in numbers by dint of superior discipline and colossal momentum. Pikes were useless because of the absurdly long lances these guys used. What's even more surprising is the low amount of casualties they suffered, usually no more than 80-170.

The horses had to be able to carry a soldier in a full suit of armor for long distances and then charge in battle multiple times.

Imagine something like the Rohirrims' charge in LOTR only with the riders wearing leapord skins and wooden frames with ostrich feathers on them

It's too much of a task man, I'm tired. If you have any specific questions, I'll be happy to answer

You could have atleast linked a wiki page.

As a Slav, I've got a message for you:
They are done to death up here. There is literally nothing more creatively bankrupt than making Cossacks or Not!Cossacsk part of your setting in any place between Oder River and Ural. Probably even all the way up to Pacific, but I doubt anyone in that part of USR... Russia plays tabletops or bothers with fiction.

People are talking about mishmash of things from the Indian subcontinent.

Rajputs are pretty fucking shitty when you actually look at their history. They are just a caste like the Samurai, the difference being that unlike the latter they still exist. They have extensive lineages, and a deep martial culture, but they've gotten their shit kicked in by invaders throughout history.

...

That's a nice horse you had.

Had.

These things are overrated.

Tell you what. I'll give you a free swing before I skewer you.

Do those actually work?

Kinda. The test I've seen ( mediafire.com/file/5vk6gpfzdkgl4s1/03_The_macuahuitl,_an_innovative_weapon_of_the_Late_Post-Classic_in_Mesoamerica.pdf ) suggests that with a fresh edge they can cause horrendous soft tissue damage, possibly in the ballpark of a metal sword, but that impact will also cause a lot of damage to the edge. For subsequent impacts on the same part of it, it'll be a club by and large. Against bone and even lighter armour it probably won't do very well.

The often heard claim that one decapitated a horse in a single swing during Cortez adventures in Mexico is probably a case of Chinese telephone. In the memoirs of one of Cortez' conquistadors (Bernal Diaz Del Castillo , The Conquest of New Spain) the story is instead that in one of the battles, a horse was decapitated. It doesn't say how exactly, or with what. So instead of the head coming off clean with a single swing, a more likely scenario is that the horse succumbed to a number of stabs and slashes, ended up behinds the Aztec lines, and was there cut apart by knife instead.

You forgot
Literal unwashed murderhobos who went into a RAPEmge after killing moors because they didnt get paid.
And did nothing wrong

Is there something more stupid than not paying your mercenaries?
youtube.com/watch?v=dEbE3fGfF-o

Hussites don't get nearly enough love. Gunlines, cannon and repurposed farming implements coming through.

Betraying them.

I got an Eberron style setting thats gonna love using shit like this

Koncerz I presume.

I had a ball in a 4e game with an Artificer who built stuff like that (We were in charge of a growing city and they were an elven machinery nut).

it was not much different than a rapier. Used for stabbing and piercing through armor.
For normal skirmish duels/fighting thet were using sabres.
Whats cool is that they were carring all these different weapons with them for different circumstances including a hammer (nadziak) and pistols.

Letting them stay on your territory

>Probably even all the way up to Pacific, but I doubt anyone in that part of USR... Russia plays tabletops or bothers with fiction.
Fuck you too mate

Where did they get leopards and ostriches in Poland?

Don't you have some uranium to dig, Ivan? Stop shitposting on Veeky Forums and get back to work

Probably imported feathers and leopard skins

>goose and chalice

Really? I know they started as a response to execution of a reformer with a surname that sounds like goose in czech, but...

What games do you play there, comrade?

>The horses had to be able to carry a soldier in a full suit of armor for long distances and then charge in battle multiple times.
Actually, if you were the heavy cavalry guy then usually you had 3-4 war horses that you brought with you, and never rode on them until it was time for battle. Obviously the horse didn't carry the armour outside of battle either.

Also heavy cavalry didn't do that much charge in a battle either. 1-5 was the usual, but depends on the battle really

Who cares about the distinction between the top three levels.

Why is this even drawn as a pyramid?...

Missing a chance to buy their bodies.

You're 100% gonna die. Might as well spend that double pay on leaving a fabulous corpse.

In order?
>Contracting the only fucking company whose leader exist to rile them OFF battle/rape (mostly off rape)
>Then proceed NOT to pay them
>And betray them
>And try to kill them
>In a place where they can just fucking ambush your stupid knight ass
>And also end up killing their leader so they go on a country side rampage to the point they become folklore monsters

Who were these and who failed to pay them when?

Had a human fighter who mainly fought as a hoplite. Can vouch, much fun.