dogovich wrote:I like the look of the Muscovites. Use to have a really nice 15mm army of them.
One thought, is there anyway to get them to fight against the Ottomans? As I recall, while their main enemy other than the Poles was the Crimean Tartars, they had little love for the Turks either. would be a good fight.
Well, there was no historical direct conflict between Turkish and Russian forces in the modpack's timeframe (1600-1650). Tatar and Russians fought one another all the time though.
There was one incident in which a Tatar force backed by a sizable Turkish contingent in 1568 beseiged Russian held Astrakhan and was routed by a Russian relief army.
The next direct Turkish-Russian confrontation did not come until 1677 when Turks sent a contingent to assist their then-ally the Zaporozhian cossacks against Russia.
dogovich wrote:Yeah... these guys fight about as good as my old miniature Muscovites. Had a really bloody 2000pt battle with the Poles. Finally broke, but the Poles were close as well. Created an "axis" Muscovite Army and fought the Ottomans at about 2000pts. Wasn't pretty. Thought I was doing okay, then my cavalry started turning tail and fled in great numbers. Seems I remember that the Russian Cavalry wasn't all that good.
This is a nice, challenging force to work with. Can't wait to see what you could do with the Tartars.
Keep in mind the Russian cavalry is being very much tested and tweaked at this point. Unlike the tabletop rules, i've given them light lancer capability (which I believe 16th and early 17th century Russians deserve and historuical sources back this up), but I will likely tone down their armour to 75 (timariote level) or even 50 and am still tweaking their elan and morale levels.
My current preferred option will be to make separate "average" and "wealthy" version of the pomyestna cavalry. Regulars will have average elan, above average morale and 50-75 armour.Wealthy ones will have 100 armour and above average elan and morale.
dogovich wrote:Were the Polish Pancerni Cavalry still around? Remember I had a bunch in miniature. George Gush's book seemed to indicate that they were half way competent.
Agree with you about the Polish Noble Levy.
Well, its a long story of Polish cavlry evolution.
In the early 16th century Hussars were the "middle weight" cavalry, Kopijnicy were the heavies (equivalent of Gendarmes), while mounted archers, tatars and mounted crossbows provided the light force.
During the early reign of Sigismundus Augustus kopijnicy were going out of fashion while the "strzelcy" (mounted archers and crossbowmen) were being transformed into the early version of Jazda Kozacka. They were rearmed with an eastern style mail armour, being given rohatyna-style spears, sabers and eastern style bows. At the same time Lithuanian Petyhorcy were still a predominately light cavalry, often using antiquated javelins.
By the 17th century Jazda kozacka was pretty much standarized - mail armour, rohatyna, saber, bow and a kalkan shield. They also began gradually adopting carbines instead of bows and sometimes also using pistols. At the same time Petyhorcy were being rearmed with the same weapons that Jazda Kozacka was using.
By the mid and late 17th century both Petyhorcy and Jazda kozacka were armed in the same fashion, bow being replaced by carbines. At this point they were starting to be called "Pancerni". At some point the names Pancerni and Petyhorcy became synonyms, with the latter being used mostly in Lithuania while the former being used in Korona (western and southern parts of the Commonwealth).
So a short answer to your question - Jazda Kozacka of this era are the Pancerni, or rather they will start using that name in a few decades.
