The Volunteer is a Light Pistol cavalry unit of the Polish Commonwealth. This type of unit can be recruited from commanders in towns and fortresses, or as prisoners from enemy armies. Hence their name, Volunteers are typically Polish middle- to upper-class citizens who enthusiastically "volunteered" to join the Polish army to protect their country and honor from Poland's invading autocrat neighbors. Their rich kuntush (Polish: kontusz) and feathered hat indicates their wealth and social position. As light cavalry, they carry very light armor, a simple saber, and a pistol. They also ride Saddle Horses.
Tactics[]
The Volunteer has really limited effectiveness on the battlefield. The little head and body armor that they carry makes the Volunteers highly vulnerable, causing them to die very quickly. Their saber and pistol are reliable weapons at killing lightly armored enemies, like Militia units, but they don't stand a chance against heavily armored infantry, pikemen, and cavalry. In a sense, volunteers are the weakest type of cavalry that the Polish Commonwealth can muster.
There are exceptions however; the Volunteer's stats are better than those of the Mercenary Horsemen and a few Crimean units, especially since they have a pistol. The Volunteer also carries a fast saber and can easily defeat Militia Pikemen and Musketeers with ease. Tactically, to use the volunteer effectively, volunteers must be deployed behind the more efficient, Polish Reiters, Dragoons, Armored Cossacks, and Winged Hussars as back-up cavalry.
They can also be used to overwhelm enemies with rapid pistol fire when encircling enemy Wagon Forts. If you have a good number of around 20-30 volunteers, you can order them to charge at the wagon fort and overwhelm the defenders, but expect to lose a good number of them if you don't support them with medium cavalry or musketeers. In a siege, during either defense or offense, Volunteers are potential meat shields to protect your infantry and medium/heavy cavalry. They can also provide supportive fire for your musketeers at point blank range as well as in melee.
Stats and equipment[]
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