Banner Huzar

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"...their mien, the beauty of their weapons and horses and richness of their equipment surpassing by far anything that the authors tell us of the Greeks, Persians and ancient Romans ..."
Philippe de Mason du Pont, 17th century French engineer in Poland

In game[edit | edit source]

Hussar poland ico.png
Banner Huzar — Vital statistics
Banner Huzar

Light cavalry unit low in hitpoints but high in attack, with a propensity for hunting other cavalry.

Prereq: Build time HP LOS Attack Attack speed Movement
speed
Upgrade of
  • Late Mediaeval Era [3];
  • Centralisation Taxation
10s
(150t)
140 10 19 1.3s
(19t)
41

Rusiny TaP.png l Hussar merc.png

Cost Created from Armour Weapon range Specialty
Base Ramp Pop
Wealth.jpg: 150
Wealth.jpg: 3
1

Outpost.jpg

2 Melee
  • Bonus damage versus light infantry and all horse cavalry.
  • Defensive bonus versus Archers and Gunpowder Infantry.
  • Attack penalty versus elephants.

Poland

Overall strategy[edit | edit source]

With uniformity and professionalism comes efficiency and the Banner Huzar is no exception to the rule. These units still retain the anti-cavalry traditions of their Huszar Cavalry predecessors, with the added distinction of being tougher, stronger and easier to recruit.

With enough funds, the Polish player can easily overcome any horse-on-horse action but there are limits to what they can achieve. They are still vulnerable to being swarmed by cheaper but tougher cavalry in sufficient numbers, as well as effective anti-cavalry units such as Billmen or Almogavers. Equally, the cost of these units is not cheap; you will be hard pressed to raise a full complement of them, so you will have to rely on other units — Troopers, Veteran Towarzysz, and Mounted Cranequins, alongside your Banner Huszary.

All told, however, Banner Huzar are best used in tandem with the tougher but slower-training nature of Poland's other units, most notably the Veteran Towarzysz Cavalry who make up the heavy cavalry wing of Polish armies. In the late game, both of these units can work quite well in tandem with one another: use your slower and tougher Towarzysz to punish enemy units, particularly infantry, since Banner Huzary are rather fragile despite the benefits of added hitpoints.

Unit summary[edit | edit source]

  • Point and Flank — Although still tactically inferior to heavy cavalry, you can use them on flanking attacks on other players' cavalry, where they will be most devastating.
  • Thin Skinned Lionheart — As with other cavalry units, mounted cranequiniers, polearms and heavy infantry still remain Hussar Cavalry's worst nightmare - keep them out of range of anti-cavalry units at all times.
  • Bulletproof — As the Huszar is a unique light cavalry unit, it takes reduced damage from non-naval gunpowder units.

Note[edit | edit source]

This unit is available only in RKE1, the Steam version of Rise of Kings.

History[edit | edit source]

Contrary to popular belief, the first Hussar units did not emerge in Poland, but in Hungary — these were originally light cavalrymen trained to defeat the heavy Turkic sipahis which were making their unwelcome presence felt in battles. The word "hussar" itself is thought to be a transliteration of the word huszar, which in turn is suggested to be of Serbian origin.

The first Hussars raised were meant to be anti-cavalry units following light cavalry traditions similar to light cavalry units deployed by the Turks in eastern Europe, and even used the same drills as their Muslim foes. Unlike their predecessors from Serbia and and Hungary, these units were not simply emigrés recruited on an ad hoc basis, but salaried and maintained as part of a standing army. Over time, they gradually took on heavier armour (possibly to mitigate the effects of crude firearms) and evolved into the famous Winged Hussars of Early Modern Poland.