Coustillier Cavalry
"The hawks of the Frankish infantry and the eagle of their cavalry hovered around the water."
— Osama ibn Munqidh, 12th century Syrian chronicler
In game[edit | edit source]
Coustillier Cavalry — Vital statistics | ||||||||
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"Medium cavalry" unit raised by both Burgundy and France, with better armour but poorer hitpoints than Troopers.
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Prereq: | Build time | HP | LOS | Attack | Attack speed | Movement speed |
Upgrade of | |
15s (225t) |
120 | 9 | 17 | 2.3s (35t) |
39 | |||
Cost | Created from | Armour | Weapon range | Specialty | ||||
Base | Ramp | Pop | ||||||
1 | 2 | 0–9 |
Can attack units while moving. | |||||
Overall strategy[edit | edit source]
Coustillier Cavalry are a medium cavalry unit raised by both Burgundy and France in the Imperial Era. Although they have better armour than most light cavalrymen of the self-same contemporaneous period, these units have poorer hitpoints, making for a unit that is suited for taking out lightly armed units, such as missile infantry and swordsmen, but not sufficiently strong to take out units that cause substantial damage, such as some advanced militia units and cavalry. The additional armour but poorer hitpoints also means that Coustilliers are still highly effective as raiders of unarmed units if protected by static defences, such as towers and archers. In a pinch, Coustilliers can also be used to delay or harass even larger and stronger foes, although this is considered suicidal and thus ill-advised.
Unit summary[edit | edit source]
- Added armour means that the Coustillier is more than capable of raiding and taking out lightly armed units, such as missile infantry and swordsmen.
- Weak hitpoints, however limits the ability of Coustilliers to engage cavalry and they may only do so if protected by static defences, such as towers and archers.
History[edit | edit source]
At the parlement of 1439, Charles VII issued an ordinance to establish the creation of gendarmes d'ordonnance, or armed companies consisting of cavalry and mounted infantry. At the head of each company was a knightly cavalryman, followed by several other followers, including medium cavalry and archers. France, however, was not the only nation of the same period to establish a standing army — the practice also spread to Burgundy, and in the short space of a few years, Burgundy was one of the major military powers on continental Europe, boasting an army replete with modern troopers and even standardised artillery crews.