What the heck is a Hussar?
There’s a lot of universe-specific terminology in every wargaming genre and period. In fantasy we learn what orcs and elves are. In sci-fi we learn how space marines differ from psykers, in Napoleonics we learn how hussars differ from a fusiliers.
That’s why we’re including a period glossary in ESR Series 3, so that familiar and unfamiliar players alike can easily find the stuff they aren’t familiar with and by doing so bring more history into the game!
So, what is a hussar?
Well, the short version is hussars are light cavalry, typically with very showy uniforms including an extra jacket slung off their left shoulder. They perform scouting and pursuit duties but also get pressed into battlefield service on common occasio. They showed up sometime in the 15th century in Hungary, called ‘Husaren’ and it wasn’t long until the rest of Europe began to emulate the appearance and methods with their own light cavalry. As is natural with languages everyone’s got their own word for em: French Hussards, Spanish Húsares, Russian Gusary, Polish Husarii, etc…
