Russian Cavalry of the Great Northern War- Part 1

Czar Peter’s cavalry were pretty much all Dragoons which is to say they were capable of fighting on foot and they often did so. 

When fighting mounted they majored in fire power, lots of it. These pistol armed Dixon figures are just right.

They could and did charge but almost always after firing first.  Once in close combat they preferred the sword edge to its point- a legacy from the old noble levy Russian army.

The best of the Russian cavalry could on occasion match their Swedish counter parts. Mostly though they failed to do so.  

 

As a rule of thumb, I’d suggest half of the Russian cavalry might be rated Trained with the remainder equally divided between Raw and Veteran.

The very nice flags are scans from Boris Megorsky’s book we looked at earlier.The toys are all Dixon except the first unit in Pokalem hat which are from Roundway.

There were also Cossacks and various steppe peoples which we will consider next time.