Doing an Empire/English Civil War Army -- Cuirassiers

Posted by Ranillon on 7. September 2010 21:28

When Warlord Games came out with their Pike and Shotte Cuirassier box set I immediately determined that I had to get one -- despite the fact that within the Warhammer Historical ECW rules their usefulness is suspect.  I received the set in the mail the other day and immediately had to put them together, so here is my review of the models.  But first some history.

Cuirassiers in Pike and Shotte Warfare

The term "cuirassier' specifically refers to well armored pistol or carbine armed cavalry, as distinguished from their lance wielding predecessors.  With the rise of gunpowder weapons and the pike the old medieval tactic of sticking a big pointy stick at the enemy and charging became obsolete.  Horses just won't take on a forest of spears while muskets were becoming powerful enough to reliably penetrate the best armor if used en mass.  As a result no sane cavalryman could just rush ahead into battle and expect to be victorious.  New tactics were necessary.

As I've related previously one solution was the caracole.  It had the advantage of using what strengths well armored cavalry retained.  Armor might not be as effective as in earlier times, but it could still be a lifesaver. At greater ranges and/or when facing fewer massed arquebusiers plate mail would still dependably defect shots.  As such a cuirassier who stood off and fired his pistols could theoretically pick off the unarmored infantry and then when the time was right rush in for the kill while remaining reasonable confident in the protection his plate mail gave him. 

Likewise, cuirassier armor was often proof against pistol shots at any range, even when the barrel was pressed right up against its target.  This was quite useful when taking on enemy cavalry, the primary users of pistols or regular melee weapons like swords or hammers.  This would therefore sound like a good reason for riders to retain their heavy armor even when cavalry tactics began to return to the 'shock and awe' charge.  Quite the contrary, however, plate armor quickly fell out of favor as the 17th century progressed.

One obvious reason was the cost.  As technology and organization improved armies became larger and larger -- that is, they became more and more expensive.  Buying a set of cuirassier armor was much like buying a pricey sports car today.  Only the rich could routinely afford one while the central government was no help -- it had a hell of a time affording even basic equipment for its troops!  It was standard practice, for example, to expect soldiers to provide their own equipment.  Even then paying and supplying the army remained ruinously expensive.  There was simply no way for a luxury like cuirassier armor to become military standard issue.

Another problem was that it was bulky and cumbersome.  Not as much as we might think, but enough to meaningfully hamper the user.  Gauntlets disappeared almost immediately as you couldn't wear a set and hope to load a pistol.  Likewise, it was slow to put on, restricted your range of motion and vision, and put a lot of strain on both man and horse.  Finding good horseflesh was a particular headache, especially as wars went on and the supply dwindled (in combat horses tended to die at much higher rates than people).  England during the Civil Wars had a special problem in this regard as there weren't many large and stocky heavy cavalry caliber equines around in the first place.  Smaller horses would simply break down under the burden of carrying around a fully armored soldier.

However, in the end the primary reason for the decline of cuirassiers (at least the full plate mail wearing sort) was that guns became more and more effective.  They were likewise used more efficiently with units massing together to concentrate their firepower.  By the time of the English Civil Wars even a cuirassier was basically committing suicide if he tried to charge a prepared group of shotte.  As such his primary target tended to become enemy cavalry. You defeat them and only then go after the infantry -- and then only from the side or rear where they'd be sufficiently vulnerable.  This scenario played out repeatedly in various ECW battles.  Olivier Cromwell, for example, rose to fame as a cavalry commander following the pattern of driving off opposing horsemen and then winning the battle with a well timed charge into the main enemy infantry line.

Note that the cuirassier never went away completely, but rather morphed into a less armored version consisting of at best a chest plate and helmet.  Even then the usefulness of such protection became increasingly suspect over time as power of firearms continued to improve.  Units of cavalry termed 'cuirassier' continued on even into the early 20th century -- at the start of World War One both Germany and France had a number of such units -- but they were quite far removed from their mid 17th century predecessors.

The Warlord Cuirassier Models

Cuirassiers come in box sets of twelve and unlike most of Warlord Game's Pike and Shotte miniatures are a mixture of plastic and metal.  Specifically, the horses are the former and the riders the latter.

Both man and horse are easily put together as they are basically just two pieces.  In the case of the mounts each piece is either the left or right side of the animal.  For the riders the primary piece is everything but their weapon wielding arm.  The set comes with a bunch more arms than you need and as their are many different possible weapons or poses for those weapons you are spoiled for choice.  Both the plastics and metals have very little flash and can be cleaned up with minimal effort.  It took me all of a few hours to construct the whole unit.  Likewise, the quality of the models themselves are nearly the level of their Games Workshop equivalents, but at a much reduced price.

The only real problem with the cuirassiers is that they don't really fit within an Warhammer Empire army.  They are overdressed for Pistoliers while lacking the lances most knights have.  Their horses are likewise unarmored.  So, while I really like the models themselves and want to use them in my English Civil War force the only way they'll also be part of my Empire army is if my opponent isn't too picky when it comes to WYSIWYG.