Cossack Pikes

[jcspqr]

Has anyone modeled the stats for Cossack pikes.  They were more prevalent than you expect given the perception of masses of mounted Cossacks.  Would they be “regular” pikes, albeit unarmoured, with the same basic capabilities and stats as Western European pike?  Or would they be Ersatz pike, perhaps with 1/2 pikes and not trained to operate as closely with the shotte as would their Western European equivalents?

Jim

[fred]

Are you thinking about a specific rule set?

[Kadrinazi]

They would use spears, not pikes, so rules-wise they should be treated as half-pikes, and those spearmen should be indeed unarmoured and not as drilled as Western-style pikemen units.

[Thaddeu]

Definitely depends on which rules you use. In Pikeman's Lament, I just treat them as raw pike, figuring the reduced statline is a decent proxy for the lack of drill and pike-length. In Pike and Shotte, I use a custom house special rule based on the Pike Company rule, but cheaper and less effective.

[jcspqr]

I was thinking of Pike & shotte.

I'd be interested in seeing your house rule for them as I agree they should be 1/2 pike/spears not fully fledged pikes.

Jim

[Thaddeu]

Hi Jcspqr,

the rule I wrote is:

Spear Company (+3 points)
A regiment with a Spear Company doubles its Close Combat value when fighting charging cavalry.  Unlike a Pike Company, a Spear Company does not deprive its foes of any combat bonuses. A dragoon regiment can take advantage of a Spear Company upgrade only when on foot.

This rule assume the spearmen are spread loosely among the musketeers, which seems to be the style of the Cossacks at the time. I actually wrote the rule as part of a larger resource on Eastern Europe P&S gaming which includes, among other things, an army list for Zaporozhian Cossacks. In case you want to check it out, I've attached a pdf copy to this post.