Zamburak

The Zamburak is an Indian light cavalry unit. It’s extremely fast and cheap but has fewer hitpoints than other cavalry units. Its mounted gun gives the Zamburak good range, and it inflicts the worst damage on heavy cavalry. It can be trained at the Caravanserai.

A zamburak is a small weapon carried on and fired from the back of a camel. The name comes from the Arabic “zambur,” meaning hornet. Before gunpowder, early versions of the camel-mounted gun featured a bolt-firing crossbow that produced a buzzing twang at discharge, which gave the weapon its name. In later years the crossbow was replaced with a small culverin or falconet attached to the rider’s saddle. The zamburak originated in Egypt, and spread to Iran, India and elsewhere. Attempts to adapt the idea to elephants proved generally unsuccessful, as the beasts would not remain steady under intense enemy fire.