Hussar (Age of Empires III)

"Light cavalry armed with cold steel."

- In-game description

The Hussar is a melee cavalry unit in Age of Empires III.

Overview
Hussars are the mainline cavalry for most of the European civilizations and should be the backbone of cavalry units for them. Since they are the base cavalry unit they have no distinguishing characteristics. They are fast and hit relatively hard making them good at raiding or getting in close with artillery. They are also effective against light infantry, which is too fragile to stand up to melee combat. However, Hussars are weak against heavy infantry and light cavalry. They should be put in formations with infantry so that each can cover for the other's weakness.

The Spanish can use unction to boost their Hussars in combat, providing a sizable damage increase.

The Germans and the Russians cannot train Hussars, but the former can ship 10 Guard Hussars (as Winged Hussars) from the Home City, while the latter can ship 17 Guard Hussars (as Baskhir Ponies) for from their Church with the Reformist Tsar Home City Card.

Further statistics
As the Hussar cannot be trained by Germans and Russians (although they can ship a limited number of them), only improvements available to other European civilizations (including the campaign-only Knights of St. John and United States, and native improvements) are listed here.

Home City Cards
As the Hussar is exclusive to European civilizations except Germans and Russians, only other civilizations' TEAM cards that affects them are listed here. {| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="width: 100%;" ! sab="1148" | Click for a list of Home City Cards related to the Hussar Green : TEAM Shipment that is sent to each player in a team
 * - sab="1147"
 * - sab="1149"
 * sab="1150" |

Europeans

 * The 4 Hussars and 7 Hussars cards are not available to the Portuguese.
 * The 5 Hussars card is not available to Dutch, French and Portuguese.

Spanish

 * }

Trivia

 * British Royal Guard Hussars are named after the Life Guards.
 * Ottoman Royal Guard Hussars are named after the Bostandji, which translates to "Gardener".
 * German Hussars are named after the Polish Hussars, who are notable for their huge wing ornament.
 * Russian Hussars are named after the Bashkir people whose horses have a relatively small size but are known for their endurance (hence their name, "Bashkir Ponies").

History
"Lasalle, Napoleon's most dashing and competent light cavalry commander, boldly stated that any Hussar who lived to see the age of 30 was "a blackguard." Hussars were known for their daring and flamboyant displays in and out of combat. They could be an unruly and rowdy lot, though some, like the Prussian Death's Head Hussars, looked quite severe. Hussars were used to scout, gather intelligence, run down their enemy counterparts, and in flanking and screening maneuvers. They were excellent horsemen and daring to a fault. The Prussian hussars, who served under Wellington at Waterloo, wore uniforms of almost entirely unrelieved black, with a large white skull and crossbones on the front of their short-brimmed, tall cylindrical hats. Hussars were typically armed with curved cavalry sabers and sometimes muskets or pistols."