Skirmisher

Skirmishers were a catch all name for light soldiers who fought outside of big formations. As a rule they were lightly armored (if armored at all), had ranged weapons and focused on mobility and maneuverability. If faced with major resistance, they would retreat. Standard skirmisher tactics include scouting, killing enemy scouts, raiding enemy camps and supply lines, widdling away at big enemy formations to weaken them against their big formations and preventing the enemy from doing the same.

Both cavalry and infantry could be skirmishers. As they were cheaper to equip and were seen as cowardly by the guys who marched in big formations head on into enemy formations, skirmishers were often pretty low on the pecking order of premodern armies and were often drawn from the poorer classes. As the centuries progressed though this attitude usually changed, with skirmishing units usually being seen as more skilled and more intelligent. By the time the world wars came around advances in technology and warfare meant that basically every soldier was now light infantry and skirmishes were something that could just pop up on patrol. In its modern use light infantry does not designate the equipment an individual soldier has but the amount of heavy assets such as armored vehicles its unit has access to.

So, what's the point of telling you all this, besides the fact that /tg/ is full of armchair generals that love to show off knowledge? Well for one, wargames are part of this board and as such the use of skirmishing should not go unnoticed. Two, being a soldier or mercenary is a good choice for a background in most RPG's but marching in close formations usually doesn't lead well to heroic adventure. Being a skirmisher allows players to have more choice in movement and how they fight their battles.

Skirmish Units

Since basically every army to exist since armies existed used some kind of light/scouting/skirmishing units, listed here are simply a few examples to give a rough idea of what skirmishers could be like throughout the eras.

• Peltasts

• Velites

• Chasseurs: During the Napoleonic Wars, two main types of infantry regiments were raised, line and light. While both were drilled in the same types of maneuvers light regiments focused much more on skirmish formations and performed in this role often. They recruited from shorter men and emphasized marksmanship and intelligence, traits the average line soldier didn't really need too much. Every battalion in both line and light also had a company of voltigeurs, who also performed the skirmishing role.

• Hussars

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