Boyarnik Cavalry

"Step, my lords, into your golden stirrups, for the insult to our time, for the Russian land, the wounds of Ígoŕ, the brave son of Svyatosláv."

— The Lay of Prince Igor

Boyarnik Cavalry: Vital statistics
Unit type	Heavy cavalry
Built/trained at	Stable
Damage and weapon type	High; lance
Armour	Strong
Production cost	Pop cost: 1 Resource cost: 60 ; 40 Ramp cost: 8
Range	Melee Medium LOS
Unit move and creation speed	Unit movement speed: quite fast Creation speed: low
Unit HP	High
Technological requirements	Library:— [2] Upgrade of Druzhinnik Upgrades to Votchinik
Factions available	Russians

A cut above the regular Druzhinnik, Boyars form the upper crust of Russian society, wielding extensive political and economic clout well above the heads of the local krestjany, or tradesmen, who form the burgeoning mass of Russian society. As such, it can be expected that the Boyarnik Cavalry will provide the nucleus for the elite components of the Russian army, namely in terms of hitting power, given their access to the best weapons, and sufficient leisure time for training. Compared to other units, such as normal knights, Arab fursan or the Byzantine pronoiaroi, the Russian Boyarnik has a speed advantage — although in combat with the French (who have the same bonus, and extra power) or the Byzantines (who have superior hitpoints and toughness), the Boyarniks might yet lose out.

However, such power comes at a price. While you will find no trouble affording the coin to kit out Boyarnik Cavalry, metal is another story. Boyarnik Cavalry consume inordinately high amounts of iron — the more you recruit, the costlier each future unit becomes. Russia will be forced to rely not merely on Boyarnik Cavalry alone, but also on other units, including mercenaries and its heavy archer line, although heavy archers are as slow as Boyarnik Cavalry are fast.

A druzhina was the personal guard of a ruler in Slav society, and originally consisted of nobles whose loyalty to their master and fighting skills were unquestionable, being a highly professional military caste. By the High Middle Ages in Russia, however, the druzhina was slowly separating into two separate classes: the boyary or local aristocracy, whose status was determined by service to their ruler and their domination of government and the economy, and their subordinates. Russian boyary eventually so powerful that they even challenged and undermined the rule of the Tsar during the Muscovite era — Ivan IV, the Tsar of Muscovy (1530-1584) was said to have earned his epithet "groznij" or "the Terrible" from the many bloody pogroms he enacted to reduce if not nullify the Russian boyary’s stranglehold on politics.

Unit summary

• Unique heavy cavalry that is slightly faster than knights, costs less wealth to create, but consumes a lot of metal.
• Heavy Metal — Like all Russian heavy units, Boyarnik Cavalry consume inordinately high amounts of iron, so you must safeguard your metal resources where possible.