This is mainly concerned with the 1812 period. If you have wargamed with a Napoleonic Russian army, you will probably have felt a shortage of skirmishers compared with your French and German opponents, and especially so if fighting the Turks in south-eastern Europe.
The bulk of Russian skirmishers were in the Jager Regiments, of which there were no less than 50 by 1813. Each Regiment had a standard organisation in the field of 2 battalions each of, in theory, 600 men, in practice 500 men or so. This sounds like a lot of skirmisher units, and in practice each infantry division had one of its three brigades equipped with Jagers, there being two regiments to the brigade.
However, all was not as it seems. It appears that in practice many of the Jager units were so poorly trained at skirmishing that they ended up being used as standard close order infantry, or even divisional shock troops. This was more common than not, so whenever we use Russian Jagers, we have introduced a rule thus: roll 1D6 per Jager Regiment: 1-4: close order only; 5-6: can skirmish
You could have a rule that gives them slightly higher morale than the regular musketeers, if being used as close order only. We feel this reflects more accurately the situation, and suddenly presents the Russians with a distinct problem - lack of skirmishers. In addition Russian Jagers are musket armed, so will tend to be outshot by the German rifle armed Jagers of the German states of the Confederation of the Rhine, if fighting against them. If fighting against the Turks in the rough terrain of the Balkans this could be a severe disadvantage.
Other Sources of Infantry Skirmishers
There are always the Guard Jagers, represented by the Lifeguard Jager Regiment (2 Battalions) and the Finland Guard Jager Regiment (3 Battalions). These battalions are only 420 men strong, but at least they can skirmish, and they are guard ratings, as good as the French guard. Still only musket armed.
For the 1812 campaign the only other option is to look at the Opelchenie militia units. There were 6 Opelchenie Jager Regiments each of 600-800 men in 2 battalions, and in the 70 or so Opelchenie Cohorts there was a Jager Battalion of 480 men. However, in these cases, the term Jager appears to represent those lucky enough to be armed with muskets, as opposed to pikes and axes. In addition there were 70 Opelchenie Foot Cossack Regiments, but these were probably even worse equipped and trained. Indeed, the Opelchenie are generally reported as only being trained to use attack columns, so may not even be able to form square, let alone skirmish.
So there we have it, not many skirmishers, it appears. Maybe that is why there were so many Cossacks about, which in effect filled in for the lack of infantry skirmishers. There were so many Cossack Regiments, that one per infantry brigade fielded would not be unrealistic.
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© Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum
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