For the Empire: Total War unit, see Azzars (Empire: Total War).
Azzars are a type of irregular light infantry in Napoleon: Total War.
Description[]
These irregular troops are poorly equipped and ill disciplined, but they can be a mob of very effective skirmishers.
Little more than a rabble, these men are an erratic and unpredictable enemy for line infantry, and they are good at hiding in a variety of terrain types. They lack the necessary skills to fight well in close combat, instead working better at range, in short, sharp sniping attacks. However, if they are forced into a prolonged exchange of fire with regular light or line infantry they will be the weaker force. Cavalry units also pose a real threat to the azzars, as they lack even basic discipline.
Historically, Azzars had little to do with standard military protocols, practice, or even organisation, often taking up arms in extraordinary circumstances. The lack of discipline meant that they could sometimes be extremely brutish in their behaviour. It often worked in their favour, in that it gave enemies pause for thought. More typically, however, their lack of discipline counted against them and, when faced with a well-ordered force, they were at a disadvantage. However, their mobility was a boon, allowing them to harass an enemy and withdraw as soon as the fight went against them.
General Information[]
Azzars are a light infantry substitute with some unique strengths and weaknesses. Their stealth capabilities are better than conventional light infantry (who themselves already have decent stealth capabilities): for example, they can hide in long grass and buildings, while light infantry cannot. They also have the "good stamina" bonus, allowing them to usually retreat easily should they be caught in a disadvantageous position and also to traverse the battlefield more quickly to hit targets from different angles. Like all other Ottoman units, they are resistant to heat fatigue, giving them an additional stamina edge in desert maps and making them immune to heat attrition. Finally, they are slightly cheaper than the Ottomans' only conventional light infantry option, the Nizam-I Cedit Light Infantry.
Azzars have many weaknesses offsetting their advantages in stealth and stamina. While their accuracy is only slightly below average, their reloading skills are abysmal, making them overall much less deadly than conventional light infantry at range. They have terrible melee statistics, particularly their near non-existent charge bonus. Once they lose their element of surprise, Azzars are bound to fight tough uphill battles, and are practically doomed if they get entangled in melee fighting. Cavalry are a major concern for Azzars: their weak melee stats make nearly all cavalry impossible to resist, and their poor accuracy mean that cavalry can charge them frontally without suffering too many casualties.
Despite being similar to light infantry in many ways, Azzars cannot utilize light infantry behavior. Put simply, they cannot crouch. This means that they can't be placed in front of other infantry and safely avoid friendly fire, though the spread out nature of their formation by default still reduces casualties from musket and artillery fire the way light infantry behavior does.