Opelchenie are a type of militia in Napoleon: Total War.
Description[]
Militia are often poorly equipped and trained, but are ideal for maintaining public order.
Men in the militia rarely expect to be sent into battle. It is their lot to act as reserves, or local law enforcers. As a result, if they do find themselves on a battlefield, they should be expected to run away, and not handle their weaponry with any great proficiency. Militia may appear useless, then, but they are cheap to maintain and as plentiful as any bureaucrat could want.
In 1806, despite previous unfortunate experiences with disgruntled peasants, the Russian state recruited 600,000 serfs into the “opelchenie”, a militia. Training was basic, and weaponry similarly simple: the opelchenie were given pikes. After the French invasion of 1812 the opelchenie was no longer limited to serfs, and another 200,000 recruits joined in a national wave of patriotism. Some of this new cohort of serfs brought their own pitchforks and shovels as weapons.
General Information[]
Opelchenie are the only militia available to Russia. Like all militia, Opelchenie are cheap to train and maintain, and provide a bonus to repression when garrisoned. This makes them the best units in the Russian unit roster for increasing public order by a considerable margin. Opelchenie are slightly inferior to other militia as their upkeep and recruitment costs are slightly higher than average (though they are still far cheaper than any other Russian unit). Like all militia, Opelchenie are some of the only units that can be recruited in one turn, meaning that they can be recruited rapidly in an emergency should a region be threatened with not much in the way of existing defences.
Opelchenie's higher cost belies their poorer performance. They have abysmal accuracy and reloading, even by militia standards, and their melee attack and morale are only slightly better than average. This is offset, however, by their poorer defense. Opelchenie's saving grace are their high charge bonus, potentially giving unprepared opponents a disproportionately nasty shock for such otherwise mediocre units.
Like all Russian units, Opelchenie are resistant to cold fatigue. This gives them a stamina advantage on snowy maps, and grants them immunity to cold attrition.