





Along with Leidangr Levies an old norse military institution which persisted and thrived in the New World centuries after Eric the Red and Lief Ericson was that of the Huskarl. Every Jarl was required to maintain a few full time warriors so they could hone their skills beyond that which part time warriors could do and hit harder with the better gear. Bodyguards, shock troops and drill instructors. That said, the institution did undergo some evolution from that point as Viking settlements pushed further into the continent and grew. The most notable changes happened as the Vikings drove inland, where cavalry became an increasingly prominant part of warfare. Horses had been present in the Norse Colonies nearly since the beginning of the colonization of Vinland, but these beasts were small and viking warfare tended towards shipborn raids. Never the less by the 14th century as their population expanded, their territory rose and trade with europe became more reliable and brought in larger more powerful mounts cavalry took on an increasingly prominent role in Norse American Warfare. The increased numbers of horses used by Native populations also played a role in this shift. By 1400 a Huskarl was more often than not a Cavalryman, at least some of the time. The rise of powerful guilds which were required to raise their own forces (usually infantry) furthered this shift.





Even so, there was still some variation among Huskarl Cavalry. Some of the wealthier Jarls invested more in a few elite Huskarls and modeled them after the Knights of the European Kingdoms, especially after a few companies of Knightly mercenaries were brought across the Atlantic starting around 1375*. Never the less a lot of Jarls were hesitant with that approach as it meant putting your eggs in an increasingly small number of baskets and making the position of Huskarl increasingly hereditary and in so doing weakening their power as a class. As such many of them went for the recruitment of lighter cavalry that was faster, cheaper to outfit and were often more expendable. As farms tended to be owned by a Viking Family and horse ownership became increasingly common the pool of recruits who knew at least basic ridership was up to the task more often than not. These fought at first with lances and javelins, but while lances would remain common for raiding operations javelins would fall to the wayside for bows in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century, in no small part due to the arrival of composite bowmakers. Hosts of thousands of cavalrymen could be assembled by emergent kingdoms in their conflicts with each other over territory and with natives. When matchlock firearms reached Norse America they soon became popular among mounted huskarls as a secondary one shot weapon.







When the Shogunate launched it's first invasion of Svensmark it's forces quickly broke through and made headway. Never the less Huskarls soon proved to be effective against the Shogunate's forces. While their heavy cavalry was respected by the Shogunate (in no small part due to their heavy destriers) they were comparatively small in number and were often misused against ashigaru formations. Light Huskarls were man for man deemed to be inferior to Samurai Cavalry, but there was a lot of them and they were mobile and maneuverable. Proportiately the Norse Kingdoms sent mustering between two and three cavalrymen for every mounted soldier in the Shogunate's invasion force. Their objectives was to wheel around enemy infantry formations, raining arrows and (increasingly as the conflict went on) pistol shot into the enemy ranks, go after their flanks and attempt to take them in the rear. They also harassed Samurai foraging parties, scouts and supply lines. While casualties were high among Huskarl Light Cavalry and on those occasions in which they were pinned down the result was slaughter, they did play a fairly substantial role in weathering down the Shogunate's army and forcing them into retreat.





This fellow is a fairly typical Huskarl Light Cavalryman from the year 1718, fifteen years after the Japanese retreat from one of the more western Norse Kingdoms. In that timespan matchlock pistols had become the norm. He has fairly substantial armor on his torso and arms and carries two matchlock pistols and a sword adorned with the logo of his Jarl. During this time it was common for Jarls (praticularly of the more western kingdoms) to pitch together to assemble and provision small platoons of 20 to 40 Huskarls with supplies to push west across the rocky mountains to begin to raid the easternmost Settlements of the Shogunate, taking back whatever treasures they might find as well as thralls while leaving burnt farms and villages in their wake. Those that returned from such quests were considered heroes of great daring and skill and were as such valuable assets to have by their Jarls. To the Shogunate, they were the worst sort of Barbarians: murderers, rapists and slavers.







*Some of these would eventually receive plots of land and while most of their families would covert to the Norse Pantheon in time they did represent an exception to the usual rule of Christians being barred from military service

