Kossars

Kossars are the mainstay of Kislev's foot, free-born warriors of the towns and steppe who march to war carrying both a long axe and a war-bow, and thinking nothing of using either. In a land where every man must be ready to fight, the Kossar is the compromise the Kislevites have struck: a soldier who can stand in the shield-line and trade blows with a charging marauder, then take up his bow and pour arrows into the next wave. Clad in furs and heavy coats against the killing cold, they are tough, patient, and grimly cheerful, veterans of a hundred border skirmishes who long ago stopped expecting mercy from the north. On the walls of Kislev and Praag they form the stubborn heart of the defence, loosing volleys into the horde and then meeting it axe-in-hand when it reaches the parapet. They are not glamorous soldiers, but they are exactly the soldiers a besieged and freezing realm needs most.