Cossacks!

Cossacks doing what they do best: burn and pillage an East Prussian village.
RSM figures mounted on Minden horses.

Click on pictures to enlarge

If one is going to have a Russian army for Seven Years War games then one of the key components of that army is the irregular light cavalry soldiers known as Cossacks. And while the Minden Miniatures figure range does not have Cossacks (at least not yet, but a likely addition), I have found that the RSM Cossacks are a perfect fit with Minden Miniatures cavalry. My force of Cossacks are RSM figures that I have mounted on my own Minden/Fife and Drum horses.

Cossacks are useful for screening infantry or cavalry movements of the main Russian army as well as causing havoc on the flanks and rear of the Prussian army. They can be a real nuisance but they are not particularly effective as battle field cavalry. In my rules, Cossacks can only be "unformed" troops and so they would fight "formed" regular trained cavalry at a great disadvantage. In fact, in my rules when a formed unit makes contact with an unformed unit, the latter is vaporized and removed from the table top. 

On the other hand, Cossacks move at a faster rate than regular cavalry hussars and so they can outrun them if need be. Cossacks are not allowed to charge formed units from the front, but they may charge into the flanks or rear of formed troops. 

Cossacks ride into town. The bits of kapok on the tips of some of the spears 
represent flaming torches that will be used to set fire to the town.

A Prussian field bakery provides a juicy target for the Cossacks. Here they set fire 
to the ovens and related equipment.

Here the Cossacks are burning potential forage to deprive the Prussian food for their horses.

ccc