Fusileros

Fusileros, also known as Tiradors or Handgunners, were the gunpowder core of the First Estalian Empire. Armed primarily with arquebuses, rifles, and pistols, fusileros were common in almost every Estalian army, and acted as the Empire's primary ranged troops in support of its more numerous melee infantrymen. Fusileros were a necessary component of the infamous Estalian Tercio, and Lupio Sunscryer's conquests would not have been possible without the gunpowder advantage of the Empire over nearly all of its opponents. Most fusileros fought from a distance in line formation or as part of a pike-based tercio, but were generally equipped with swords or spears as secondary weapons. Although many fusileros were mercenary conquistadors, the Empire maintained a large state core of gunmen. Imperial Estalian armies were often supported by the Tiradores Imperiales, Sunscryer's elite fusileros trained at the Academia Imperial de la Pólvora in Magritta.