Karzelek

## Tactical Analysis

* **The Pony Express:** Reliable carts pulled by draft horses, Karzeleks typically gather the resource that's been considered to make the world go round: ore. Since they can be easily constructed, they are one of the cheapest and the fastest harvesters to be built.

* **Quit Horsing Around:** Karzeleks do have a trick up their sleeve when threatened: they goad their horses to quickly get away from the harassers after their cargo.

* **Hold your Horses:** As they only serve as resource gatherers and nothing else, the Karzeleks are completely unarmed, meaning they have to rely on their quick hooves in order to escape.

* **(Title 4):** (Upgraded nature)

## Background

It isn't a stretch to say that the Home Army today has to fight with limited resources. While most of their cells have to rely on donations from generous civilians, farmers, and the occasional ACIN agent, it is still hard for them to match the Soviets' unbeatable industrial output. Indeed, many of the Polish 'Cursed Corps' had to utilize horses in lieu of actual vehicles while the Bulgarian Goryani are starting to be suspected of killing Soviet commissars with nothing but umbrellas. On the other hand, Soviet factories can literally manufacture new tanks to replace the tank company the Home Army has just took down.

While other revolutionary movements have no problem dealing with enemy armor, because of their own lack of anti-tank weaponry, the HAF is essentially stuck in a war against tanks that are considered to be the world's best. However, HAF commanders have noted that factories producing large amounts of tanks need equally-large amounts of ore to be processed to SPAM templates. This means that the Red Army has to secure as many ore deposits as they can to keep vehicle production afloat. Killing two birds with stone, the HAF has discovered a way to deal a major blow to their production capabilities and supply their own soldiers with firearms and vehicles: get the ore first before the communists do.

This audacious plan was easier said than done for the Home Army cells. With virtually all of the ore deposits in Eastern Europe under Soviet control and the scarcity of any reliable trucks that can be used for gathering, they figured out that they needed a cheap transport vehicle that can be created by virtually any Home Army commander. It was not discovered until one daring operation by Com. Izaak Orzechowski in which some scavengers rode on carts pulled by specialized horses for some "re-redistribution of wealth" in a Łódź refinery. Locating it by the help of Roma spies and captured conscripts, the carts quickly sped to the ore silo while the rest of the vehicles stationed there are chasing cavalry riders everywhere. When the defenders came back, they found the silo reduced to 1/8th of its original contents, apparently due to the carts' own limited spaces.

These so-called '**Karzeleks'** - the gnome-like creatures of Polish mythology - are affectionately and derogatorily named by the Home Army and the Soviets respectively. For the former, these carts are just of great help as their eponymous creatures towards miners, guiding friendly forces towards ore mines and retrieving minerals from them to be processed by Home Army workshops. On the other hand, the Red Army is starting to be fatigued by the recurring Karzelek raids against their refineries that is slowly taking a toll in their production times. Some civilian farmers pushing carts have already been killed because of them being mistaken for these horse carts. This is a sentiment that is also shared by the more conservative soldiers of the Home Army, due to their distrust of Roma and the fact that many of the Karzeleks are merely glorified looters that would turn on them easily when bribed enough.