Empire Pistolier

"It's like shooting Goblins at a gorge!"

- Imperial Marksmen saying

Empire Pistoliers are fielded by the armies of the Empire as light cavalry that are equipped with light armor and a brace of pistols to support them in their role as dedicated skirmishers. Their main duty is to harass the enemy with gunfire and retreat before they could suffer any reprisals. Most pistoliers have a certain affinity when it comes to gun-powder weaponry and most talented pistoliers hail from the Nuln Artillery School where they are taught how to handle, maintain, and equip a simple firearm in combat. The rank of a pistolier is mostly reserved for the noble families of the Empire, where young military-minded youths go in order to prepare themselves for the rigors of calvary warfare within the Knight Orders of the Empire.

As such, those young yet spirited nobles may gather their friends and form regiments of Pistoliers of their own, but it is often more common for them to enlist within the Pistolkorps, a military organisation funded by the Emperor, the Imperial Engineers School and sponsored by several Knightly Orders of the Empire. Here, the nobles learn about horsemanship and war from the Outriders -- grizzled veterans paid by the Knights to train the young nobles in the way of war. As such, many Pistoliers would often be fighting in battle for the first time in their lives.

Due to their luxurious upbringings and hot-headed behaviour, they are often distaned by the common soldier as nothing more than flashing flops. However, none could deny that there still true warriors within the Pistolkorps, with tales showing young yet spirited Pistoliers jumping into the jaws of the enemy with courage and prideful arrogance. Such tales are the sole reason why many young nobles are so interested to become as Pistolier, and indulging in this fantasy is seen by their fathers as a good way of tempering their wildness into soemthing more dependable and beneficial for the Empire as a whole.

Source

 * Warhammer Armies: The Empire (8th Edition) -- pg. 46