Let us speculate on the subject of fantasy units...

[Sheogorath]

Actually, the Winter of 1812 wasnt that bad. The climate around and south of Moscow in Russia is fairly mild. They grow a lot of grain and such there, so it certainly cant be too hostile. If you look at a chart of the French casualties compared to the temperature, the French loses actually go UP with the temperature.
And Summer in Russia is often regarded as just as, if not more, brutal than winter. For its heat. The French and Germans both commented about how the ground would crack because it was so dry.

Distance certainly is a major factor. However, the infrastructure wasnt THAT bad. Except in Spring, when everything turns into knee-deep mud, but thats a problem for everybody. You cant really 'adapt' to knee-deep mud except to be used to it. Even then, you cant exactly march in the stuff.
But yeah...its kinda hard to have crappy infrastructure in an era when trains were an eccentric curiosity in the UK and most everybody traveled via dirt roads and the idea of machinery is limited to basics like weaving machines.

As to their NCO's...they really werent any more or less caring than anybody elses NCO's. Some of them were bastards, but most Russian NCO's were selected for seniority within their unit, which generally meant they were experienced men who actually DID care about their own men.

See, stereotyping really doesnt get you anywhere, does it?