For the Napoleon: Total War version of this unit, see Beylik Janissary Grenadiers (Napoleon: Total War).
Beylik Janissary Grenadiers are a type of grenadier in Empire: Total War.
Description[]
The janissaries are professional soldiers, hardened by arduous training and given the best equipment in the army.
As a force, they are the cream of the Ottoman army but, in comparison to some other nations, they fight in a slightly old fashioned way. This is small comfort to those who stand against them, as the janissaries are personally brave to the point of foolhardiness. They are also given to festooning themselves with weapons and hurling themselves into any fray!
Historically, the corps of janissaries (the term means “new soldiers”) dates back to the 14th Century. They were intended to replace the unreliable ghazi tribal warriors with a force indoctrinated to be completely loyal to the Sultan. This was achieved by taking boys as young as five for training and conversion to Islam if required. The janissaries had their own corps of engineers, supply troops and were even paid regularly, whether they were at war or not! Over time, however, they came to be used as bureaucrats and administrators, and this gave them too much power over the Ottoman Empire. Eventually, the janissaries’ entrenched position in government became arrogance and an entrenched position against change, and so helped the Ottomans to stagnate and decline.
General Information[]
Beylik Janissary Grenadiers are the Ottoman equivalent of Grenadiers, possessing superior stats to their Line Infantry equivalents and having the ability to throw grenades. In this sense they can be very useful in shoring up the rest of the early Ottoman Army's numerous weaknesses. However, they are inferior to other grenadiers in many ways, with inferior statistics, inability to use bayonets, no rank or platoon firing, and a longer training time. In addition, the Ottomans have access to Janissary Hand Mortar Bölüks, rendering Beylik Janissary Grenadiers somewhat obsolete due to the Hand Mortars' superior range with no significant drawbacks.