Landesschutzen are a type of skirmisher infantry in Napoleon: Total War.
Description[]
These troops are a rifle-armed militia, and very effective against other militia units.
Cynics might describe the Landesschutzen as cannon fodder: they lack prestige, and suffer from low morale as a result. They are denied equipment that other, higher status regular units take for granted. Such a view is wrong. As militia, the Landesschutzen are rather skilful in combat, with good marksmanship skills; they can certainly hold their own against other militia forces, and give careless regular infantry a nasty surprise. As they lack bayonets, they use their rifles as clubs in close combat.
In 1805 Austria lost the [sic] Tyrol to Bavaria, thanks to defeat at the hands of the French and their allies. In 1809 Andreas Hofer, an Austrian nationalist, organised a rebellion against his new masters, took the [sic] Tyrol back, and succeeded in capturing Innsbruck not once, but twice. Hofer had been a militia captain in the war against the French, and was a sharpshooter of some skill. A thorn in the side of the French generals, he was tricked, captured, tried and executed by firing squad in 1810, ensuring his place as a hero.
General Information[]
Landesschutzen are the worst skirmishers in Napoleon: Total War by a considerable margin, with terrible reloading statistics and only mediocre accuracy compared to other skirmishers. However, they make up for this by being available from the beginning of the campaign, granting Austria an early range advantage. The first volley fired by Landesschutzen tends to be accurate enough for them to be useful in the opening phases of a battle, but their extremely poor reloading skills and the fact that rifles take longer to reload than muskets means that after this first volley, they are practically helpless for the next minute or so. Like all skirmishers, Landesschutzen have terrible melee statistics, suffering badly in such engagements against nearly any type of foe.
Landesschutzen are some of the only skirmishers that cannot deploy stakes, making them extra vulnerable to cavalry. Unlike Jägers, however, Landesschutzen can place Chevaux de Frise or Earthworks during the deployment phase of a battle if left immobile on the campaign map for one turn or more.
Landesschutzen are unusual in that they can be recruited from any building in the capital of Tyrol, rather than purely buildings from the military line.