Minutemen are a type of militia in Empire: Total War.
Description[]
These self-appointed militiamen are expert shots and fight as irregular infantry, often under officers chosen by the men.
Minutemen are so called because they pride themselves on being ready to defend their homes and families within a minute of being alerted to danger. This somewhat optimistic claim should not, however, underestimate their ability to inflict damage on enemies with their long rifled muskets. They are adept at using what cover is available, and at sniping from that cover.
Historically, the minutemen were among the first American forces to engage British regular troops during the American War of Independence (1775-1783). Their thoroughly unsporting habit of not standing in line to get shot was much despised by their British opponents. Had the Geneva Convention applied at the time, the minutemen could have been shot out of hand as “illegal combatants” because they certainly did not wear uniforms.
It can be argued that the success of the minutemen gave rise to the Second Amendment of the US Constitution (the right to keep and bear arms), although it is often forgotten that the text mentions a “well regulated militia” as “being necessary” which, it could also be argued, might not be quite the same as everyone who wants one having a gun. The name “Minuteman” was recently revived as the name of a nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile in USAF service.
General Information[]
A slight upgrade over Militia, Minutemen have generally better characteristics, particularly due to the fact that the entire regiment can fire at once. They also have decent stealth capabilities as they can hide in light scrub, but unfortunately only have 70 range - despite the fact their description states they have rifled muskets and are adept at sniping. They can also set up ambushes on the campaign map, which gives the US the ability to give their ambushes some much-needed weight.