Musketeers are a type of line infantry in Napoleon: Total War.
Description
These line infantry soldiers are skilled in giving fire and pressing home an attack with the bayonet, but at the expense of dash and initiative.
Prussian line infantry revel in the hand-to-hand struggle of a good bayonet charge. They are quite capable of delivering a volley of devastating fire into an enemy with their smoothbore muskets. They have good morale, a legacy of being indoctrinated in their nation’s past glories, but this is no protection against artillery bombardment or the sniping of skirmishers. If threatened by cavalry, they can form square.
In the years before 1806 the Prussian army had become a little complacent, confident that the glories of the Seven Years War meant that a Prussian soldier was unbeatable. There was no need to change an army that had performed so well. Iron discipline was considered enough to beat any foe. While the immaculately turned out and perfectly drilled Prussians were superficially impressive, they turned out to be inadequate when facing a tactical genius like Napoleon.Musketeers are line infantry, able to attack with fixed bayonets or fire disciplined volleys into an enemy’s ranks.
Even Russia’s foes have a grudging respect for these sons of the Motherland. They are capable of delivering a volley of devastating fire into an enemy with their smoothbore muskets, and then following it up with a good bayonet charge. They have good morale, but this is no protection against artillery bombardment or the sniping of skirmishers. If threatened by cavalry, they can form square.
Barclay de Tolly, the Russian Minister of War in 1810, instigated a complete re-organisation of the Russian army, to bring it up to date with contemporary tactics. Before him, the army had suffered from the eccentricities of Tsar Paul I, who had reversed, ignored or subverted many of Catherine the Great’s policies. Paul chose to model his army on that of Frederick the Great, an organisation pattern already a quarter-century out of date when he chose it. Among the other madness that Paul inflicted on his poor soldiers was the introduction of steel knee plates; these were not for protection, but to make the soldiers adopt a “proper” stiff-legged marching style!These musket-armed troops use massed volleys to break an enemy, relying on discipline to withstand counter attacks.
“Marching regiments” or “line battalions” make up the majority of units in most armies. They are so called because they form the line of battle, not because they always deploy in a line. In fact, when faced with a cavalry charge, it is wise to form square for protection. Their strength comes from their close formation which gives them firepower and strength in melee, but this also leaves them vulnerable to artillery and skirmishers.
Historically, these soldiers carried muzzle-loading, smoothbore muskets firing lead balls as wide as a man’s thumb. These were inaccurate weapons, effective only over 200 paces or so. They were usually fired in massed volleys to increase the chance of the target being hit! This also meant that the whole unit was busy reloading at the same time. To counter this, the British Army perfected a kind of continuous rolling barrage called platoon fire. A regiment would divide itself into two halves and fire alternately, so that while one “platoon” (the modern use of the word has a different meaning) was firing, the other was loading.General Information
Musketeers are the standard line infantry for Prussia, Russia, and some minor factions. Numerous, resistant to morale shocks, and possessing fairly good defense, they form the line of battle. They still break after suffering too much damage or too many setbacks, however, and work best when supported by artillery, cavalry, and skirmishers.
Prussian musketeers have superior reloading and accuracy skills than musketeers fielded by most other factions, losing only to the British Foot Infantry. Despite the glowing description text, however, Prussian musketeers are only average in melee fighting at best, and they are inferior in this regard to all of their major faction counterparts except France.
Russian Musketeers have very sub-par accuracy and reloading, but make up for this with somewhat better defense and a far superior charging bonus. As with all Russian units, Russian Musketeers are resistant to cold fatigue, giving them a stamina advantage in snowy terrain and making them immune to the effects of cold attrition.
Generic musketeers are identical in all ways save name to generic line infantry.
Musketeers' statistics are different among the factions; differences are listed below (traits that to not differ are not listed).
| Faction | Charge | Defense | Morale | Accuracy | Reloading | Cost | Upkeep |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prussia | 10 | 8 | 6 | 45 | 50 | 590 SP/720 MP | 140 |
| Russia | 20 | 10 | 7 | 35 | 40 | 600 SP/740 MP | 150 |
| Generic | 10 | 8 | 6 | 40 | 45 | 580 | 140 |
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