Pioneer Militia are a type of irregular troop in Empire: Total War.
Description[]
Although not trained soldiers, pioneers can turn their natural advantages of self-reliance and mutual help to advantage in times of war. Although they are an armed rabble at first sight, they have marksmanship skills honed by the need to put food in their children's bellies. Their muskets might have seen use in bringing down quail or deer, but they are still capable of killing men. In hand-to-hand combat against the native tribes they have the disadvantages of all so-called civilized men, but with some native cunning as a result of living alongside the natives for so many years.
The colonial frontier required men to be self-reliant in all things, including defence. A man who could not take up arms to defend his homestead and family would soon find himself without both. Self-defence, however, was often extended to become a form of pre-emptive self-defence, as the colonial settlers banded together and, for want of a better term, went on the warpath against their tribal neighbours. Their logic was impeccable in its own terms, entirely driven by the fear that the tribes would attack them if they did not attack first.