Matchlock troops

[gord96]

Hey guys. Just curious how other people are using their matchlock troops. I find they fire too slow to be used as skirmishers, so i usually set them on my flanks to pick away at the enemy then if there is danger I will pull them back.

If there is a heavy melee and there is not much danger (ie cavalry), I will bring the matchlock troops around and shoot into the enemies flanks.

I never use more then 2 units of matchlocks per army. Anyways, interested to know how other folks use em.

[Dileos]

They're rather useful on siege defense and make good (but expensive) garrison troops. In open field battles I stick them on the flanks so that they can waste any hostile cavalry chargers.

Another fun little tactic is to turn off fire by rank and put them "inside" a unit of samurai and leave the front rank poking out a bit so you don't get friendly fire incidents. You don't need to turn on skirmish mode because the enemy will end up engaging more samurai than musketeers, allowing you to just click behind the melee and order them out. Then you just flank around behind the fight and shoot the enemy in their backs.

[St. Cyr]

I use 4 in a stack. Strech the unit so its very wide (2 men deep at max), that way the maximum number of men are firing at once, and it's harder for them to be hit by arrows.

Sometimes it can be useful to turn off fire at will and personally direct their salvos. If you have a group of them hold fire and a unit of cavalry attacks them, with one good volley you can rout them.

I keep them slightly in front of my main battle line, and usually they can get off 3-4 volleys before the enemies charge at them. At that point I run them to the back of my army. Usually at that point their job is already done, but if things get hairy I'll move them to the flanks so they can shoot again into the main enemy line.