Tactics against those godawful prussian/austrian rifles

Hey guys,

I've been reading quite a few of the topics on this forum and it's been a great help (cheers to that)!

However i'm not quite sure i've found anything on how to deal with those prussian rifles.

I play mostly as France, with usually around 3 volts, and 2 chasseurs.. but when I find myself against prussian rifles usually backed up right behind (literally) by their line infantry, I find it hard to counter that on grasslands when the rules are "no art".

Now there's this tactic that I want to try out which is to basically to set a meat shield in front of my lights/rifles with line infantry backing them up right behind. Make the meat shield charge, as I move in my Light/rifle + Inf units, then charge my cav at them. (Its a quick way to make a battle short). However, I'm pretty sure militia would rout before they even hit the lines, so I would have to at least use regular line inf, unless I make 2 or 3 waves of militia that go in one after the other, but then I could only focus on a small portion of the prussian line.

Now do any of you have better ideas? These volts+inf just dont cut it against prussian rifles + inf.

Thanks in advance.

If it helps, here's my build:

Marshal Ney
3 volts + 2 chasseurs
4 Polish
2 old guard
1 brave
3 lancers
2 Chasseurs à Cheval

1. Cav
Tightly packed light infantry is very vulnerable to cav, even when they are backed up by line. Make sure to push up with your lights and line to take free shots.

2. Get your line into the mix
Try to push up so close that both light and line are shooting at just his lights. A meatshield would help.

3. Spread your chasseurs out
More often than not, your inferior french lights will lose. So if they're going to route anyway, try to keep them in the fight as long as possible and make them as efficient as possible. If you spread them out in line formation then press the light formation button, they'll be extremely spread out, which will buy you a lot of time. Then you can try and destroy one of his flanks to get superior positioning on those lights.

4. Stake up
Your volts can plant stakes which can block enemy bullets and also stop enemy cav charges. A good player will try to force you away form your stakes but still, you'll do at least some damage.

5. The meatshield
The meatshield does not have to hit the enemy inf, it just has to buy you enough time to get into position to shoot without getting shot at.

6. Avoid the battle altogether
Put your lights somewhere else where they'll be more useful.

As for your build look at the recent thread on builds...

I'm not a very good player, in fact I'm still trying to learn (even though S2TW is coming out soon which I can't get). Hopefully these tips help.

You cannot expect to win the light-inf battle with France when facing Prussia. Use your superior line and cav to attack and dont hang back.

run when u see my hammer tactic rushing towards u or just surrender but seriously. if i'm ever up aganst prussia and lets say i'm the brits. i wont get on a light on light battle with them. i will attack another part of there line where they are weaker. as i will more than likely be stronger there by having superior line inf than prussia. unless they have guards on the flank. even so that would be the kinda thing i would do..

Thanks for the tips ikcti. Will give them thought and try!

Triphammer, I would have moved my troops else where if I weren't on a 3vs3 battle and my teammates weren't getting overwhelmed up to the point where they were being pushed back to the tips of the grasslands. Im basically looking for last resort tactics, as in what if you have no other choice but to face the hammer tactic.. Although i've gained some insight on it, I just need to try it out. Requires a great load of micro.. On a 1vs1 battle, i'm pretty sure the player would have his rifles spread out enough to fill most of his line. It would require confusing the opponent.

If you guys have any good videos of some guy beating the hammer tactic with any other nation but prussia or austria, i'm all eyes!

if i have no choice but to fight it out with prussian light. use a meatshield...

Give them the bayonet!!!!!

Originally Posted by Tyler_the_Great

Give them the bayonet!!!!!

"The bullet is a mad thing; only the bayonet knows what it is about"
- Field Marshal Prince Aleksandr V. Suvorov,
"The science of victory" 1796

Thought I would make it sound fancier tyler

Prussian fusiliers are not armed with rifles. Just for the record. On flats everyone uses prussia these days, the fusiliers are battle winners, and the only light inf that can duel with them are brit or portugese. What you wanna do is send the trusty militia in to soak some lead while your light inf follow in for a volley. Or if y7ou are a real pro just use france or ottoman and go for the old meatshield cav inf rush attack (this will fail miserably if you are not superskilled)

My micro is very irregular, most of the time i'll work it good, but in a situation like that where SUPER MICRO is required.. I still need practice. I tried doing the meatshield cav inf move, sorta worked until I panicked cause I was getting eaten on another flank since i wasn't paying attention to it.