Tidbits & Tactics:

[CBR]

The column was favored by the Russians, mainly for the obvious reason that it gave both strong mobility and more 'punch' in bayonet combat, allowing more weight to be put on a single point. Since the Russian army favored the bayonet over the bullet (as noted in the previous Suvurov quotes), they generally sought to get into melee as soon as possible, allowing their artillery to do the 'softening up' in place of muskets.

Remember this is the ETW era which is the 18th century. There was really no use of columns as seen during the Revolutionary/Napoleonic Wars.

The basic fighting formation was the line and the whole army was deployed from large march columns quite some distance from the enemy. Just look at Frederick the Great and his maneuvers in his SYW battles.

The concept of attack columns(or perhaps it should be termed "maneuver columns" as the word attack implies they were meant purely for charging) was introduced in mid 18th century but rarely used. It was not forgotten though and was the basis of French discussion and reforms just before the revolution.

Suvurov actually used battalions in line formation and his basic tactics still used multiple platoon firings before advancing closer. His army did run out of ammo on a few occasions during his Italy/Switzerland campaign so it was not all about the bayonet.

But it is all pretty moot. Army/unit movement in Total War has never been realistic anyway, so there is little need to worry about columns except for some special uber attack formation, if that is included in ETW at all.


CBR

[Megas Methuselah]

Didn't the French deploy in columns on the fields of Abraham?

[Sheogorath]

I was also under the impression that the 'monster column' used by the French (essentially forming your troops into a giant column with the intention of punching through enemy lines with one big effort) was in use for some time, even during the 1600's.

[CBR]

Didn't the French deploy in columns on the fields of Abraham?

Some seems to think the two center battalions formed up in columns but I have not seen any clear sources for it really. One eyewitness account specifically talks about the French advancing with platoon fire and that implies, at least on the part of battle that he could see, that the French had formed up in line.

What I do know is that the French introduced some type of column in their regulations from IIRC 1754(before that some officers had experimented with it). But they seems to have been very narrow and deep columns and more meant for simply rushing the enemy. They were not the same as the columns of the Revolutionary/Napoleonic Wars.

But again it seems it was more of a French experiment and apparently not something they used much either. And after the SYW most wanted to copy the Prussians anyway.


CBR

[BeeSting]

On the campaign map, this applies to both human player and AI:

Never fight a battle unless you are almost certain to win.