Post your Empire battle formations

[Sheogorath]

Terrible shots? Everybody was horrible at shotting back then..

The Russians were renowned for their terrible marksmanship, even at a time when you probably couldn't put two shots in the same square inch of space from five yards away.
I believe there is a quote from a French officer who noted that a group of Russians fired on his men from sixty paces and failed to inflict a single casualty.
Naturally, as with all armies, there was a great deal of variation, so there were probably some Russian units with excellent marksmanship, but these would be rare.

Essentially it was down to training. Russian linesmen were allowed two shots per month for training. I think the British allowed 24 or so for line troops, of course, they would have a higher than normal standard for marksmanship...

[Strategy]

Well, here of course you place your troops in long lines, but I tend to keep a few infantry (maybe 20% of the total force) in columns at the back for a rapid reserve force (either to punch with if the enemy charge or to deploy in lines if one of the front forces fail).

Also, don't forget the usefulness of asking your front line to fall back and letting the second line step forward to take up firing position.

One aspect I like about the game is the way 18th Century tactics actually play out pretty well in this game. In that sense, it is perhaps the most historically faithful of the TW games.

[Namarie22]

I use the collapsing line as Sweden, works well, cavalry on either side.. Think it's called that anyway, you collapse the middle and surround the enemy completely and quickly with it.

Always put DEATH on the enemy.... :P

[Zatoichi]

So far, terrain permitting, I've been having a lot of success with a snaking line - the firing arcs overlap and can set up some decent killing zones which the enemy has to traverse to get into melee. It helps to have your flanks protected by a couple of reserve units to stop envelopment - these can then swing round and create a crossfire once the enemy has committed.

Mind you, I'm still playing the RTI campaign, so this formation may be terrible against a better set of enemies on higher difficulty!

Stupid work keeping me away from my precioussss!