Well, fellow newbie to fellow newbie, I actually love the muskateers. I find that they really change the entire nature of battle. Usually, it was get your archers going until they ran out of arrows.

Just a few points on them. Be ready to support them quickly if they do get attacked. Use Yari Samurai, or even a squad of Monks or No-Dachi. Line em up, and have fun with the day. I have yet to see my muskateers run out of ammo. They keep going and going and going. Eventually, their formations becomes so tattered, and any time they charge, they buckle under gunfire, and run home. I get monks and no dachi running. However, they are the biggest threat in my mind.

I have anywhere between 2-4 units of musks in 16 unit army. I try to keep an equal amount of cav archers, because if its raining, I am defending. And if its raining, the musk don't work. Put those archer in nasty spot, and make em pay for every inch of ground they take.

I used 4 units of muskateers alone one battle. 240 guys against 1500. They lined up on a hill, ...real high, and waited. The computer of course came to make muskateer soup. Well, I lost the fight because time ran out. The entire purpose of that fight was to simply take 4 cheap units, and widdle 800 men of his army before I invaded it for real.

I love muskets.