A Napoleon Total War Guide To Winning Battles

A Napoleon Total War Guide To Winning Battles
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Napoleon Total War Guide to Winning Battles

Winning battles in Napoleon: Total War is a matter of preparation – if you have set up your army correctly on the battlefield, in order to get the most effective benefits than you should find you gain an instant advantage over the opposition.

Experience matters in setting up your army formation correctly, just as it does when issuing orders to your troops in the various situations that can be encountered in a land battle. This Napoleon Total War guide focuses on land battles, and how you can effectively command your cavalry, infantry, cannon and general units in order to win.

Formation and Landscape

As well as hiding infantry units within woodland in order to draw in and engage in a melee with the enemy, you can gain particular advantage by positioning your troops on a hillside. This is especially advantageous when the hillside has a sheer drop at one side, forcing opposition units to approach from one direction. By positioning your best units here, three or four abreast and perhaps two-deep, you can snuff out a strong enemy force.

Positioning cannon units in high places meanwhile can give you a superb amount of control over the advance of the enemy. From high ground, deployment of carcass shot, explosive shells, rockets, howitzers and canister shot can all be used to either take out entire lines of the enemy army or to cause panic and routing.

Distance Attack and Close Quarters Positioning

Infantry and grenadier units are excellent for engaging with enemy army units in both distance and close-quarters melee combat. Grenadiers in particular can be used to bombard the enemy with grenades, and these are particularly effective when the opponent is hiding in woodland.

Walls can also be used to provide a certain amount of cover to your units and forces the enemy to take a different path in their advance – this change in direction can prove a vital opportunity for you to order your troops to engage at close quarters.

When attacking units to engage in a melee, it is wise to have your men run the final few metres, courtesy of the Run button on the game dashboard.

Defending Against Cavalry

Form a square to defend against cavalry in Napoleon: Total War

With an army of several infantry units and a few cavalry units, it isn’t often that the mounted units encounter each other – in fact they’re best used to run down infantry and cannon.

If your infantry units are under attack from enemy cavalry, here is a brief, two-step Napoleon Total War guide to surviving such an onslaught:

1. Order your infantry to form a defensive square, using the buttons on the game dashboard. By providing different angles to fire from, the odds are evened up considerably

2. Briefly bring your General unit into the skirmish, using the Inspire ability to give the defending men a boost. Be careful not to leave the General there too long however, as his death can be a major blow to your campaign.

If you are playing through the single player campaign check out our Napoleon: Total War Campaign Guide.

This post is part of the series: Napoleon: Total War Battle Guides

A guide to winning battles in Napoleon: Total War

  1. Winning Battles in Napoleon: Total War
  2. Setting Up Land Battles in Napoleon Total War
  3. Battle Plans for Napoleon Total War