Born into a post revolutionary country, France stands above the rest as the new power in Europe, threatening to dominate and conquer all of Europe. North of France lies Britain an old enemy of France, this enemy must be dealt with as its navy may prove to be a strain on your income. To the east lie "Divine" Austria and "Expansionist" Russia two countries hell-bent on expanding into French territory and putting an end to French rule. Prussia, on the other hand, remains neutral leaving you an option to ally with them or destroy them.

France has, obviously, the greatest military in the world of 1812. It hosts a spectacular range of cavalry and artillery. Along with this it has some of the strongest units in the game, Old Guard are your "crown jewels", so to speak, whe it comes to French infantry they are (debatebly) almost as good as the british elites, the "88th Connaught Rangers". France have speedy ships, able to manouver in quicker and more effectively than any other country.

The one thing that the french lack are good light infantry or "skirmishers". Standard French lights are able to fire a maximum range of 100 with no units with a capacity of 125 (a standard skirmisher range). This is a huge let down for the French as it means that they are able to be "outranged" by countries such as sweden or even Netherlands.

Futher informaion will be explored later in the guide.

Infantry are the basis, the core of your army , in most battles that have large funds you should usually keep at least 7 to even 13 units as infantry if not try to maintain at least half of your army consisting of infantry.

Elites are good but, in some circumstances, can be replaced by one or two infantry units leading to superior nubers. A tactic i like to call "infantry overload" is where you use your superior numbers to "double up" or "double team" the enemy lines.

As far as light infantry is concerned you are fighting an uphill battle, although your accuracy stats are good your range is easily beatable, to counter this use terrain to your advantage, anything from dips in the ground to the thick trees of a forrest can soon become your best freind in avoiding the fire of enemy skirmishers and general fire from infantry.

France also has a good variety of militia, this does not sound like much but the national guard as opposed to militia make all the difference in the hea of battle.

France makes use of its;
1) high cavalry attack and defence stats,
2) effective elites and strong line infantry
3) superior grenadiers and
4) good morale stats

"Artillery is more essential to cavalry than to infantry, because cavalry has no fire for its defence, but depends on the sabre."
"God fights on the side with the best artillery"
Napoleon Bonaparte.

Artillery is said to win battles, it can target enemy at long range and devistate them at short range. The French Empire has just about the greatest arsenal in the game, their artillery has a better range to accuracy ratio. Usually the longer the range the lower the accuracy this means that longer ranged artillery units have better accuracy for their range as opposed to other countries artillery. The French artillery - Grand Battery of the Convention is a fine example of France's unmatched firepower. It brings range, accuracy and number of cannons (8) to the table.

The French navy is the quickest navy in Europe, coming second at the hands of the British in terms of taking and dealing shots. As France you star off with a very repectable navy but must overcome the Naval supremacy that is the British. For starting the campaign you should focus on building more ships and blockading British ports as it is a matter of "get it, before it gets you".

As far as multi-player battles go use your speed to overcome your enemies. You will be able to fly past enemies when going with the wind, and maintain a good pace against it. Keep your hulls in tip-top condition so you do not loose as many cannons and so you can maintain your speed advantage over other nations.

For more info on your navy go to; http://steamoss.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=176376953

Cavalry, like every other unit type, is a fundamental unit in your army, you can use the to pincer, flank, overload and harass the enemy. As far as French Cavalry are concerned they are the best of the best, they have the largest variety of cavalry in the game and the best stats. French Cavalry are renowned for their superiority over other nation's cavalry.

Use your cavalry wisely as if you use them all up you will have extremely limited mobility, also use them to scout ahead at the start of the battle while your infantry and artillery have a chane to take up positions. Now you understand the importance of cavalry and other units in Napoleon Total War.

Thanks for reading and i'll see you in my next guide.