Most effective unit was the 95th Rifles. Effective in screening but also could do some good fighting in melees as well. Another unit would be both the Tir. du Po and Tir. du Corse. Some would go with the Old Guard Grenadiers I suppose or the "Big Boots" (OG Gren a Chev.). But they were rarely used until the end of the wars. You said "most effective" and I am thinking of units that had incredible fighting records.
Purely subjective really on "the best infantry." For me the Russian infantry was probably the best. They stood their ground heroically. Rarely do you hear about them routing (Old Ingermanland at Austerlitz comes to mind). Their musketry may not compare with Britain's but I believe that they were harder to dislodge.
I also believe that the Grenzers of the Austrian army were probably some of the best infantry in Europe. They were handcuffed by the dumb Austrian command to not fight much in skirmish order but Napoleon considered them the best infantry in the Austrian army.
Best leaders - hard to say really. A review of all of the armies would find good points and bad points. For a STAFF SYSTEM the French and the Prussians are the best. For individual leadership I would go with England.
Artillery - again not the easiest to pick from. The French had a revolutionary system. The most improved category although I have often thought that the newer system should have gone with 8lb guns for the cavalry (as it had been) and left the 6lb guns to divisional artillery. The Austrian foot guns actually could deploy very quickly and had a better mid-range than the French. The Russians had devastating success with their guns.
Least effective would be the British (as far as massing guns) and Prussians. The British did have that proximity fuse which made them VERY effective but overall the British were not known as a real deadly presence on the battlefield with their artillery. The Austrians, French and Russians more or less held the higher ratings for that. Again "effective" being a subjective rating. The British WERE effective in their own way. They just did not mass guns ...
The Prussian artillery was used mainly in small groups. Rarely do you find them massing their artillery in a grand battery. They were mainly used in the support role and not the "Battlefield Zone Domination" category.
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Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Prinz Peters von Dennewitz
3. Husaren-Regiment, Reserve-Kavallerie, Preußischen Armee-Korps
Honarary CO of Garde-Ulanen Regiment, Garde-Grenadier Kavallerie
NWC Founding Member
For Club Games: I prefer the Single Phase mode of play. I prefer to play with the following options
OFF:
MDF, VP4LC, NRO, MTD, CMR, PR, MIM, NDM, OMR (ver 4.07)
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