I've been playing the French lately. I had never tried a rush before, but I had heard about the French Native rush so I just tried it out in my first French game. I have succeeded with this strategy in almost all of my games. I don't remember how many total games I've played, but I've only lost 2 so far. One was to an Ottoman rush, and the other was to another French rushing player who made it to Colonial a tad faster than me.

In all of my rushing games I focus on food and wood until I can afford to advanced to Colonial around 4:30-5:00. I usually have one villager mining so I can have enough coin to afford hunting dogs as soon as possible and any crucial Native techs that might interest me before I can use my Native Lore HC card in Colonial. I have about 13-14 villagers before I advance (3 or 4 on wood, 1 on gold and the rest on food; sometimes 2 on gold depending on the map). I use two HC cards in the Discovery Age--2 Coureirs and Furriers. Once you get the 300 wood card, you can use that instead of furriers for your 2nd shipment. It really helps a lot for building trading posts, barracks, and towers. In addition, when I advance to Colonial, I always choose the advancement that rewards 500 wood.

During the advancement, I task about 4 or so food villagers to wood and one food villager to gold. After advancing, one wood villager goes back to food and the Town Center waypoints food for about 2 more villagers, then to wood or gold, or whatever is needed.

In the Colonial Age, I will start out using a Native village for units. Maps with Lakota and Comanche are a little harder since their units are more wood expensive, so I'll usually have a barracks up and producing Musketeers first (on those maps). With this strategy, Musketeers should be easy to train in masses to help support your Natives as you should have plenty of food and gold.

In this age you should use the following cards: 4 settlers, 600 food or 600 wood (if ever needed), Native Lore, stronger Natives (the French bonus card), 2 outposts, and 8 crossbowmen for a successful rush. Don't use these cards in any particular order. Use them as you need them like in any other game. Just remember to use your extra wood from your 300 wood card and your free advancement shipment to establish a trade route early on so you can receive shipments faster.

One final tip: Use your Native Scout to do your exploring in the beginning on the game. Use your explorer to gather the treasures that you can. After you've revealed the map with your scout, keep him at the edge of your opponent's town to see what he's doing before you send your troops in. When you do send your troops, focus them on villagers first.

If done right, you should end the game in the Colonial Age.

[This message has been edited by Cy Marlayne (edited 11-08-2005 @ 11:11 PM).]