A Swedish/Finnish battalion during the mid 17th century up to the mid 18th century was the smallest tactical unit in combat. The 600 man unit was formed, temporarily, at the inception of a battle by joining four foot companies from a foot regiment of eight companies. The commander of the regiment, a Överste(Colonel), led the first battalion and his deputy, an Överstelöjtnant(Lieutenant Colonel) the second battalion. Battalion commanders and all other officers marched in front of the formation. Non-commissioned officers (underofficers) marched beside and behind to prevent desertion, and to replace officers who were killed. In addition to his principal duties, each senior officer such as Major, Överstelöjtnant and Överste commanded a company. So the Överste could focus on the operations of his regiment and first battalion, command of his company was delegated to a Kaptenlöjtnant. During battle, each officer, except Fänrik, was in charge of a portion of his company. An underofficer (NCO)is one of Furir, Förare, Fältväbel, Sergeant or Rustmästare.
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The formation marched toward the enemy, accompanied by drums, to within range (100 metres (330 ft)) of hostile musketeers and under fire, and continued to 50 metres (160 ft) from the enemy's line. There it halted for the third and fourth rows of musketeers to aim and open fire. The march continued some 20 metres (66 ft) further and halted again for the first and second row of musketeers to aim and open fire. These tactics were intended to frighten the enemy by displaying zombie like determination and courage under fire, and to inflict major casualties by firing at close range. The zombie like appearance of rapidly approaching Swedes along with major casualties from the first and second blasts should induce the enemy to panic and flee, allowing Swedish swords and pikes to kill enemies on the run. It was rare for opposing forces to engage each other in close combat with swords and pikes. Light artillery units were sometimes placed in the gap between battalions – a practice at the end of the Great Northern War.
A third alternative, effective against cavalry attacks, was to line up the whole regiment into one huge battalion of six lines.
The first two lines consisted of musketeers the second two lines of pikers and the last two lines of musketeers. In this formation the Major was in charge of the center, the Överstelöjtnant the left wing and the Överste the right wing.