Native warriors, who were largely aligned to the British cause due to the Crown's promises of a native homeland, fought as they had fought for centuries. The brutal frontier tactics they used against New England and, later, American settlers would be employed against US forces in the War of 1812. The British knew that the Americans were fearful of native attacks and exploited it to great effect, especially in the capture of Detroit.

Battles in the War of 1812 were much smaller in scale than those in Europe. There were about 200,000 troops in total at Waterloo, while the largest battle in the War of 1812 at Lundy's Lane had 6,000 in total.

In the beginning, a large part of the US troops were state militia with varying degrees of training and, frankly, competence. The US Army had not yet evolved into a professional force by 1812. It would take another two years before it evolved into a fighting force of regulars that could match British troops.

In contrast, the British regulars and officers in Canada were well-trained professionals. Many had previous experience in the Napoleonic wars. They were outnumbered and, until Napoleon's abdication in 1814, could expect little help from Britain. They relied heavily on native and local militia to bolster their ranks. At best, the natives could be loosely considered more like skirmishers or shock troops than anything like line infantry. On a few occasions, they would be the last to leave the field. Brave, but sometimes tactically unsound especially if it was a rout.

There were also local colonial militia aka civilians with minimal training and part-time service. The British also had "fencible" regiments, units which recruited in Britain and served only in Canada. As the war progressed, fencible units increasingly recruited ftom the local population.

Depending on who led and trained them, the militia or fencibles would likely be the closest the natives would get to fighting in any semblance of a European-style line formation.