hold orders

[Jolly Roger]

Hold orders are very risky, they are deadly in case your troops encounter the enemy. "Hold" means your troops hold the ground, but they don´t fight, just block. This kind of order is perfect to stop unreliable Cavalry from charging without order, but it´s not appropriate for the Infantry main body of your army !!

Cheers, Klaus

[Titus]

Let me clarify a point on 'Hold' orders -

'Hold' means the unit looses all action points and will prevent it from a typical response to events around the unit. For example - if your unit with the 'Hold' order is a heavy cavalry unit and some enemy medium cavalry come within charge range, your unit will not automatically charge them. However, if you did not place any order on your heavy cavalry they would use their own initiative and charge the enemy cavalry unit. Cavalry are particularly susceptable to this problem. Irregular units also show such initiative and charge without orders. Regular units less so.
'Hold' also prevents missile units from firing as this takes action points and all action points are removed by a 'Hold' order.
'Hold' does not stop your unit from hand to hand combat and will kill enemy if in contact to their front.
'Hold' orders are good to prevent units charging off in an uncontrolled manner and maintaining your battle line but no good for skirmishing light units - you need to use the 'Skirmish' order for such units.

[Jolly Roger]

Thanks, Paul.

Next question: would you always prefer a wedge, if your Infantry doesn´t lack the ability, instead of a line formation in case you encounter an enemy army, when both sides are arrayed in parallel lines ?

Thanks again, Klaus

[Dog Soldier]

Thanks Paul.

Now that explains why my main battle lines break up in three to four turns after contact. Some charge, others retreat, some hold their ground. I could not figure out if it was possible to maintain a line. Reserves placed close to the main line was the only solution I could come up with.

This had the weakness of making the main line shorter, so it could be flanked. I just figured the LI went to the flanks after retiring from screening the main line. Especially since the cavalry could not be trusted to guard the flanks.

Dog Soldier

[TJD]

Thanks Paul.

Now that explains why my main battle lines break up in three to four turns after contact. Some charge, others retreat, some hold their ground. I could not figure out if it was possible to maintain a line. Reserves placed close to the main line was the only solution I could come up with.

So "Hold" can be used to maintain the integrity of the line. I had no idea. I'd gotten the impression that Hold was a sort of administrative rather than tactical order to keep cav from going off half-cocked.

Wow. Good to know. Hey, Paul, tell us more good stuff! Lots of eager students here. Put up a sticky and add a daily tactical tidbit, or something. We need to hear more from you.

Best,

Tim

[Dog Soldier]

Tim,
You can always post your experiences here. I have not tried to "hold the line" with the hold command, but it sounds like it will work. So this has to be battle tested.

Dog Soldier

[Titus]

Wedge formation - Pros and Cons -
On the positive side, a wedge unit in combat gets more men in contact with the enemy in a small space so your kill rate is significantly better.
On the negative side, units in wedge formation move very slowly and therefore should only be used when combat is imminent. The wedge is also exposed on the non-shield side so enemy units attacking on that face have an advantage. Infantry in wedge can not charge.
Overall the wedge formation is worthwhile and very useful for cavalry where movement is still reasonable and the unit can still charge.