HPS Series Cavalry and other mysteries

[jonnymacbrown]

Cavalry get a 3x charge bonus against infantry (except units in square, then it's 1 to 1). So if you have 300 cavalry charging against infantry it will be, in effect 900. Any skirms in the way will be overrun.

It's a lot like PzC games in that you want to wait for the enemy to be disordered. A good way to do that is to attack the enemy infantry with infantry and arty and then follow up with a cavalry assault. Assault the enemy infantry with a melee assault which will disorder the enemy, then hit them with cavalry.

I have to disagree with the fellow who said use light cavalry only for scouting. Considering the French Army usually has 10-20 thousand light cavalry that will be a lot of boys sitting around doing nothing. Most games should be played allowing only one infantry melee attack per turn as we don't want to begin applying panzer tactics to these games. But the same enemy infantry unit can be hit multiple times by first infantry, then light cavalry then the heavies.

Many lifetimes ago I was the (in)famous Prinz von Egan and you can still view some of my articles on Napoleonic computer wargaming, for example:
ARMY COMMAND & STRUCTURE for BEGINNERS
http://nap.phxsim.com/articles/c_and_c/index1.html
The articles cover the French Prussian and English armies in the 100 days campaign. They were written for Talonsoft games but the HPS titles use very similar mechanics so the articles are still relevant. They aren't really for beginners but rather for fellows like yourself who are panzer commanders thrust into the early 19th century and somewhat at a loss, for lack of a better metaphor. I got some hate mail and this closing paragraph from the above might tell you why:
"Finally, you'll probably be faced with a mechanized infantry attack, i.e. the type of assault where the French player cranks up all units, gets 'em on the roads to close everywhere as soon as possible and attacks everywhere all at once hoping for a quick decision figuring that he's gonna lose anyway if the attack fails and the Prussians arrive. It's not Napoleonics but rather generic wargaming (the field could be anywhere; the units on the east front; it's the panzerblitz mentality spawned by games with short duration spans and quick resolutions) and it's your choice as to whether or not you want to play against it. As wargaming goes it's an effective attack but it's not the kind of military movements which were customary in the 19th Century. If you're interested in Napoleonics, look for opponents who wish to re-create the mood & movements of a Napoleonic battle rather then just win baby."
Your old pal Prinz von Egan