Multiple Cavalry Melees - some observations

[Eckerslyke]

Yes, clarification is needed here. The rule from the manual, "Select Multiple Cavalry Melees to allow cavalry units to melee attack units that have already been meleed against." No mention of receiving melee attacks there but making attacks. Just to be sure I tested it this morning. You can open up the Getting Started scenario from Austerlitz and select the rule. Move one of the Russian infantry battalions forward and melee attack the French infantry unit that is in range. Then use one stack of the cavalry to charge that same infantry unit and it will allow you to melee attack a unit that has already been melee attacked earlier. Now start it up again and make sure the rule is unselected. Again move and melee attack with one of the Russian infantry battalions. Select one of the cavalry stacks and charge that same French unit and try to melee attack. You'll get the following error message popup; Multiple Cavalry Melee Optional Rule not in Effect, and you won't be allowed to melee attack that unit again. The rule when turned on allows cavalry to melee attack units that have already been melee attacked in the turn. Set up the scenario again but with the rule off and charge with a cavalry unit against that same poor French unit first. You'll win the melee and move the infantry unit back. Try and melee again against that unit and you'll get that same error message. Do it again with the rule on and you can continue to push that infantry unit back as long as you keep winning and it stays in your charge arc.

This is not relevant to my initial post, which was exclusively concerned with the effect of permitting multiple cavalry melees against other cavalry. Infantry was not mentioned, and is not any concern to me because the impression I have is that most people don't have that rule set to ON. My concern is that a large number of the members seem to like the Multiple Cavalry Melee rule to be set ON, and the effect of that, in my view, significantly undermines the realism of the simulation.

If any clarification were needed, it might be by way of re-phrasing the line from the manual which I feel is the root of the misunderstanding. It is misleading. As you point out, it makes no mention of receiving multiple melees, and seems to suggest that the benefit accrues to the attacking cavalry. However, that is not the case. With the rule set to ON, the attacking cavalry's abilities remain unchanged in terms of how many melees they may initiate (two if charging, one otherwise). The only effect of the rule is to permit the attacking cavalry to select as its melee target another cavalry unit which has already been melee'd against.

I have been unable to discover any other effect of this rule, and in the two incidents I referred to in my initial post, the use of the MCM rule led to very unrealistic behaviour by the cavalry, which for me, detracts from the realism of the battle experience.

Can you achieve more than two melees by charging cavalry (or one, if not charging) against any target with this rule ON? I suspect not.

With the rule OFF, are you able to melee more than once (by the same or different cavalry units of your own) against the same cavalry unit? Again, I suspect not.