Using Cavalry Efficiently

Gary McClellan · (This post was last modified: 12-19-2018, 12:11 PM by Gary McClellan.)

To put a bit more flesh on what I mean about Cav being less effective. Here's a description of French doctrine in the era between the wars

"These newer tactics were based on the principle that a few brave and experienced men would create the necessary gaps in the enemy infantry's line, and then the remainder of the squadron would exploit these. The fewer number of men initially exposed to enemy fire would mean correspondingly fewer casualties. Each squadron leader commanding experienced troopers would have 15-20 of his bravest men... positioned on each flank of the squadron, attack the enemy infantry in line while the remainder of the squadron advanced in an orderly fashion behind them. This first wave advanced at the trot until 20 paces or so away from the line then moved in at the gallop" (Nosworthy p218)

As you might think, this didn't work as well as they hoped. The idea was that someone from that initial "wedge" charge would be able to have his horse break a seam in the enemy bayonet line, giving a place for the followup troops to follow. A wounded horse plowing the bayonet line wasn't unheard of, but it was unusual and couldn't be counted on. Also, if you note that the charge was being launched from 20 paces... as opposed to the Prussians who might be at the full charge for a few hundred paces.

I can't find anything about the exact French tactics at Minden, but there, a single British infantry brigade pretty much held off the majority of the French cav in repeated charges.

ETA: Just to give a little bit last before I get turns out for the evening. There's actually a fairly large shift in cav tactics during the 18th century. While the days of the true "caracolle" were past even in the WSS, many nations would still have their cav approach to pistol range, fire and then charge. As you can imagine, this took a fair bit of the "steam" out of the Charge. The Swedes in the GNW and the British (and I think Dutch) were the first to get away from this and go to more of a cold steel approach. However, even with that, troops would not launch into the full gallop until fairly close to the enemy. By the WAS, most nations had gotten away from the final fire, but they still didn't charge home from nearly the distance that we would associate with the Napoleonic Wars.

Frederick drilled his troopers in horsemanship, allowing them to keep tight formation even in the fastest stage of the charge, and greatly extended the distance at which the horses would gallop. This is why the Prussian Cav was head and shoulders the best. As you would imagine, by the Napoleonic Wars, the other nations had taken a great deal of that to heart and even improved it. However, even for the Prussians they didn't have a great deal of luck in doing frontal charges on fresh, well formed infantry.

Mowgli · (This post was last modified: 09-30-2019, 12:40 AM by Mowgli.)

I'm trying to figure out how this game works. Here are my notes of some rules that are important for cavalry:

SOME BASICS

cavalry cannot be assaulted by infantry
you can have several cavalry units in the same hex, even with different facings (units don't get disrupted), but if you put cavalry and infantry in the same hex, everyone gets disrupted
when moving cavalry, the facing automatically changes (unlike infantry in line formation)
Cavalry counts as 2 for stacking purposes, but only as 1 in melee. So you can't achieve massive concentrations of force with cavalry
Remember: Detached units (outside of the leaders' command range) CANNOT initiate melees at all
Disrupted units can initiate melees (but their melee value is *0.33), but cannot initiate cavalry-charges
Unlike infantry, most cavalry units have a low melee value, each point of melee value should give *1.1 in melee combat; in addition, heavy cavalry gets an extra *1.25
Always switch the optional rule "multiple cavalry melee" on. If you leave it off, cavalry will basically never have the chance to break through and rout enemy infantry. What it does is that it allows a single enemy unit to be attacked several times by cavalry in a single turn. This is quite essential for cavalry charges ("can continue").
Cavalry is particularly vulnerable to fire. Especially at ranges up to 3 hexes (*1.3 fire power for enemy).
I don't know whether the "mounted" formation counts as "column" (and is thus more vulnerable to enemy fire). I also don't know if it can be hit by "enfilade" fire.
Cavalry has excellent threat values [3%,3%,2%,2%,1%,1% of current manpower], reaching up to 6 hexes! This makes it more dangerous for the opponent to change formation when facing cavalry (and perhaps also to charge? see below)
Units can move quite far during a turn. This means that the reaction intervalls for players are quite big and some cheesy tactics are possible (many units pouring through a tiny gap in a single turn...). It also means that enemy units can move into your flank easily without you having a chance to stop them. But don't be too afraid: In order to charge, cavalry can only move straight ahead (so it must already be in your flank at the start of its turn). So you get at least a turn to react. For infantry though, it's quite a big problem (due to ample movement allowance, an enemy infantry unit can move around you, into your flank faster than your unit can pivot/turn...!)
I still need to test whether "mounted" formation counts as "column" and is affected by the "column pass through" optional rule.
It seems that units rout at the start of the turn. This is not documented in the manual at all. Also, routing units seem to make a "rout-movement".
Remember that ZoCs are limited to the front (2 hexes) of a unit.

BEWARE OF INFANTRY

Defying all intuition, infantry in marching column is NOT more vulnerable in melees than infantry in line. The column melee malus only applies if the infantry attacks, but not when it defends.
Being disrupted is not as bad for infantry as it seems and does not make infantry very vulnerable. In defence, it only reduces the infantry's melee power by *0.66 (If you're attack while being disrupted, you suffer *0.33!)
The flanking/rear attack bonus is meagre (*1.4). Also, I'm not entirely sure if and when it works (what happens if there are two units with different facings in the target hex?). You would expect a flank attack to have a much greater effect (given the scale, the far end of the battalion would be at maximum effective musket range! these battalions are very thin and very long ca. 3x200 men!)
If the infantry has not fired in their turn, you supposedly suffer an additional *0.8 malus in melee. I suppose that this applies even when you assault the flank/rear of the infantry.

THE CHARGE

If you attack INFANTRY (it does not work against cavalry!) by means of a cavalry-charge, your melee value is doubled (*2) BUT ONLY IF your charging units move at least 1 hex (You get no bonus at all if you charge while your unit is "stationary").
Disrupted or detached units cannot charge. Units that have already moved/turned cannot charge.
In order to charge, units seem to have to pass an (undocumented) morale test. Perhaps it's a threat test? If they fail, they get disrupted (and cannot charge) or even routed.
Charging units may only move straight ahead (front = 2 hexes).
Charging units can overrun skirmishers and leaders in their way
If a charging unit wins a melee combat, it may “continue” and engage up to a total of 3 (Parameter) times; it may move up to 3 hexes in total to reach new melees (?) [NOTE: This only works if the "multiple cavalry melee" optional rule is switched on] Moving on can be important if you're still within the fire arcs of enemy infantry...You don't want to stay there and have the infantry fire at you next turn.
Charging units are automatically disrupted at the end of the turn

DRAGOONS

Dragoons can fire, but their fire value while mounted is tiny (I suppose that mounted formation is affected by the "column formation" malus --> *0.01)
I'm not sure if the fire capability increases the unit's potential in melee. According to the manual, units that initiate melee without firing in their turn get a *1.2 bonus. Also, units who have not fired should reduce an attackers effectiveness in melee (*0.8). Maybe these two rules also apply to dragoons, but I'm not sure.

Stejones82 · 06-16-2020, 11:52 PM,

(09-30-2019, 12:06 AM)Mowgli Wrote: I'm trying to figure out how this game works. Here are my notes of some rules that are important for cavalry:

SOME BASICS
cavalry cannot be assaulted by infantry

you can have several cavalry units in the same hex, even with different facings (units don't get disrupted), but if you put cavalry and infantry in the same hex, everyone gets disrupted

when moving cavalry, the facing automatically changes (unlike infantry in line formation)

Cavalry counts as 2 for stacking purposes, but only as 1 in melee. So you can't achieve massive concentrations of force with cavalry

Remember: Detached units (outside of the leaders' command range) CANNOT initiate melees at all

Disrupted units can initiate melees (but their melee value is *0.33), but cannot initiate cavalry-charges

Unlike infantry, most cavalry units have a low melee value, each point of melee value should give *1.1 in melee combat; in addition, heavy cavalry gets an extra *1.25

Always switch the optional rule "multiple cavalry melee" on. If you leave it off, cavalry will basically never have the chance to break through and rout enemy infantry. What it does is that it allows a single enemy unit to be attacked several times by cavalry in a single turn. This is quite essential for cavalry charges ("can continue").

Cavalry is particularly vulnerable to fire. Especially at ranges up to 3 hexes (*1.3 fire power for enemy).

I don't know whether the "mounted" formation counts as "column" (and is thus more vulnerable to enemy fire). I also don't know if it can be hit by "enfilade" fire.

Cavalry has excellent threat values [3%,3%,2%,2%,1%,1% of current manpower], reaching up to 6 hexes! This makes it more dangerous for the opponent to change formation when facing cavalry (and perhaps also to charge? see below)

Units can move quite far during a turn. This means that the reaction intervalls for players are quite big and some cheesy tactics are possible (many units pouring through a tiny gap in a single turn...). It also means that enemy units can move into your flank easily without you having a chance to stop them. But don't be too afraid: In order to charge, cavalry can only move straight ahead (so it must already be in your flank at the start of its turn). So you get at least a turn to react. For infantry though, it's quite a big problem (due to ample movement allowance, an enemy infantry unit can move around you, into your flank faster than your unit can pivot/turn...!)

I still need to test whether "mounted" formation counts as "column" and is affected by the "column pass through" optional rule.

It seems that units rout at the start of the turn. This is not documented in the manual at all. Also, routing units seem to make a "rout-movement".

Remember that ZoCs are limited to the front (2 hexes) of a unit.

BEWARE OF INFANTRY
Defying all intuition, infantry in marching column is NOT more vulnerable in melees than infantry in line. The column melee malus only applies if the infantry attacks, but not when it defends.

Being disrupted is not as bad for infantry as it seems and does not make infantry very vulnerable. In defence, it only reduces the infantry's melee power by *0.66 (If you're attack while being disrupted, you suffer *0.33!)

The flanking/rear attack bonus is meagre (*1.4). Also, I'm not entirely sure if and when it works (what happens if there are two units with different facings in the target hex?). You would expect a flank attack to have a much greater effect (given the scale, the far end of the battalion would be at maximum effective musket range! these battalions are very thin and very long ca. 3x200 men!)

If the infantry has not fired in their turn, you supposedly suffer an additional *0.8 malus in melee. I suppose that this applies even when you assault the flank/rear of the infantry.

THE CHARGE
If you attack INFANTRY (it does not work against cavalry!) by means of a cavalry-charge, your melee value is doubled (*2) BUT ONLY IF your charging units move at least 1 hex (You get no bonus at all if you charge while your unit is "stationary").

Disrupted or detached units cannot charge. Units that have already moved/turned cannot charge.

In order to charge, units seem to have to pass an (undocumented) morale test. Perhaps it's a threat test? If they fail, they get disrupted (and cannot charge) or even routed.

Charging units may only move straight ahead (front = 2 hexes).

Charging units can overrun skirmishers and leaders in their way

If a charging unit wins a melee combat, it may “continue” and engage up to a total of 3 (Parameter) times; it may move up to 3 hexes in total to reach new melees (?) [NOTE: This only works if the "multiple cavalry melee" optional rule is switched on] Moving on can be important if you're still within the fire arcs of enemy infantry...You don't want to stay there and have the infantry fire at you next turn.

Charging units are automatically disrupted at the end of the turn

DRAGOONS
Dragoons can fire, but their fire value while mounted is tiny (I suppose that mounted formation is affected by the "column formation" malus --> *0.01)

I'm not sure if the fire capability increases the unit's potential in melee. According to the manual, units that initiate melee without firing in their turn get a *1.2 bonus. Also, units who have not fired should reduce an attackers effectiveness in melee (*0.8). Maybe these two rules also apply to dragoons, but I'm not sure.

Good stuff here - I am learning this game

Mowgli · (This post was last modified: 07-24-2020, 08:11 PM by Mowgli.)

I need to point out again that - given that columns in the Seven Years War title are supposed to represent marching columns rather than attack columns - it seems like a major bug to me that the melee malus for columns only applies if the column attacks, NOT when it defends. So basically, marching columns are unassailable in the defense, even if flanked. That can't be intended. :(