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Cavalry tactics

(12 posts) (6 voices)

Started 1 year ago by paulus
Latest reply from Legrognard

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paulus
Member

Hi lads....how many times do you form line abreast instead of waves?.....the most games I have seen especially for large Cavalry units is that they tend to only charge in waves. the smaller units of cav sometimes manage to attack in line abreast and usually get +2 dice for their efforts.(do people forget when defending also to try and form line abreast in the reaction phase?....space permitting)

I've also played quite few games where a good countercharge can really save the day especially if you have a superior commander and pick the first melee:)

cheers Paul:)

Posted 1 year ago #
Mycenius
Member

I have, a couple of times, and do tend to remember or be conscious of it... But then that's usually because Cam's LAARRGEEE and HEEEAAVVVYYY and VALLLLLIANT Cavalry is bearing down on my poor little small reliable experienced light chaps who need every advantage they can get... ;-)

Posted 1 year ago #
paulus
Member

hi John...a large cavalry unit in line abreast and charging , is something is something I rarely see:)....does Cam charge in line a breast? we never seem to have the room on the table and if they come on as a reserve option then they usually have to move through defending infantry:( so being in waves certainly helps , plus they move faster!

cheers Paul

Posted 1 year ago #
Mycenius
Member

...does Cam charge in line a breast?

Nah, I meant my wee poor chaps - they need soemthign to offfset all those bonuses Paul...!! :-)

Cam never has room - having Heavy Cav, Infantry, and Arty all packed together in Kampfgruppe Cam lining up one poor Brit unit after another and doing their "Pacman" impersonation! ;-) ;-p

Seriously though actually I'd be pretty surprised how anyone could ever get them abreast... Unless you have some weird isolated cavalry dual way out on a flank... I'm thinking about my 1815 Nassauers (Prince Bernhard's Brigade) - 5 x Large Infantry (like generic AB Austrians), how you ever gonna get them into line unless you are on a featureless billiard ball table...!

Posted 1 year ago #
vilcum
Member

There is indeed few times a large cavalry unit gains by deploying abreast...
1- the +2 only appies against cavalry
2- with 6 bases abreast there are more posibilities of being reduced to half dices by "Enemy covers ≤ half of your front"
3- It is against concentration of forces... by deploying in waves you can concentrate 12 (basic) dices in 3BW space , and probably allow another unit contacting same defender
4- Waves moves faster , that can allow you to charge first, with the obvious advantage of being the attacker

I must concede anyway points 2 and 3 are very biased by the cramped table of 2" base widhts in army builder matches, When playing historical scenarios in larger tables with 1" bases we see indeed more line abreast formations

Nice catch Paulus , I regularly forget having an option to form line abreast in the reaction phase... althought it is debatably better than retreating and charging in your own turn

Posted 1 year ago #
Mycenius
Member

What size table are you using - here in NZ we all seem to be playing on 8' wide 2.4m) and 5' (1.5m) or 6' (1.8m) deep with 28mm scale figures on the 50mm (2") bases... AFAIK there is nothing stipulating size of table for AB games, only the general comment that a 6' x 4' table is common in the game set-up section? :-)

Posted 1 year ago #
vilcum
Member

The 6'x4' seems very common indeed, I play most "army builder" game in a local store, with 28mm on 2"width bases...as you see that gives 36BW , 12BW are initially excluded from deployment by the rules so 24BW to "cover" . Any basic force can -if desired- cover that fully (french division 6 inf unit: 24 BW + 1 art ; 28 bw) even with reserves with minimal interval between them.

In our club we are same boat than you :-) , disposing a 240x180 (8'x6') table to fit scenarios , additionally we play with 6mm figs based on 1" (really in 2cm) width bases, that gives us plenty of maneouvering space... 120BW and historical scenario tends to have non-linear deployments -in fact we allways play multidivisional ones-

Does a picture worths a thousand words?
5mm
https://picasaweb.google.com/mvilchezj/Lasalle5mmJakobovo#
28mm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pzby/sets/72157625423325274/

Posted 1 year ago #
Mycenius
Member

Yep Definitely! And yes I think the 28mm Figures on only a 6' x 4' table is a bit cramped!

Posted 1 year ago #
DaKiwiMike
Member

"2- with 6 bases abreast there are more posibilities of being reduced to half dices by "Enemy covers ≤ half of your front"

Just a small note - don't forget that if the defender is entirely within the attackers front then the attacker is not halved by this rule - I would expect that attacking abreast would make this more likely.

Posted 1 year ago #
vilcum
Member

DaKiwiMike said : "Just a small note - don't forget that if the defender is entirely within the attackers front then the attacker is not halved by this rule - I would expect that attacking abreast would make this more likely. "

That will be so in a "clean" situation with a isolated enemy just in front but in my own experience is not factible most times, 6 bases abreast makes the limited wheel allowed in a charge a really limited turn, add that to the reduced movement and you will see it is quite easy for an enterprising opponent positioning so part of his unit being left out of your direct front (even half a base will suffice for units with less than 4 frontal bases, i.e your own unit in waves)

Posted 1 year ago #
FatherOfAllLogic
Member

Almost always form waves, the abreast formation takes up a lot of room and as cavalry units tend to yo-yo back and forth, it makes them less obnoxious to handle.

Posted 1 year ago #
Legrognard
Member

Played a game at a mate's place a couple of weeks ago. My reserve French Guard Old Guard cavalry brigade arrived on the board. The Lancers came on in line and caught the Prussian Landwher cavalry to their front in the flank. Old Guard Grenadiers a Cheval also came on in line and proceeded to shatter the better part of a Prussian cavalry brigade. Things really only came apart when I got greedy and changed to wave formation to move between one of my infantry squares and a swamp. I am still fairly new to "Lasalle", but when you can get in line with heavies it certainly pays dividends against wave cavalry. You can read about the game here (previously posted by my mate somewhere else on this forum): http://trailape.blogspot.com/

Posted 5 months ago #

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