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Allied Training College (ATC) Coalition Library |
Cavalry Tactics Manual |
This is meant as an introductory manual for the use of Cavalry in BGW and PTW, with special attention to use of the Anglo-Allied Cavalry corps. I intend to focusing mainly upon two main topics I feel are of critical importance to the successful handling of the Anglo-Allied cavalry: Cavalry vs. Cavalry encounters and cavalry as a mobile support for an army on the defence.
Horse vs. Horse Battles of cavalry vs. cavalry are perhaps the trickiest encounters to handle in the Battleground games, but also among the most important. Wise commanders use cavalry to secure their flanks on defence but also use their horse to attempt to turn their enemy’s flanks. Thus, cavalry will often square off against each other in the all-important fights for position on the flanks. And also because each 25-man unit of cavalry is worth 8 VPs, a successful cavalry battle can give you a big bonus towards the final outcome. First of all, remember that cavalry loses its powerful charge bonus against other cavalry, so the charge feature only gives your horsemen the benefit of added mobility. But if you use it wisely, you can set up devastating zone of control attacks on the enemy horse, coming up out of nowhere to cut off his lines of retreat and eliminate whole brigades in one successful melee. Which will make your VP total very healthy indeed. One trick of the trade to note. Cavalry in the same hex as non-horse units (even a supply wagon) are treated like any other unit, ie: if you charge them, you get the triple bonus. It’s cheesy, but if you can somehow manage to drive an infantry or other unit into the same hex as your opponent’s cavalry regiment, any charge against that hex will be tripled. And for heaven’s sake, USE THE TERRAIN TO ADVANTAGE! Place your cavalry so that there are obstructions between them and opposing horse, which will disorder them if they attempt to charge you and cut their strength in half. The importance of mastering the basics of cavalry combat cannot be overstated: break your regiments down into squadrons before charging and keep them within command-control radius of their brigade leaders, and your brigade leaders within range of Uxbridge or Collaert wherever possible. Because of the absence of that nasty triple charge bonus, all battles are fought at even odds (except those involving lancers or heavy horse: more on that later), so keep your regiments and brigades together and in stacks as close to the maximum per hex of 1,000 horse. If they’re strung out in a line of 100-strength squadrons, they can be picked off one by one in a successful charge and series of melees. The exception to the above rule is when your cavalry is providing a screen to protect retreating infantry or artillery against enemy horse. A line of 100 or less strength squadrons can often frustrate massed cavalry attacks if placed carefully to cover the entire area they are screening with their ZOCs. You will lose cavalry when your opponent charges, but only one squadron at a time. If your squadrons are only 25-men strong your opponent may well lose more than you, since you can only take one 25-horse loss. But this is only a delaying tactic, and can only put off the inevitable. Third, use the counter-charge function as much as possible. One of the most common mistakes made by inexperienced cavalry officers (such as the unfortunate Ponsonby at the actual battle of Waterloo) is to press their charge one hex too far. You mount a glorious and successful charge only to find yourself surrounded by the enemy and eliminated in a counter-attack during the next turn. It’s happened to the best of us... One way of avoiding this is leaving yourself a rearguard: a squadron that charges with the rest of the attack, but does not melee. Instead it stays back, holding that one crucial hex open as an avenue of retreat. Even if an enemy ZOC cuts that route off, the presence of a friendly unit will allow your other units to retreat (as long as there’s room in that hex for them: remember the 1,000 cavalry per hex limit! The counter-charge is another way around this problem. You’re charging during your opponent’s turn, which means you can scurry back to safer ground during your movement phase. Not to mention the fun of foiling all his carefully planned charges! Just remember that only one stack at a time can counter-charge one target: no ganging up from different hexes as in the regular charge phase. So plan on counter-charging. Position your stacks of cavalry to cover the approaches from which an enemy charge might come, and don’t forget that the counter-charging unit(s) must have a clear field across which to charge. One skirmisher in the way and it won’t work. Plan carefully and position your lads to cover threatened areas, preferably from hexes that are invisible to the enemy. Fourth; toujours l’audace! Especially against lancers and heavy horse. It’s better to attack lancers, when they defend at 75% strength, than to let them hit you with their 10% attacking bonuses. Same goes for heavies, although they defend at normal strength. And by all means try to use combined arms to your advantage: a brigade or two of infantry can help secure your lines of retreat and guard against getting cut off and eliminated. And we all know what artillery can do to cavalry...
On Defence In addition to the horse-on-horse battles for the flanks, cavalry can also be a valuable defensive commodity. When playing the British-Allied army in BGW, your horse is outnumbered by the French cavalry and must be used sparingly, especially given the Allied command-control shortcomings. I usually advise keeping the Dutch-Belgian cavalry together, supplemented by a British brigade or two, usually on the Allied left, with Gen. Collaert along to give his brigades a fighting chance to re-order after a charge. I also advise keeping the two British heavy brigades in the rear (at least 6 hexes back to avoid being disordered by routing infantry) and the rest, including the Brunswick cavalry, together on the right, with Gen. Uxbridge leading his brigade commanders in supporting the often-beleaguered 3rd DB Division or probing the French left. The heavies I keep in reserve to perform one of my favourite manoeuvres in BGW: the 'Once More Into the Breach' charge. When that stack of Old Guard infantry finally breach your line (and there’s a good chance they will), don’t worry: just send in the heavies! Unless the French commander is very good, or very lucky, your line should only be broken in one hex, maybe two. Just make sure you have infantry on either side of the encroaching Frenchies, with zones of control extending into the hexes behind them, and bring up the heavy brigades. If you fiddle the ZOCs correctly, and get the right odds, you can eliminate whole stacks of those pesky guardsmen in one fell swoop. The beauty of this strategy is that the attacking infantry can’t form square because they’re disordered by the melee in the previous turn. Nothing depresses a French commander like watching an entire brigade of the old guard vapourized by the Inniskilling Dragoons. The only way the French can avoid this is by breaking through in 3 or more hexes in the same turn. And if they can do that, you’re already in far too much trouble for the cavalry to save you anyway. They can still charge into the gap (and likely force the encroaching infantry to rout), they just won’t have those devastating wipeouts. As a last resort, cavalry can be thrown into the breach to cover the retreat of your infantry and artillery, especially if you’re playing using the house rules on skirmishers/infantry vs. cavalry (and these days, who isn’t?). Throw up a screen of cavalry squadrons between your troops and the enemy: the advancing infantry/skirmishers can’t get closer than 2 hexes in most cases and it will take time to bring up artillery or their own cavalry to clear the way. This is however, an expensive way to cover a retreat, since your cavalry will take losses from musket and artillery fire. To be used only as a last resort...
[Written by Chris Wattie as Published in the Anglo-Dutch Library]
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