Excessive attacker advantage in cavalry battles?

[Russ1664]

I'm concerned that the attacker in a multiple cav v cav battle seems at a great advantage and would appreciate any help in restoring the balance (Have I missed something rules or tactics?)

In the last battle we had 3 French cavalry units side by side with a 4th behind the central unit. This formation moved forwards to within 8" of 3 British cavalry units, so far so good. In the British turn the central British unit charged the central French unit. In response the central French unit must counter charge and so had to move 4" forward and thereby lost all it's support, both flank and rear! The attacker of course was able to position the other two units in their movement phase to provide support to their charging unit. This promptly demolished the counter charging unit,the British unit now pursued into the French cavalry that was originally providing support and fought it next round.

Post battle we considered if the defender could have improved the situation by an interception charge from one (or both?) flanking cavalry units,but that unit seemed to also lose any rear and flank support having moved forwards and the attacker was again free to position his supporting units.

So in contrast to defending infantry/arty which I think is biased towards the defence (which is very good) It seems defending cavalry can be "pulled" out of formation much to their detriment. Unless I have missed something which is entirely possible, it seems although a force can move forwards as cohesive unit (we had been using the brigade group move to good effect) when attacked it fights as individual units.

Very grateful for any thoughts or advice?

[deadtorius]

been there too and it was Frenchies who did the pulling. In my case it was Cuirassier that got mobbed. So far I have managed to not let it happen again, keep them covered by infantry etc. I would have checked to see if those Brits were Impetuous then they all would have had to check to not declare a charge. Your rear cavalry unit might have been able to still give rear support, a counter charge is 4 MU or 1/2 the distance whichever is less so you would have still been within rear support range.
Counter charges are only straight ahead so depending on how the enemy lined up you might or might not have been able to cross the charge path, but if they were slightly in front of you then an intercept, 4 Mu and counter charge 4MU would have put you with 2 units up to his 3. It would have helped a bit by eliminating one support, although you would be splitting dice. Either way cavalry is kind of hard to keep alive in a cav vs cav duel sometimes.

[BrettPT]

Definately the attacker has an advantage in cavalry fights. I really like this, it brings an element of tactics into the game as players try to position their units in order to get the first charge.

As mentioned, a wise player will always have his supporting cavalry 2MU behind the front units so that you will still get rear support if attacked.

Also, you don't need to advance to charge range and hand the advantage to your enemy. Close with HC to 9MU. If the enemy then close into range in their turn, charge them. If they don't move up, you close to 1MU in your next turn. When charged from 1MU, you cannot be dragged away from your flank and rear supports.

Cheers
Brett

[hazelbark]

Interesting haven't fully encountered this, but all makes sense in game terms. Historically it was very hard for cavalry to "occupy space".

But also remember the game continues to a next phase. if the cavalry was victorious it might have pursued out of position and then in turn gets mugged by the two that weren't supporting and so forth.

[Russ1664]

My thanks for the replies, I think the good part is that I've not missed rule or two, unfortunately that just leaves me with my tactical incompetence! Never mind I do like some of the tactical ideas to cope with the issues I will have to think harder about manouvring large numbers of cavalry units, it was so good. I must admit I had not considered the possibility of being able to countercharge and intercept the same charging enemy unit, I suppose it will very much depend of the geometry of the battle.

thanks to all

Russ

[deadtorius]

One other thing I forgot before, in the deployment rules you can keep a division off table as a reserve, yo just have to place their division commander on the table so you know where they will enter the table. I believe if is a CMT to activate off board command, so requires a die roll and it might not happen first try, but you could keep them out of harms way while your infantry blocks the enemy.
Good luck, I have gone back to mixed divisions instead of trying my incompetence with cavalry divisions for now.

[hazelbark]

Also there is something like when an enemy comes within 6 or 12 MU of the reserve division off board, it is triggered to come on automatically.

One way to draw a foe into a seeming open flank. Then bang it comes on. Of course in the last game his light cavalry division came on to face my shock cavalry!

[deadtorius]

That sounds nasty.
I usually try to get my Dragoons opposite the French Hussars I am usually pretty good at getting those fights to work out well for me.

[Blathergut]

ya ya

[terrys]

It's much more difficult to pull a(specific) unit out of line than you think.
Don't forget that intercepting units don't have to move directly ahead - they can wheel 2MU first.

If a single unit of a line of units is charged by 2 enemy units - an adjacent unit could intercept one of the chargers ("At the start of an intercept move, Infantry can wheel up to 1MU and Cavalry up to 2MU forwards"), "the assaulting unit will then move into contact with the intercepting unit". If the remaining assaultinging unit can still contact the original target of the charge, the target unit counter-charges, "wheeling towards them as far as necessary".
And of course your rear support should be within 2MU of the rear of your cavalry to ensure that your rear support remains in range.

[deadtorius]

Just to clarify then if only one cav unit charges one of two enemy cav units lets say one is small and the other is large, and the small one is charged. The large unit could then intercept the charge but since that charge has been intercepted the small unit does not get to counter charge since it is no longer a charge target?

[hazelbark]

Just to clarify then if only one cav unit charges one of two enemy cav units lets say one is small and the other is large, and the small one is charged. The large unit could then intercept the charge but since that charge has been intercepted the small unit does not get to counter charge since it is no longer a charge target?

Yep assuming the geometry is rather basic. But side byt side for sure. Big wrinkle isn't it.
No more picking on the weak guy.

[deadtorius]

makes the weak guys a bit happier at least

[hazelbark]

makes the weak guys a bit happier at least

Actually more importantly it weakens gamesmanship. Less advantage for the "clever" player. Or at least less after this is down once to the unclever.