Irregulars - Info and Tactics

[SirGarnet]

I thought it would be useful to take a look at Irregulars and discuss their role in armies and on the battlefield.

The Rules explain that the Training category Irregular covers troops lacking formal training in battlefield formations and tactics, often formed into ad hoc units. The Irregulars in the rulebook lists include a variety of Ottoman units, Russian Average Cossacks (Light Cavalry), Spanish Guerrillas (Light Infantry), and Austrian Average Grenzer (Light Infantry limited to Skirmish formation, so they can’t provide Rear Support or safely do much except skirmish shooting and evading when assaulted).
Any Attachments to Irregulars are themselves Irregular and have their unit's Elan.

Irregulars, like Conscripts, re-roll 6s when shooting. There are many reasons why this could apply - the nature of their tactics, being untrained or inexperienced, ill-armed, limited in ammunition, or just badly led. They can of course vary in Elan from Poor to Superior.

Irregular light cavalry are subject to their own critical restrictions. They must always be Skirmishing. They fight in Combat on the lower dice line as “all other troops”, so they should seek to prey on weakness in their attacks. If assaulted, they can opt to Evade or can instead counter-charge (if they pass a Cohesion Test when facing non-Skirmisher Cavalry).

Irregular Light Cavalry does have advantages. They can move in Tactical while Skirmishing and do so at maximum speed (Regular Light Cavalry can’t), allowing them to more nimbly seek an attacking position by use of speed and their special ability to move in any direction (like Skirmish Infantry (p37), while Regular Light Cavalry skirmishing can't*. They are not battle cavalry, but are especially suited for feints, slipping through enemy lines, and cat-and-mouse games with opposing cavalry (especially in creating 2 vs 1 flanking opportunities). One unit can evade a charge and another swing into the enemy flank or rear. Their maneuverability is generally useful, but infantry or artillery fire is always a risk. Those that are cheap in points can be highly effective second-line reserves (and rear supports for other cavalry), able to easily move where needed.

Irregular Heavy Cavalry: These don't seem to be inherently different from regular heavy cavalry. The Ottoman list has the only examples so far, and the HC there, as well as most of the LC, are Lancers and frequently impetuous. This means cavalry hard to restrain but good at assaulting infantry and artillery.

Rules Issues:
One rules glitch raised in a thread below is that the language on p29 that provides for a default move of Evade if LC in 1 rank does not reflect that Irregular LC’s also skirmishes in 2 ranks (which might be due to the latter being a later change in the rules testing process). Adding "Irregular" to the default move on p29 makes everything fall into place.

Another is that the CMT chart and playsheet does not indicate that only Infantry and Irregular Skirmishers can move in any direction (per p37).