light cavalry

[grandad]

a situation a rose in the game i played today i need to clear up

my friend had a bg of 4 elephants and they where in a melee with a bg of mi spear men. the elephants had become disrupted before the melee. i had manoeuvred into charge range a bg of lc on there flank. and was hoping to charge them in making the elephant drop a cohesion level. I know they wouldn't do much impact and melee wise but because they where already fighting a bg of spear men. the elephants would now be fagmentated and at a great disadvantage.

but reading the rules a bg of Li or lc don't effect the cohesion level while charging in the flank
why i can understand if the bg was steady
light cavalry are good in there manouverability say taking a hill but they cant do anything fighting wise
i thought this is where lights would be useful
am reading this right help!!

[paullongmore]

I would check your friends list (there are no armies who can have Elephants in 4s).

You are correct. Light cav charging a flank do not drop non-skirmishers by a cohesion level.

The reason it is often a good move is that it causes the unit to fight in 2 directions which is a - POA (against both the lights and its other opponents).

At impact as its a flank charge the lights are at double + but unless vs fragmented they are at half dice.

[grandad]

you wouldnt gain that much because you get 1d per 2 bases and as i only had 3 bases i would only gain 1d

[Scruff]

I think that you would get 2 dice, as its lose 1d per 2 dice (not base). So your 3 bases would fight with 6 dice in impact and lose 1d per 2 for light cav, dropping to 3 dice and in melee it would be 3 dice fighting losing 1d per 2 dice making 2 dice to roll. You only remove 1 dice per complete 2 dice, if you have 1 left over it rolls as well.

There's a neat lil chart someone made up with all the number of dice you roll for various effects, Ill try dig it out for you.

hope this helps

cheers

[gozerius]

A flank charge by light horse into elephants would presumably only involve one base each - one LH with 1 die hitting on 3,4,5,6 and one elephant rolling three dice hitting on 5 or 6. The LH could easily end up losing. assuming that it did not lose a base or cohesion, the LH would probably only get 2 dice in melee. The base in contact, one overlap, plus a third base in the second rank. It sounds like it had already taken a loss.

[Polkovnik]

It is almost always worth doing though. In melee the elephants will be down a POA (so evens vs the LH and the Spearmen will now be at a +). And the Spear BG will now be facing less dice from the elephants, as one base of elephants will turn to fight the LH. It is now very likely that the elephants will lose quickly.

Light Horse (and LF to a lesser extent) have lots of uses, and you will learn more the more you play.

[Polkovnik]

A flank charge by light horse into elephants would presumably only involve one base each - one LH with 1 die hitting on 3,4,5,6 and one elephant rolling three dice hitting on 5 or 6.

The elephants will only roll two dice in this case, as they are already Disr.

[kevinj]

The reality is that LH represent troops that were intended to delay and harass opponents, not fight. As a result even a flank charge is likely to be risky. It may be worthwhile in certain circumstances but often the risk will outweigh the benefit.

[ravenflight]

The reality is that LH represent troops that were intended to delay and harass opponents, not fight. As a result even a flank charge is likely to be risky. It may be worthwhile in certain circumstances but often the risk will outweigh the benefit.

Tell that to my BG of LH that got trapped between 2 BG's of V1 elephants, decided to charge rather than hang about and be sandwiched, fragmented the Elephants on Impact, and destroyed them in melee.

These guys thought the primary role of light horse was to take over the world.

Seriously though, it was a truly rare set of dice rolls, but was a thing of beauty

[grahambriggs]

The reality is that LH represent troops that were intended to delay and harass opponents, not fight. As a result even a flank charge is likely to be risky. It may be worthwhile in certain circumstances but often the risk will outweigh the benefit.

Tell that to my BG of LH that got trapped between 2 BG's of V1 elephants, decided to charge rather than hang about and be sandwiched, fragmented the Elephants on Impact, and destroyed them in melee.

These guys thought the primary role of light horse was to take over the world.

Seriously though, it was a truly rare set of dice rolls, but was a thing of beauty

I'm sorry but this is wrong on several counts.

First, your opponents should be posting, not you.

Second, they should simply assert that elephants are now horribly overpriced as LH mow them down in frontal charges.

Third, historical references should be made to back up claims that elephants should simply destroy LH immediately at deployment, no matter where on the table they are. Preferably to some 1970s rule set.

Finally, if anyone says that a cursory glance at the factors should telly you that the elephants should win 99% of the time, just claim it's happened in the last 20 games.

[grahambriggs]

a situation a rose in the game i played today i need to clear up

my friend had a bg of 4 elephants and they where in a melee with a bg of mi spear men. the elephants had become disrupted before the melee. i had manoeuvred into charge range a bg of lc on there flank. and was hoping to charge them in making the elephant drop a cohesion level. I know they wouldn't do much impact and melee wise but because they where already fighting a bg of spear men. the elephants would now be fagmentated and at a great disadvantage.

but reading the rules a bg of Li or lc don't effect the cohesion level while charging in the flank
why i can understand if the bg was steady
light cavalry are good in there manouverability say taking a hill but they cant do anything fighting wise
i thought this is where lights would be useful
am reading this right help!!

The lights are useful. Elephants get 2 dice needing 5,6. If they fail and the LH hit the elephants have a cohesion test at at least -2 (lost impact, disrupted). So they will often be fragmented.

If the LH draw or lose, the elephants lose a POA in the melee. Also, they'll have to allocate at least one die to fighting the LH. So you'll probably have 4 MF dice and 2 LH dice at a + POA vs 2 +1 elephant dice at a - POA. Sounds a good flank charge to me!

[Polkovnik]

So you'll probably have 4 MF dice and 2 LH dice at a + POA vs 2 +1 elephant dice at a - POA. Sounds a good flank charge to me!

The LH will be on even POA.