Slitherine

I'm running unreformed infantry , the enemy arent and are better morale .

Is extended line any use here ? How would I use it ?

*sigh* I'm going to get smashed arent I ?

Dead. can probably give you some tips, if he sees this. He's used it once in a while against my French. It basically puts two units in the place occupied by one, so lots of initial shooting. Cut down your opponent's firing dice with cavalry or cav. attachments (Dead.s latest 'discovery' ). Maybe don't stay in it once cohesion gets bumped down. It also gives itself flank support. Really just depends on situation. Try...have fun...see how it goes!!!

I rarely see extended lines used in our games.

The percieved problem is that the frontage attracts too much enemy skirmish fire. As mentioned, a cavalry attachment would help - and effectively your 6 point attachment becomes twice as cost effective because it will drop dice off 2 enemy units rather than 1.

Give it a try. You need to be prepared to flick back into tactical in your movement phase if you need to rally cohesion and are not on a hill (to avoid losing a dice).

Cheers
Brett

I think in scenarios with linear obstacles it is more valuable.

Depends on the situation you find yourself in. I have gone into extended line to get extra shooting dice against the Froggies, usually after they have closed in to close range or at 3 Mu if one unit has been wavered and forced back. It blocks charges against the wavering unit and can add more dice, especially if you can fire both halves at one target. I have used it against buildings, get an extra 4 dice for shooting at it , and also against the flank of French targets. I quite often start my Grenzers (Light Infantry) in extended skirmish line to block arty fire from my line troops. I once even managed to shoot a cuirassier unit to wavering from an extended skirmish line but that is a feat I have not been able to repeat

Generally I find it is a more desperate situation tactic to try and get some more shooting dice in and hope to rally some badly beat up unit that has been driven back. Austrians don't get field fortifications so can't comment on how those would work, but if the French keep dropping rivers on the table and threaten to attack across them I will be setting up an extended line to defend the bank and keep them on their side of the river in future. Also I have been thinking of using extended line during initial set up for a new tactic the Austrians need to outwit those damned French cavalry Blathergut insists on putting in his army now.

Thanks for your thoughts .

I will be on the defensive , he will be re-rolling 1,2and 3s so will ( I imagine ) come straight at me .

Cav attatchment or a mounted unit directly behind me - good thought ( also a great way to use crappy poor/irregular cav units )

Assuming he 's not going to come to 2" but will just charge , I guess I need to stay 8" away by falling back ? And position my batteries to be firing through out ?

There's no minus for melee in extended line is there ?

Amra wrote:Assuming he 's not going to come to 2" but will just charge , I guess I need to stay 8" away by falling back ? And position my batteries to be firing through out ?
There's no minus for melee in extended line is there ?

My thoughts would be not to keep 8MU away. With an unrerformed army you want to the fight to take place at 2MU - where you are just as effective as a reformed enemy and cheaper. Getting the enemy into the 2MU range while you are still fresh, and getting the first shot, is the the goal for an unreformed unit IMO. However if your opponent is re-rolling 1,2 &3,s he must be superior Guards with a commander attached.

- That's going to touch and go to stop regardless of who you are - but his army will small.

When fighting a Guard army, a good tactic is to try to buy time with the units that are facing attack, while pushing hard to get your numbers on the flanks into the game. Try to make sure that the each enemy unit that does charge is charging 2 of your units, or at least 1 unit with flank support.

Artillery attachments are very useful when facing assaulting enemy Guard infantry - they bring you up to 6 dice for a small unit in defensive fire- average of 3 hits, even superior enemy will need to CMT to charge home and will likely be disordered. If the Guard close disordered you should then be able to waver them in combat and (with only 4 dice) they cannot break you.

Cheers
Brett

Keep in mind that a cavalry unit affects enemy skirmish fire if they are within 6 Mu of the shooting unit. If your cheap horse is behind then they will be too far away to affect much skirmish shooting, pretty well have to be in the front line to be effective skirmish deterrents. Just try to keep them away from a position where his cav can charge you and force you out of position with a counter charge, its not optional if you are steady but does require a CMT if you are disordered, or spent without an officer.

Cavalry attachment has proven to be useful but only affects fire at the unit the cav attachment is attached to.

Yes thanks to all .
The points are spent and there are less Cav attatchments than I would like
Your point is a good one about the 6" but I think my defense needs to be active rather than passive & move my line forward to get the Cav unit in range .
Not ideal but I really cant risk Guard Cav targeting them .
I meant to stay at 8" because he wont let me get to 2" . He will shoot and charge , not stand and watch me close . I know 2" is what I want , but it isn't what he wants ! Closing to range just gets me shot up IMHO
I think Art attatchments ( 2 dice for units with no skirmishers ) combined with lurking Cav will make the medium range fire fight more even . If I can mass guns , all the better ...some plan better than none .
There's no combat penalty for extended line is there ?

At present you will lose 1 die from Cohesion Test for being in extended line. At med range you shoot as a single unit, at close range you shoot as two units, close combat fight as a single unit. Only down side is that when you shoot at Med you will have more dice splitting.

You might be surprised how cavalry can reduce his med range shooting dice at you. The hard part is standing at 2 MU since after you move up he gets first shot and you might not still be there for return shooting Not easy to get a non reformed unit into range unless you can knock him down with your attached shooting or artillery first. Better to get close when he is disordered or as was pointed out, let him try to close with you and you get defensive fire to try and stop him or drop his cohesion if he still wants to close in. Its not that easy to get in close with the bayonet.

Thanks all for the thoughts , I'll let you know how they fare

good luck with the ever slow foot sloggers

Cavalry attachment has proven to be useful but only affects fire at the unit the cav attachment is attached to.

If I remember well there was a discussion where it appeared that an attached artillery would give some dice at the attached half of the extended line it is with . Would it not be the same for the attached cavalry . Will it be taken into account for the unit or the extended line half it is with ?

I recently asked that same question and was told it applies to the unit as a whole, so even in extended line the entire unit will benefit from a cavalry attachment.