Commanders,

I know that most of you gays now about the Trick of the Trade but we still have new officers comming so maybe they can learn something.

GENERAL INFORMATIONS SPECIALY FOR A NEW RECRIUTS


Units in hard cover (woods, villages, Chateaux) will not re-order once they become disordered. The men for some reason refuse to come out of hiding to line up and get shot like good chaps.
Limbered guns are destroyed when overrun by cavalry. It’s harder to hide under limbered up cannon.
Units in line are disordered when they share the same hex with units in column or a routing unit passes through their hex. Routing units do not disorder units in column, likely since they are already in a formation which can easily be turned around and join the general exodus.
Infantry units who form square with another unit in the same hex not in square (ie: a gun battery) lose the benefits of the square vs. cavalry charges. Yet another reason not to associate with the dreadful artillery.
Cannon firing at more than one unit in line in the same hex hit all line units in the hex.
Units with extended line capability whose strength falls below 600 automatically go into two-line formation, giving them a 25% firing bonus. Another reason to peel off those skirmishers.
If there are more than 250 skirmishers in a hex, they lose their 75% defensive bonus (which allows them to take only a quarter of normal damage from melee or ranged fires).
Skirmishers in building or rough hexes get a -2 defensive bonus (-1 in rough) and cannot be overrun. Skirmishers skulking behind hedges, walls, streams or embankments cannot be overrun.
Cavalry unfortunate enough to be caught in the same hex as infantry are treated as infantry, ie: they can be meleed by infantry and charging enemy cavalry is tripled. Proof positive that only disaster can result from mixing of the social classes.
Artillery is +25% against infantry in column or square. If you’re disordered in square you can’t move until you re-order.
Firing at units in a chateau is a waste of powder, unless it’s artillery within one or two hexes. Then it’s just PROBABLY a waste of powder.
Cavalery is 8 times(not always)more expensive then infantry units.You would have to wipe out 200 infantry to make up for the loss of just 25 cavalry. Makes you think twice about that glorious charge, doesn’t it?
If all units involved in a melee attack do not fire during the previous offensive fire phase they gain a +1 in the subsequent melee.
Disordered units melee and fire at 1/2 strength. If one unit making a melee attack is disordered, ALL units making that attack do so at 1/2 strength.

"When ... the Guard meets ... the Line en route,
the latter shall form in line of battle and port arms
or present sabers ... Flags and standards shall be dipped,
the drums shall beat Aux Champs ...
The colonels and commanders shall exchange salutes."
The corps of the Imperial Guard shall render the same honors
as it receives in such cases, but shall not halt its march."

SPECIAL THANKS FOR GEERT VAN UYTHOVEN.

CAVALRY

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.
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,it is very importend!

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 ....

In addition to the horse-on-horse battles for the flanks, cavalry can also be a valuable defensive commodity.

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.

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 ...

SOME INFORMATIONS ABOUT CAVALERY ARE BY Colonel C. Wattie. Thank you.


"One of cuirassier regiments developed a unique test for newly assigned officers.
You were given 3 horses, 3 bottles of champagne, and 3 'willing girls' -
and 3 hours to kill the champagne, cover the girls and ride a rough 20-mile course.
(Of course you could draw up your own schedule of events".