"Anyone using Cavalry in Bolt Action?" Topic

Just wondering if anyone is using cavalry in their Bolt Action games? How does it do?

Cavalry are very good in Bolt Action. Maybe (probably) too good.

Yes we have used cavalry in several East Front early war scenarios. It appears to be a little too powerful but fun never the less.

I have used them in WW1 scenarios, though not often enough yet to get a feel for their use in different contexts.

Robert

Certainly too good. Fast, very good in an assault, sometimes able to Recce, not exactly expensive.
Its on of those annoying rules quirks, cav and multi-turret tanks are incredibly good in BA compared to their real life counterparts.

Played a 1914 game where my Curiasseurs (sp?) muliple charges won the day. Not very historic but great fun!

We need to be careful about the interpretation of cavalry capabilities. I can't comment on the use of cavalry in WW2. In WW1 cavalry were fast in open terrain. They were able to Recce well. There were several examples of successful charges, especially at the level of Bolt Action. Too often the literature talks about cavalry being outdated in WW1, which gives a wrong impression of the 'historical' capability.

Robert

Oh certainly there were succesful cavalty charges, the Italians in 42 for example, but Cav shouldn't be able to succesfully charge a machine gun nest and win convincingly, at the very least they should take bad casualties.
As it stands however: 5 vet cav charge a vet machine gun in cover. If the MG has not had its turn it will get to fire 4 dice (5 if german), hitting on 3s, so say 3 hits, killing on 5s is one kill.

Cover is simultaneous combat, both sides killing on 5s. The MG will get 4 dice, the cav 12. The Cav will maybe lose 1 more guy, the MG team will get wiped out to a man.

So for 2 dead (1 if the MG doesnt get approaching fire) the cav have wiped out the MG team. Vet cav are 15 points each, an Vet MG team is 65 points.

Doesn't seem right to me.

But cavalry did successfully charge machine guns…

Robert

Furthermore, successful charges against MGs did not involve heavy casualties inevitably. Nor even did unsuccessful charges. The biggest factor by far in stopping cavalry charges was intervening terrain that stopped or significantly slowed the rate of movement. At distance, rifle and MG fire in WW1 applied a beaten zone. If mounted cavalry stayed stationary in a beaten zone then heavy casualties resulted. When galloping, however, it was difficult for riflemen and machine gunners to quickly adjust the movement of their beaten zones. Kenyon demonstrated this very well in his documentary on Moreuil Wood. There were several examples during the Battle of Amiens for example.

In Bolt Action, it is crucially important for players to agree in advance what the effect of terrain will be on a charge.

Robert