"Cavalry Charge question" Topic

Let me try this another way… I want to have a rule for cavalry charges regarding "blown" horses. But I do not want to deal with a lot of modifiers re ground, actions, nationality, etc.

I am looking for a simple rule for a young beginner. What would you say would be a fair number of charges for a cavalry unit to make per game? 2 or 3?

Maybe dice for it after each charge?

One charge and a long rest and maybe a second charge before end of day (in game terms).

2 I think, with period of time between.

That sounds about right -- a couple of charges with a long rest in between.

Jim

My rules have this:
Troops have discipline , (training) poor average good.3 4 5
If you charge ( for which you need 300m straight) roll D6 vs discipline. If missed, blown.
If you have to retreat far or pursue, auto blown.

Blown horses are not a matter of discipline…it's a matter of the horse not being able to function that well after a charge. As mentioned above, depending on the time scale/rules, two charges in a game would max out the horse.

Ah excellent, this is a great help, thank you all!

For a simple set of rules I wouldn't bother with a blow horse clause.

>>it's a matter of the horse not being able to function that well after a charge.

dont forget the smell….

The old Empire III rule is good. If you charge then at the end of the impulse the cavalry get 3 Fatigue Points. If the charge again later another 3 Fatigue Points. At this point they are well and truely shattered and they must stand down to recover some or maybe all of their Fatigue Points. So two or three charges a day at most. Horses would have to be rested fed and watered.

I use EIII and definitely a unit no matter how big and powerful 1 charge degrades, two is a losing wish.

Raylev3
I called it discipline… could be called training. As in holding the line in check, keeping the fastest gait for the right moment if any, keeping control. Maybe the label is not too good.
I did not want it be automatic, as it has an impact on further combat, needs one phase to rest. Did not want "tactics" to waste poor cav. To get goid one blown and attack. With my system you are not sure. That is in real life your crappy guys run away in front of the advance which needs no running. Get totally out of your minds movies and cavalry. Far more cats play, coup d'oil, for the right moment and formations. Mostly beyond the details of our games. Like many games mevhanism, the result is the intent.

Again, thanks for these thoughts. Simple rules don't usually consider things like this or, say, ammo, but I want to make the point as also made here that horses don't have unlimited capacity for this kind of exertion and their uses have consequences a leader must consider. In this case only the one for this rule, but it starts the mind thinking more like a commander.

Are you looking to reproduce or simulate the historical norms or simply a game epiphenomena.

For a historical simulation, you need to consider the possibility of multiple charges by a regiment. Which may be the entire regiment or each squadron in turn. In addition, do the chargers reach a gallop or only a trot, and then is this over say several hundred metres or perhaps only a hundred. What if the brigade is properly managed and the initial attack halts when the enemy falls back and other troops make a pursuit. So neither reaches their full expenditure. Will these cavalry be able to rest and recuperate?.

Suggest you look to Glovers' volumes on the Waterloo Archive and go through the accounts from the Cavalry respondents to look at numbers of charges and recovery of mounts.

If your rules have turns of say 2-3 minutes then it is quite possible the game will not last enough to rally and reform for another charge. If they are an hour then possibly 3-4 charges can be made

Regards
Scott

Thanks Scott, this is good stuff, some of which I have never considered. . For now I am just trying to come up for some home rules for a 12 year old to play with me. I am thinking he will surpass me in skill pretty quickly if I can keep him interested and I can add in more complexity.

One thought just had reading the comments is a possibility of a charge but not at speed as seems happened very often with a blown unit or maybe as conditions warranted. At least EIII doesn't have that but might think how a home rule could cover that.

Yes a lot of variables in "charge". Unlike movie charges with a long full gallop. No simple thing in reality.

How many movies have correctly portrayed a cavalry charge? Assuming there is even agreement on how it was done. In the movies there is almost always good ground and the gallop seems mighty long. And it's almost always used.

The Charge Of The Light Brigade is one of the better representations.

We allow fresh cavalry a melee bonus over non-fresh cavalry. Cavalry are fresh if they have not yet used their charge bonus move to contact an enemy, or declared a charge/countercharge against cavalry. After charging and one round of melee, cavalry units are considered "blown", i.e. no longer fresh. They may return to reserve and rest in order to regenerate. This entails 4 moves (=1 hour) doing absolutely nothing. No movement or formation changes, nothing at all. After those 4 moves they are deemed to be "fresh" again. They may, however, continue to fight, charge and counter-charge as often as they like, counting as non-fresh cavalry, with severe penalties against enemies on fresh horses. In this way, even a single fresh squadron held in reserve may sway a battle.

It all seems relatively simple to me. In my rules charging units that end up actually in 'close combat' (call it melee if you will) rather naturally take hits. So even if they win and pursue they are usually damaged in some way. If the pursuit results in more close combat, the additional hits they are likely to receive means charging with them again before they have a chance to rally would be suicidal.

So the whole thing should be catered for by the system one uses to cause casualties, with some of the 'hits' accumulated assumed to represent exhaustion of men and horses. Add in some basic rally rules and there you go.

I would however say that own reading surprised me with the number of accounts of cavalry units charging more than once in a relatively short time period. As has been said, not all charges were at the gallop, and not all involved every squadron in a regiment.