This is a summary of what Guy Hasall wrote in his 3-part guide to the Vendean War in Wargames Illustrated 4,5,6
Organization:
Local 'divisions' of 'armies'
Each 'army' organized by 'parishes', with an elected captain and lieutenants; each 'army' commander worked out how many men required and divided that by the number of parishes; local men called out by bell, then numbers picked.
Weapons:
Mainly pole-arms at start, still c.40% with pikes and cudgels in 1795
Tactics:
Known as Le Grand Choc ; screen of skirmishers at front, followed by better armed troops, then the main body with polearms. Skirmishers would try to disorder by fire, then main body charge; if skirmishers failed, better-armed troops would join the firefight before main body charged.
This division as much morale based as anything else
Main body would act in small groups in order to best take advantage of terrain before ideally charging from several directions simultaneously
Rebel troops formed crescents to face cavalry; or simply stood their ground to 'swallow up' the Republican cavalry (having such a large number of pike-armed troops made this effective)
Rebel cavalry small in number but effective as scouts, dragoons and in cavalry charges against Republicans.
Nature of terrain meant that no unit stayed 'formed' for very long in traditional sense – so cohesion a mental state as much as anything else.
Hope that helps
's motivation to paint Napoleonic ships returns!
