"Thirty Years War: deep/large cavalry formations?" Topic

I've seen in various pike and shot rulesets that they address "large" cavalry formations. I remember reading of instances (perhaps earlier in the war) where a cavalry formation was deployed in larger formation than normal (I think normally mounted arqbusiers).

Does anyone know of actual instances in battles where this phenomenon occurred? I plan on modelling some large bases of cavalry and curious which battles would make appropriate scenarios. Thank you for any information in advance.

To be able to answer that I'd need to ask – how large is 'large' ?

3-rank & 6 rank formations are both fairly common throughout the war but some reiters using caracole tactics early in the war were probably deeper.

TMP link

Here's a link to a previous discussion about cavalry formation depths in the Thirty Years' War (thanks for the info Daniel S)

TMP link

Daniel S also contributes here too and this post provides more context as to what the "Dutch" formation was

Thanks, I was searching for some information from Daniel S insights but my querying wasn't getting me what I was looking for. Those links are very helpful.

Perhaps my recollection was from a writer just referencing an imperial harqbusier formation as being deployed in deep ranks and I interpreted that as a special occurrence for the particular battle/commander (not sure why I thought it was Pappenheim or Piccomolini) as opposed to being the norm for the doctrine of the belligerent.

I will put together a few of the "large" base units of harqbusiers for Spanish/Imperial forces and just use them when I see appropriate. Huge blocks of cavalry are just too tempting not to deploy on the tabletop.

I would be interested in the tactical thought behind cavalry depth.

For instance, was the choice of a very deep formation to facilitate caracole tactics?

Was the transition in the 1630's to more shallow formations to facilitate charge / trot to contact tactics?

I assume that the deeper the formation, the looser it has to be. All you would need to disrupt a deep formation is a horse in the first couple of ranks to stumble or get hit and the next 6 or 8 ranks crashes or breaks up. A loose formation allows the rearward ranks to avoid the wounded horse.

Conversely, a shallow formation can be tighter. A front rank horse is hit and it just disrupts a couple of ranks to its rear and the remaining horses can close up and trot onwards.