Forming Squares: responses to cavalry charges

[Incendiary Pig]

Hi all,
First time posting from me. I am sure this topic has come up before so apologies if I am going over old ground.
I have been a keen ancients wargamers for decades but recently took an interest in Napoleonics and have been trying out various rulesets. I like the Black Powder rules… apart from one fundamental rule – the ease at which infantry forms square (1 in 18 chance of failure) and the fact that they have to form square in a response to a cavalry charge.
From what little I have read on the Napoleonic wars it seems that infantry would often be caught by cavalry not in square and that sometimes they choose not to form a square at all.
We have also tried some rulesets other than Black Powder. Each has its pros and cons but what the other sets do share is the fact that it is not so ‘cut and dried’ that infantry can and will form square when charged by cavalry.
I could cut and paste rules from one of these other sets to form my own house rules for Black Powder, but I am very interested to hear other people’s views and thoughts on the matter. Do you see this rule as a problem? If so, what house rules do you employ?

Many thanks

[Big Al]

if You really don’t like it, there is an alternative suggestion in the Clash of Eagles book.
My own opinion is that it isn’t a problem. You see, The rules are all about you as the C in C and how you cope with controlling the army. The effect of forming square restricts your command somewhat, which is why it is so abstract. If your unit is in square, it cannot advance and cannot come out of square if enemy cavalry is within 12 inches. This stops you achieving your objectives.
Also, if you do fail the test to form square, the cavalry are not likely to decimate the infantry (the Clash of Eagles rule addresses that, too).
You will also find that cavalry cannot be used in the way that it should be. When a unit breaks, it is removed from the table. It does not flee, allowing your cavalry to chase it down and destroy it.

There are a few abstractions that irk some people, but as I have said, it is because of the objective of the rules being about Command and Control and not how unit’s would act or react as depicted in other games.
Some folk prefer the micro management of local command. For example, they don’t like that there is no wheeling. But as a General watching his army following his instruction, he doesn’t care how a unit gets fro A to B just as long as it does.

[Garry Wills]

Two points about this;

1. Infantry only get this option when charged from the front quarter.

2. The time scale is approximately 15 minutes per pair of turns, so the micro management approach is a particularly bad fit. The best way to approach it is to take the dice result and work backwards. Most things work. The real issue with the basic rules is that the cavalry have a poor chance even when the infantry are disordered, which as Big Al said CoE addressed.

Garry

[ian gilmour]

Hi All,

I’m new to Black Powder so forgive any naive comments.

I was lucky enough to play in the Great Game in Glasgow where we refought Waterloo with over 20,000 figures on the table and over 80 gamers around the tables.
I was allocated Von Tripps brigade of 3 regiments of Dutch Belgian Carabineers. I was posted just to the right of La Haye Saint near the centre of the British line and in reserve.
When 10 battalions of the French Guard launched a concentrated attack on the line I was ordered forward. Low and behold the whole advance of the Guard stopped as they rushed to form square. The Guard then stayed like that for much of the rest of the game taking fire and being picked on by the Allied artillery. The French could not bring up cavalry to counter my units.
I suppose my point is that I felt sorry for all of those very expensive, powerful French units being forced into square by 3 low cost Cavalry Units. It just did not “feel” right. I feel that if the French are in a column of attack they could fend off Cavalry without having to form a square?

Ian

[Garry Wills]

Surely if you were within 12 inches, which you would need to be to stop them moving they would have just shot you down?

Garry

[ian gilmour]

Hi Garry.

He was shooting at my cavalry but only getting one shot/face. So each unit was unlucky to get more than 1 hit per turn. I was also able to rotate my units and keep reducing hits by rolling to remove casualty markers.

I think my point is that a mass French column like this, especially Guard, including Old guard units, could almost ignore my puny little cavalry units and carry on advancing. However the rules do not allow this to happen and the attack quickly bogged down

[Bakblast]

We’re you using COE?

I would have elected to form closed square as described on page 99 of COE, unless of course COE wasn’t being used.

[Author]

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