Square attempt 'clarification'

[lannes1uk]

Cavalry declare charge on infantry with Form Square rule. Infantry must ATTEMPT to change formation to square. Roll 2 D6 add together and?????? . They go onto discuss the double 6 and double one. Am I right in thinking that the 2 D6 added together must be equal to or less than the generals command rating for the attempt to be successful, or is the attempt always successful excepting a double 1? Thanks

[Big Al]

Yes. The main thing you are looking for is the double 1 or double 6. On a double 1 they don't form square but are disordered and on a double 6 they form a disordered square, which the cavalry can charge into (though it can be nasty for the cavalry).To make it more interesting you could just use a single die with all rolls successful and the special results on a 1 or a 6.

[ady2650]

I agree with Big Al, you could add flavour by having some troops being poor at forming square, militia types maybe the 1 die 6 could come in then maybe

[lannes1uk]

Thanks. My concern was that it seems almost automatic success. In the example that led to the question, a French infantry brigade in column advanced/rushed up to 3 inch from British Cavalry and fired no casualties. Not something that I would expect to be a smart move on the infantry part, even more so as the cavalry were unharmed. My expectation was that the odds are stacked in the cavalry's favour and at that distance will, 9 times out of 10 will ride down the infantry. The almost automatic form square means this will almost never happen. Gone is Waterloo, Quatre Bras, Hernandez to name three occasions.
I have only played a few games and on the whole like the rules and some of the mechanisms are really progressive, but this seems to reduce the threat of cavalry to infantry to an extent where infantry can pretty much ignore it. Certainly in a Napoleonic Infantry commanders mind the issue of lurking enemy cavalry being unseen and close enough to allow the successful forming of square, took a significant amount of his focus. The 1 and 6 on a single die role may well be the answer and I shall try it. Thanks again.

[Big Al]

You have to remember that the rules are just guidelines. They sell themselves as being a "Toolkit" and scenario driven. Now, for the battles you have mentioned, you can introduce special rules that are specific to those scenarios and make forming square as difficult as you like. For example, you could make it so that a unit only forms square on the roll of a double and keep the double 1 and 6 as a forming a disordered square. Any other roll is a failure. That may be too harsh but it was only an example. That's the beauty of the rules, you can change things to suit particular situations

[Alan Charlesworth]

In most accounts of Napoleonic warfare you will find that it was common for infantry to form square at the first sign of a credible cavalry threat. From a game perspective this would be in the threatened infantry's turn, before any charge was declared. Emergency changes into square were for just that - emergencies. Such as cavalry suddenly appearing from concealing terrain or out of smoke.

However, most wargame rules allow for the formation of an emergency square to have a high probability of success. Consequently wargames players are not fearfully of cavalry as a threat to their infantry and rely solely on emergency square die rolls.

As Alex said you can easily change this dynamic by altering the probability of the successful square formation die roll. Make a delayed decision more risky and your players will learn to form square earlier just as they did in reality.

There is another consequence however. Cavalry will be more powerfull in the game due to the increased threat. In the small scale games that most Wargamers play this has a multiplier effect in respect of the value of cavalry. I suggest you try it out. Unless you play big games I think you may find that it alters the character of the game in a way that may not be beneficial. You may end up coming back to the mechanic as written into the rules.

[Greenjacket]

I really appreciate the square rules. There shouldn't be any problem for a reasonably trained infantry unit to form square when charged by cavalry (assuming cavalry are trotting, and that a well trained battalion can form square in 20 seconds - though militia or conscripts would be rather different).

Say cavalry charge infantry. The infantry form square. The cavalry duly trot back but stay within 12" of the square (see page 74 for the reason why!). Then their accompanying horse artillery open fire at the square. The infantry are stuck in square, and they no have to weather artillery fire. The chances are the infantry will be shaken so next turn they can be charged by the cavalry. I think the BP rules rather cleverly promote very historical tactics.

For examples of the effect of tactics of cuirassiers forcing infantry to form square and then subjecting the square to close range grape from horse artillery, read Siborne "The Waterloo Campaign" (which is on Google books - it is still the most exciting and most detailed account of the battle).

Incidentally - a question for Rick/others:
Enfilading a square. On page 49 it states that a target that has its flank exposed to a shooter is enfiladed. So presumably squares are enfiladed because they always have a flank exposed to the shooter. That makes sense to me - an extremely dense target like a square should be horribly vulnerable to shooting, especially artillery. But on re-reading pages 74-75 nothing is explicitly stated that squares count as enfiladed. So do squares count as enfiladed?

[ady2650]

I really appreciate the square rules. There shouldn't be any problem for a reasonably trained infantry unit to form square when charged by cavalry (assuming cavalry are trotting, and that a well trained battalion can form square in 20 seconds - though militia or conscripts would be rather different).

Say cavalry charge infantry. The infantry form square. The cavalry duly trot back but stay within 12" of the square (see page 74 for the reason why!). Then their accompanying horse artillery open fire at the square. The infantry are stuck in square, and they no have to weather artillery fire. The chances are the infantry will be shaken so next turn they can be charged by the cavalry. I think the BP rules rather cleverly promote very historical tactics.

For examples of the effect of tactics of cuirassiers forcing infantry to form square and then subjecting the square to close range grape from horse artillery, read Siborne "The Waterloo Campaign" (which is on Google books - it is still the most exciting and most detailed account of the battle).

Incidentally - a question for Rick/others:
Enfilading a square. On page 49 it states that a target that has its flank exposed to a shooter is enfiladed. So presumably squares are enfiladed because they always have a flank exposed to the shooter. That makes sense to me - an extremely dense target like a square should be horribly vulnerable to shooting, especially artillery. But on re-reading pages 74-75 nothing is explicitly stated that squares count as enfiladed. So do squares count as enfiladed?

I agree I think BP's approach nails it, although I think counting as enfiladed may in game terms be too harsh and there is a +1 for shooting at Squares with artillery, interesting thought though

[Jammers]

We had exactly that situation in our game yesterday

Austrian Hussars charge French Infantry - form square - pound square with artillery - square Shaken - charge Shaken square - cavalry bounce in both cases [chuckle]

I couldn't stop rolling high - apparently that helps

One very unimpressed Austrian player particularly as 2 of his supporting infantry units broke after i charged a battalion gun