More questions about squares

[Rook]

Hi folks, clear this one up for me pls.

In a recent game a French cavalry division charged a Dutch infantry division who all formed square successfully. Frenchy trots off leaving one unit of horsemen within 12 inches of all the Dutch. The rules seem to suggest infantry cant come out of square if enemy horse within 12 inches. This caused a whole division being trapped in squares for four turns simply because the dragoon unit stayed put and the Dutch were unlucky with their shooting dice. 2800 foot cowering in square for 4 turns from 240 dragoons?? Is this a correct interpretation.

Also... Do you / should you get a bonus for shooting agains those nice tightly packed squares (I interpreted it as yes and gave a plus one to hit). Horse arty are so much fun at canister range

Rook

[Big Al]

There is a +1 modifier for artillery shooting at squares. So your decision was correct.

You played everything correctly. The threat of cavalry will keep the infantry in squares. You could argue that if the cavalry is not in a position to charge a unit, no line of sight at the start of a move or if that cavalry unit is disordered, should allow a unit to come out of square and make that a house rule. Otherwise, you need to bring your own cavalry into play to drive off the enemy. One or two of those squares might manage to get two shots into the cavalry unit, forcing a break test. Each face only gets one shot, but if the cavalry happens to fall on the line between two faces, the infantry unit would have two faces that could fire. If you can force them to retire, it would help.

[Rook]

From what I have seen original sources for Les Quatre Bras (mostly reprinted in the book of that title) speak of units not having time to get into square so about facing the rear rank or dashing to cover or even standing and firing. Any suggestions on how to simulate the running out of time situation? I was thinking rolling against leadership but reducing the leadership when the officer gives the order, eg allied unit leadership 8 but reduce by one if they cant see the horses at the start of the turn (i.e. coming our of cover / dead ground etc) or the charge starts less than one move away. Potentially leadership is reduced by two if both these are true. And the infantry can choose to stand and fire if they want to / dare to
Any thoughts folks???

[Big Al]

Worth a try. I have a tendency to just use a single die instead of a pair for the test to form square. The chances of failure are increased.