Post by Mark Wightman on Nov 10, 2008 13:53:50 GMT
Martyn and Dave's game of BLB threw up a question regarding Cav v Inf in an ongoing melee. As the Infantry don't strike back vs Cavalry then they can never win if they don't win the first round.
I asked the following question on the League of Augsburg site to confirm we were doing it right:
Barry Hilton replied as follows:
I've got to say it all makes sense to me.
The Infantry have the tricky decision, shoot or try to form square. If they shoot then they better stop the Cavalry, either by forcing them to fail the morale test to charge home, or by causing more casualties with shooting than the Cav can do in return - otherwise they cannot win.
If the manage to form square then there's a 58% chance the Cav will miss and bounce off, this rises to 79% if the infantry have pikes.
However, try to form square and fail - and the Infantry are likely dead.
I asked the following question on the League of Augsburg site to confirm we were doing it right:
I've a question regarding Cav vs Inf combat. Am I right to assume that if the Infantry lose the first round of combat that they can never win a subsequent round (unless another unit joins the combat to help them), as they do not fight back?
I'm pretty sure that's how you are supposed to play it, but it caused quite a heated debate at our club last night. The infantry player didn't like this at all and I offered to ask the question here, to confirm we didn't miss anything.
Did we miss something?
I'm pretty sure that's how you are supposed to play it, but it caused quite a heated debate at our club last night. The infantry player didn't like this at all and I offered to ask the question here, to confirm we didn't miss anything.
Did we miss something?
Barry Hilton replied as follows:
This is quite a common question Mark and it comes from the fact that some people misunderstand the choices facing infantry when charged by Horse. If the unit chooses to form square and is successful it's chances of survival are very high. The 'square' would be some kind of defensive hedgehog and not necessarily a Wellingtonesque square.
If however they choose to stand and fire to stop the cavalry they have a reasonable chance of success or failure. The act of commitment to this limits their options somewhat.
In the age of plug bayonets it is going to be hard to get a couple of shots off and then ram a wood and metal plug into a red hot barrel with a couple of hundred horseman thundering down on top of you. Many infantry may not even have been issued with bayonets. Defence against cavalry in such circumstances would be extremely difficult hence the infantry do not fight back.
It is not an automatic death sentence of course because depending on how well the cavalry perform they may:
1. Lose because they caused less casualties than the infantry did when shooting at the charge
2. Fail to kill any infantry in the subsequent two combat rounds thus no negative effect on the infantry.
3.Still win but not enough to break the infantry through pushbacks because of infantry quality.
I would let you firend read this. His reaction is common. The mechanism is well founded and works cleanly and must be pointed out that you may be in his position one day.. what goes around comes around
If however they choose to stand and fire to stop the cavalry they have a reasonable chance of success or failure. The act of commitment to this limits their options somewhat.
In the age of plug bayonets it is going to be hard to get a couple of shots off and then ram a wood and metal plug into a red hot barrel with a couple of hundred horseman thundering down on top of you. Many infantry may not even have been issued with bayonets. Defence against cavalry in such circumstances would be extremely difficult hence the infantry do not fight back.
It is not an automatic death sentence of course because depending on how well the cavalry perform they may:
1. Lose because they caused less casualties than the infantry did when shooting at the charge
2. Fail to kill any infantry in the subsequent two combat rounds thus no negative effect on the infantry.
3.Still win but not enough to break the infantry through pushbacks because of infantry quality.
I would let you firend read this. His reaction is common. The mechanism is well founded and works cleanly and must be pointed out that you may be in his position one day.. what goes around comes around
I've got to say it all makes sense to me.
The Infantry have the tricky decision, shoot or try to form square. If they shoot then they better stop the Cavalry, either by forcing them to fail the morale test to charge home, or by causing more casualties with shooting than the Cav can do in return - otherwise they cannot win.
If the manage to form square then there's a 58% chance the Cav will miss and bounce off, this rises to 79% if the infantry have pikes.
However, try to form square and fail - and the Infantry are likely dead.