Cavalry charges, column or line?
I may have missed something in the rules but I can't see any real avantage of charging with cavalry in column over line.
It appears that in column you can move and charge further, and take up a smaller frontage, while the only penalty is the +1 for column when being shot at, whilst in line you move slower, charge less than in column but take up a bigger frontage, the only benefit is you don't get the +1. So why fight in line?
Cheers
Reece
Reece,
I am without my rule book, but this is how I remember things (haven't had a game for 2 months!).
If a cavalry unit is more than 3 ranks deep but at least a squadron wide (usually 2 bases) the unit moves as in line but counts a a column target. If the unit is only a company wide (usually one base) it is in true column; moves as column, target as column, no charge bonus (from memory).
Think of the deeper line formation as squadrons in three or four separate lines, as was often the case. In reality these lines would often have been committed sequentially as the need arose.
Anthony
R,
So why fight in line?
Deep columns can be outflanked. Deploying in line helps prevent this.
DB