Deployiren and Cavalry charges
Hello Angus Just a few queries from a game played up at Kirrie. 1. Depoyiren. Page 34. 7.3. The rules say "The Prussian player may not use the deployiren manoevre to change from line back into column". I thought I might query this with you after reading "The Anatomy of Victory" by Brent Nosworthy. I think he's saying that the Prussians practised depolying into line from column and forming column again on the battlefield by this method. He provides diagrams to illustrate this in the chapter 13 appendix. I thought he was making the point that the deployiren manoevre was so that a battalion in line could form column to avoid a battlefield obstacle and then form line again once they had bypassed it. This was to avoid presenting a flank to the enemy by using the traditional method. What do you think? Should Prussians be allowed to form column by this method in order to avoid difficult terrain? 2. Cavalry charging across hedges. My view is that this is forbidden under 8.2 Difficult terrain page 38. Hedges are classed as difficult terrain and that a player proposing to charge a regiment of huzzars behind a hedge with a regiment of dragoons should be told that the proposed charge is illegal because cavalry cannot charge across difficult terrain unless they are cossacks. 3. Infantry +2 firing at chargers. I like this rule because it discourages players from frontally charging formed infantry. My conclusions are that cavalry officers avoided this because the resulting casualties made the cost of replacing trained horses and troopers prohibitive. You also state somewhere that infantry did not often form square in this period because they were confident about seeing off charging horse with firepower alone. My opponent is convinced that this is a misprint and that the modifier should be -2 because the infantry will be unsteadied by the charge. I thought that this was the whole point of having a morale test. If the cavalry take the casualties and pass their "to charge home" test then you roll to decide if the infantry are shaken or not. The dastardly Frenchie thinks that infantry should automatically be penalised for shooting at charging horse. Of course we resolved the issues by the gentlemanly rolling of a dice to decide. I just wondered if you could make a ruling on it. many thanks Roger