Regarding Cavalry

[Walko]

Lately during linebattles I have been paying close attention to cavalry, and how efficient they are in combat. While observing cavalry, I have been shocked at their complete dominance of infantry. I have repeatedly seen cavalry regiments cut down 40+ infantrymen without major casualties. This leads me to the question....

Are cavalry overpowered? Or do infantrymen simply not know how to fight cavalry?

In this thread I would like members of the community to discuss these questions and share their experiences on how to fight cavalry, and show others what formations are most effective to fight cavalry. To start I will give my opinion.



When thinking about an anti-cavalry formation one must take many things into consideration. These things are:

1. Speed The formation must be able to form itself very quickly, as cavalry may come out of nowhere, and may attack infantrymen unexpectedly.

2. Simplicity The formation must not be overcomplicated, as like stated beforehand, it must be made quickly, and must be easy for all the men in the regiments to easily get into this formation.

3. Flexibility Because of the varying amounts of men a unit will have during linebattles, and because of varying terrain and scenarios that a regiment may encounter, the formation must be at least somewhat flexible.

4. Combat Effectiveness The unit obviously must be able to fight cavalry. At the very least the formation must be able to keep cavalry at bay, however, in a perfect world scenario the formation should be able to efficiently fight mounted enemies.

In my opinion I think these are the most important rules to an anti-cav formation. What do you guys think? More to come to this thread slightly later.

[Ryan1]

okay

[Wismar]

Our reg don't have no problems with cav. As long as you train your men to do anti-cav formations you should be good.
But I don't have any idea how this has anything to do with BCoF.

[Orcaryo]

Our reg don't have no problems with cav. As long as you train your men to do anti-cav formations you should be good.
But I don't have any idea how this has anything to do with BCoF.

Could not have said it better myself.

[Walko]

Dang it... Posted in the wrong general discussion sorry I am an idiot.

[Walko]

If someone could delete this thread I would be thankful, sorry about this

[Jelly]

I would say it depends on whether the cavalry catches the infantry off-guard, as normally a massacre follows, but if cavalry charge a prepared infantry formation, they are likely to be killed, or circle the formation, or just simply find an easier target...like rifles.

[Tali]

1. Speed The formation must be able to form itself very quickly, as cavalry may come out of nowhere, and may attack infantrymen unexpectedly.

2. Simplicity The formation must not be overcomplicated, as like stated beforehand, it must be made quickly, and must be easy for all the men in the regiments to easily get into this formation.

3. Flexibility Because of the varying amounts of men a unit will have during linebattles, and because of varying terrain and scenarios that a regiment may encounter, the formation must be at least somewhat flexible.

4. Combat Effectiveness The unit obviously must be able to fight cavalry. At the very least the formation must be able to keep cavalry at bay, however, in a perfect world scenario the formation should be able to efficiently fight mounted enemies.

Because of the M&B engine and the melee system, making horses realistic is impossible, and thus, making anti-cavalry formations that have any real effect is very, very hard. Generally, it is your surroundings (Trees, buildings, rivers, steep elevation) that will save you, not standing tightly together, no matter in which way you do this.


However, for BcoF, I do believe that Cavalry was rarely used for charges on solid formations, but for scouting, courier duties and routing the enemy. As such, they should probably be made into fast moving, skirmisher-capable cavalry.

[Duuring]

However, for BcoF, I do believe that Cavalry was rarely used for charges on solid formations, but for scouting, courier duties and routing the enemy. As such, they should probably be made into fast moving, skirmisher-capable cavalry

.

Yep. They were sometised used to persue a routing enemy, but real cavarly charges against prepared enemy formations were rare (though they still might have happened, especially at the start of the war). Colonel Fremantle noted how different from Europeans American cavalry 'charged' eachother; They rode at eachother, stopped about thirty to fifty yards before the clash (which never happend), and then took out pistols and carbines and fired at eachother.

Many CSA cav didn't even have sabres, and one European noted how funny the way the CSA troopers held their sabres (when sheated) was- Under the right leg, so it didn't clash around. It made drawing your sabre difficult.

Scouting, raiding, persueing, and not to forget - Dismounting to fight as infantry. Forrest used this tactic quite a lot, to great effectiveness. I at least plan to raise or help set up a confederate cavarly regiment and train in skirmishing and scouting   

[KillerMongoose]

However, for BcoF, I do believe that Cavalry was rarely used for charges on solid formations, but for scouting, courier duties and routing the enemy. As such, they should probably be made into fast moving, skirmisher-capable cavalry.

Well we can't forget Nathan Bedford Forrest and his one man charge at Fallen Timbers

[Duuring]

As long as there are cavalrymen, there will be mad solo-charges.

[McEwan]

Topic moved.

[Draken193]

I think that depends of the cav player\regiment. I have seen some cav regiments that couldn t kill 1 single enemy when they charged and I ve seen cav that destoryerd 1 regiment without loosing 1 single men. It s all about the skill.

[Cthulhu]

Imho it depends on the skill of both the cav and the infantry. There are plenty of cav regiments that can't survive charging a regiment and there are plenty of regiments that don't know what to do against a cav charge.
One of the most common mistakes I see for infantry is when they form a rigid anti-cav square or circle. Good Cavalry regiments can easily either kite the formation or employ other techniques to decimate the regiment. That being said you don't want to go all John Rambo. A lone infantry man is one of the easiest targets for cav to kill. Probably the best "formation" would be a mixture of the two. As Tali also said, your best defense against cav is obstacles and awareness.

Regarding the other question, again imo, all of the non dragoon cav classes are well balanced both with infantry and with each other. Bayonets out-range swords easy and the only thing they can't out-range (a lance stab) can easy be blocked. The only advantages cav has is its agility, speed, and the lack of awareness of the infantry regiment. Dragoons have shit stats and are slower than both hussars and lancers. They are only slightly faster than heavy cav. Sure they get a gun, but you won't be able to kill like a hussar, lancer, or heavy cav.

[nicknick12]

stfu about Cavalry for win