Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

This may have come up in the past, but I've not seen it, so will toss it out here for further debate.
Cavalry movement in this game is slow. I understand the with the charges it does allow for some additional ground to be covered, but the basic 12 is still slow.

The Proposal:
Adjust Cavalry movement to 18 (possibly 16 if you don't like 18, but I favor 18). I have been using 18 in my DYO scenarios, and find it works quite well.

Rationale:
Horses at a walk still walk faster than a man. Why don't they in the game
A well conditioned human in track sorts and shoes can run, full speed approximately 20mph/33kph). Strap on a pack, boots, and and a 10lb musket, and maybe they can get 12-15mph/20-25kph for a short distance. A horse can go approximately 40mph/67kph, in other words about 3 times as fast as a man. Counting the cavalry charge phase, 18 = 36 hexes for the whole turn, or 12 x 3, 3 times as fast as infantry.
Even blown cavalry (disordered) should be able to outpace formed infantry. With a movement of 18, disordered is still reduced to 9 but is a bit more realisitc.
Keeping in mind that generally charges are across open terrain, where the movement cost is 2 per hex, with a limit of 12, counter cavalry charges are very limited (6 hexes). Since the enemy unit to be countercharged must be within range, cavalry has to be pretty much even with or ahead of the infantry to reach the enemy. (To me that is a game engine flaw. One should be able to countercharge to a location in the charging cavalry's path). While increasing the movement to 18 is equal for both sides, it does give a little more reach.



Cadet William Davis
Royal Military Academy

Sir,

I the few I fixed I have given them 15 based on New Settings.

A group of guys who came up with some alterations to .pdt files for TS-BG.

Anyways, 12 is a joke as you say.

The HPS EAW series doubles the movement points. 12 for Infantry, 24 for Horse.

The HPS Napoleon is 20 for Infantry, 28 for Horse.

All these HPS games are really 1 phase, meaning no Cavalry charge phase.

15 probably is about right for TS-BG.

Cheers,

<b><font color="gold">Lt. </b></font id="gold">Paul Wakeman
<font color="beige">2nd Light Rgt</font id="beige">
<font color="orange">2nd Brigade
22nd Saxon Division
<b>VII Saxon Corps</font id="orange">
<font color="red">Armée du Rhin (ADC)</b></font id="red">

Paul_Wakeman@yahoo.com

Be careful gentlemen.

Remember, horses get tired as well. I have not gone into the details but do not forget that a horse carrying a fully armed cuirassier and equipment cannot sustain higher speeds for long. After many days on the march with the best forage not always available, horses will not be in the best condition on the day of battle. Also, to retain order, pauses must be made in any movement to correct the dressing/alignment of the formation. So whilst in theory horses can travel at higher speeds than the game allows, in reality the average speed that can be maintained will be lower than you might think. As, I say, I have not researched this but I would offer a word of caution before you make rule changes.

Général de Brigade Malcolm Cumberlidge
"Vigueur et Honneur"
Chef d'Etat-Major
1er Corps de Réserve de Cavalerie
Armée du Nord

That's true for practically all military movement. The maximum speed of an individual man, horse or vehicle is purely theoretical for marching a military formation. Even under ideal conditions (i.e. without poor roads, hot weather, river fordings etc.), one has to allow for short breaks (Napoleon gave his men five minutes in the hour), for meals and generally for all sort of delays. And then there's the fact of life that formations march slower than individuals. Even a small group of four or five will be slower than a single man (ask any father about it [;)]) and a company or battalion, let alone a brigade or division, simply cannot count on normal walking speed. 15 miles is a good day's work for a division; Prussian army regulations allowed for three German miles (22.5 kilometers) per day, but with a full day of rest on every fourth day. Of course one could order a forced march, but only at the price of a badly increased number of footsores and stragglers, not to mention reduced overall performance in battle if it ensued right after the march.

And that's men. Now horses is an entirely different matter again because, paradoxical as it may sound, they break down a lot easier than men and have to be cared for a lot more. That's why cavalry moves at a trot <u>even in a charge</u> except maybe in the last few moments. Regulations for cavalry charges may have stated that the speed should be gradually increased to full gallop but quite often (for instance that's true for most French charges at Waterloo) the horses were simply too tired for that.

The fact is simply that in the field you can work men harder than horses and still keep them going for days on end. Off the road, good infantry could outpace cavalry, even light cavalry. Operationally, there should be very little difference between the speed of infantry and cavalry. Tactically, maybe some. In the BG games, where you have to count the movement and the charge allowance combined, I think with twice the infantry allowance it's probably too much. In HPS Eckmuhl and Wagram I believe infantry moves five hexes tactically and cavalry seven--that seems about right to me. (Especially considering that elevation changes slow down cavalry only.)

<center>Général de Division D.S. "Green Horse" Walter
Baron d'Empire, Duc des Pyramides
Commandant de la [url="http://home.arcor.de/dierk_Walter/NWC/3_VI_AdR_Home.htm"]3ème Division[/url], VIème Corps Bavarois, L'Armée du Rhin
Commandant l'Ecole de Mars, L'Armée du Rhin
Commandant de la Brigade de Tirailleurs de la Jeune Garde
</center>

Paul is right, a cavalry movement of fifteen has been used extensively by some.

A move of 18 seems too high to me. First, the comparison of moves needs to be made at the lowest speed, (that which can be sustained), not the maximum speed. Horses can attain 30+ miles an hour, but they can only do this for a very short period, (the charge). Turn after turn movement at the walk is not a great deal faster than the infantry.

Horses at a walk cover about 100 paces / minute vs. men at the ordinary pace or pas de route covering between 75 and 90 paces / minute, depending on the nation. Call it 80 / minute and we have an increase of 25%, so a move of 15 seems about right to me.

Regards

Mark
VII Corps

Thanks Mark, I meant 15. Corrected my post below.

<b><font color="gold">Lt. </b></font id="gold">Paul Wakeman
<font color="beige">2nd Light Rgt</font id="beige">
<font color="orange">2nd Brigade
22nd Saxon Division
<b>VII Saxon Corps</font id="orange">
<font color="red">Armée du Rhin (ADC)</b></font id="red">

Paul_Wakeman@yahoo.com