Cavalry Charges

Questions, chat, feedback and developments relating to REPUBLIC TO EMPIRE... Wargaming the wars of Napoleon Bonaparte.
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Raymondh
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Cavalry Charges

Post by Raymondh » Tue Oct 26, 2010 1:33 am

Hi Guys.

I had my first "proper" game of R2E at the weekend and we came on a situation in move two that caused Peter and I to do a fair bit of head scratching. In the end we came to a solution that was mutually acceptable but I'm not 100% convinced we got it right. I'd be really grateful if one of the rules gurus could let me know if and where we went wrong.

Situation was: Peter rashly decides to charge his Austrian hussars into my French Hussars. both units meet, the French having succesfully countercharged. to cut a long story short, the Frenchies whip the Austrians collective butt and they rout. The French fail to halt after the victory and go gaily careering off after the hussars. the Hussars however rout faster then the French can follow up so they can't be caught, however, there is a unit of Austrian Dragoons and another of Grenzers within their path.

How should we be handling the follow up?

We assumed that the French would connect with the dragoons as the grenzers rallied back to the nearest formed infantry (a unit of grenadiers standing to their rear). We treated the second melee as a completely seperate charge with all of the usual procedures.

Sorry if this is a bit convaluted and if I've got anything wrong peter, feel free to to correct me appropriately.

It also appears that routing cavalry do not cause a morale test for anybody, even regiments in their own brigade! Is this correct or am I missing something.

As an aside, we both enjoyed the game immensly. it was a little slower than I would have liked but as we are both novices with R2E its not really surprising.
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kiwipeterh
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Post by kiwipeterh » Tue Oct 26, 2010 8:12 am

That's pretty much as I remember it Raymond.

I also remember my thoughts on how the dragoons would mop up the hussars (some rules give the heavier dragoons advantages over lighter hussars ... but sadly not these as it turned out! :( ) as both units drove each other over 50% losses and both routed. Those damned French hussars earned their pay that day ... and they even looked nice while doing it!

BTW, I started reading through the rules again to see what I could catch. The only thing I've caught so far is that Brigades stop generating MPs once they are UNDER 50% active units. So your two unit cavalry brigade should have kept generating MPs when the hussars disappeared as the one remaining unit was 50% of the brigade. Makes two unit brigades very useful really ... assuming I have this correct! :wink:

Salute
von Peter himself
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obriendavid
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Post by obriendavid » Tue Oct 26, 2010 2:16 pm

You guys seemed to have worked it out correctly. I assume you took resolve checks for the Austrian Grenzers and Dragoons for being charged?

The only comment I would make is that I assume the French Hussars had a brigade order that allowed them to counter charge ie; Attack, Advance or Defend?

Did you allow the Austrians to move 3d6 before the French got to counter charge and did the French still manage to move 6" once the remaining distance is halved?

Another ruling that people forget, (us included) is that under their charge threat reaction if the enemy were within normal move distance then the French could have declared a charge before the Austrians did. The French would move 1d6 then the remaining distance would be halved and the both side would have to have moved 6" to count as charging. The French would now be the chargers even though it wasn't their move.

I hope I haven't muddied the waters with my extra comments?
Glad you both enjoyed the game, any pics?
Dave
Raymondh
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Post by Raymondh » Wed Oct 27, 2010 7:48 am

Thanks Dave. I think we covered most (if not all of) of the points you made. I do have some pictures I'll post them on my blog when I get a chance and put a link on "Fighting Talk".

Cheers

Raymond
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