Cavalry Sqn Size

[Captain of Dragoons]

A question reference the size of Cavalry Sqn's in ULB. In WSS rules used by Warflag in the states a infantry Battalion is 12 men and a cavalry sqn is 2 men. In ULB a Infantry Battalion is 18 men and a cavalry Sqn is 6 men. Mind you I like the 18 man bn (looks good on the table top) but does 6 men to a cavalry sqn seem big to anyone else.

If a 8 sqn Gendarmerie Regiment charges across the table at a Dutch/British Brigade the horse men would look like a division.

cheers,

Ed

[barr7430]

Ed,

these are interesting issues and it's where tabletop gaming and reality meet(clash). The figure to man ratio of ULB is roughly 1:30. This would make an 18 figures battalion 540 men(a reasonably and realistic figure taking account of paper strength v reality). If you add the extra pike block on to the back of the battalion this may push the actual number of figures up to 24 but the unit would potentially remain as 540 men as I do not count the pike block as extra men: it is a 'combat capability indicator' and aesthetic.

Applying the figure to man ratio to the cavalry each squadron would technically be 6 x 30 = 180 men. No squadrons were this big(even on paper). Average size would be roughly 60 -100 men or 3-5 figures. A three figure squadron would be totally ineffective on the wargames table and have no chance of doing anything. It would also create an artificially high number of command tests. Each 6 figure wargaming squadron is actually equivalent to roughly two 'real life' squadrons. Thus the small English Regiments of Horse(in reality about 200 men) are represented by 1 x 6 figure squadron. A large Imperialist Cuirassier regiment (4 x 6 figure squadrons and anywhere between 720-1000 men strong) would most probably appear like a brigade because defacto it was! Decending one level further, there are instances of squadrons being less than 40 men in reality. This is one figure! and also the point when the wargame itself steps over the boundary of credible illusion into farce.

What must be borne in mind when gaming this period is that the British represented less than 33% of any field army(and often less than that). The vast bulk of Grand Alliance troops were Dutch, Subsidy, German, Imperial or similar. The Imperialists in particular favoured large cavalry units. The French also favoured larger cavalry formations and their Guard and Royal regiments were likely to be far larger than the average English or Dutch regiment.

In summary, cavalry organisation within ULB is constructed to give the right 'feel', maximise playability and speed of execution whilst maintaining the visual aspect of units which at least look like units and not a couple of figures on a base trying their best to look like a regiment

Hope this is useful

cheers

Barry

[Captain of Dragoons]

Thanks Barry,

I see your point. Six man Sqn's have staying power on the table top. When I look at the Waflag example of a two man Sqn going up against a twelve man Battalion it doesn't look right.

cheers

Ed

[Captain of Dragoons]

Barry,

Ref English Regiments. As you stated above English Cavalry Regiments were usually smaller then those on the Continent. So if we use a single sqn regiment for a English what about when they are dismounted.

For example, if I want to have a dismounted dragoon brigade with Hay's and Ross's Regiments of Dragoons would you advise by using the ULB formation of 2 x 6 man stands for each regiment or 1 x 6 man stand. May be I can add a Dutch regiment to give the brigade more teeth.

According to the Blenheim Roll, Ross's had 26 officers / 298 men and Hay's 25 officers / 315 men. So that would equal out to two stands per regiment at Blenheim. However what about earlier during the Nine Years War?

Perhaps worrying about to much details however stuff like this makes this period interesting.

cheers

Ed

[barr7430]

Again, a little bit of license necessary I think.

You'll see from the Muster Rolls how small the British Horse units can be. I would recommend that British Dragoon units are fielded as 2 x 5 figure squadrons based on the frontage of 6 figures(throw in a bit of terrain or a drum or dead horse or something). Dismount them as two bases of 5 or 6 infantry. Forget deductions for horseholders. The rules cater for the inferioir performance of dragoons against other horse(dice are dropped for combat) and their inferior performance againt foot (less in the way of volley fire bonuses etc). There small size also makes them brittle.

Don't let me discourageyou from using them Ed.. they can be very useful! If they weren't then most armies would not have continued to increase their quantities - Fast and mobile mounted infantry - harass, take and hold, flank march etc etc...