Disclaimer:
The information presented on this page is presented purely as a
result of my own playtesting and experiences. Please don`t take it
as gospel and if anyone out there has better ideas/suggestions send
them in!
Index:
General Advice
Infantry
Cavalry
Artillery
Summary
General Advice:
1) RESERVES
In any of the scenarios I cannot emphasise enough the requirement to
keep a decent sized reserve available. In attack or defence fresh
unfatigued units can save or win the day depending on how you look at
it. A reserve element should consist of ALL arms not just a weak
Quality 2 rated infantry battalion! Keep them out of harms way until
the critical moment as they will be of little use if the enemy are
allowed to punish them with artillery fire or outflanking cavalry
charges whilst they wait.for their moment of glory. Also, rotate
fatigued untis out of the line whenever and wherever possible as the
adverse modifiers they attract can turn even the Imperial Guard into
a substandard melee unit. A unit rested for 1-2 game hours can often
play a decisive role later in the day rather than suffer the ignominy
of constant routs.
2) OBSERVATION
The old saying of "Know thy enemy" is still as valid today as it ever
was. You should also know his dispositions including strengths and
weaknesses at any given point in the line. This can be accomplished
quite easily with minimal loss by the adept use of small skirmish
formations or detached cavalry squadrons. Go on...take a look over
that next hill, you may lose 25 skirmishers but you may also find
that your next attack will surely fail when they get charged by the
3000 heavy cavalry that are hidden behind the reverse slopes.
Observation becomes critical at dusk and at night as you can`t see
beyond 400 yards (4 hexes). Keep those lookouts posted!
3) SKIRMISHERS
Whether in attack or defence always keep a strong skirmish line in
front of your main force. They can not only reduce casualties in
your densely packed line battalions but can also hinder enemy cavalry
movement when in enough numbers and force your enemy to use valuable
artillery rounds to clear them away. Remember to keep skirmishers on
the flanks as well as in front as an enemy flank attack/volley is
even more devastating than frontal ones. Make good use of all your
light infantry battalions, I often find that detaching all but 100
can give you a very strong skirmish line without stripping standard
line battalions of their light companies. Finally, pull the skirmish
formations back to their parent units every now and again to reduce
their fatigue levels.
4) COMMAND & CONTROL
Observe Divisional & Brigade Command radius at all times. Endeavour to
keep your formations together and you will find that units quickly
rally and reform. Keep all the leader units busy - have them racing up
and down the field, rallying routed battalions one turn and then
leading an assault the next.. The modifiers they bestow are well worth
the time spent taken in good leader placement. Army and Corps
Commanders are especially useful at rallying broken units due to their
excellent leadership ratings. However, beware of using replacement
commanders in critical situations as they are often nowhere near as
good as the original leaders. Finally, don`t stack 2 leaders in the
same hex, this is just a waste of good leadership.
5) TERRAIN
The field of battle is covered with defiles, hills, hedges, orchards,
buildings and sunken roads - make use of them! It can be tempting to
form a pretty line going straight across the map with your troops in
nice neat formations, but you will soon find that units in the open
will suffer tremendous casualties as opposed to ones behind cover.
When in defence use every obstructed hex/hexside to your advantage. It
hinders cavalry charges and massively reduces casualties from enemy
volleys and melees. Follow Wellington`s example of using the reverse
slopes to protect your densely packed formations with only handfuls
of skirmishers on the ridge tops for observation. On the attack,
keep checking line of sight using the "visible hexes" command, you
will often find safe areas where the enemy batteries can`t touch you
while you manoeuvre your units into position. One last thing, avoid
obstructed hexes like the plague when advancing as there is nothing
worse than having to spend 2-3 more turns reforming disordered units
when they are needed instantly.
Infantry
Infantry form the core of both armies and as such you can be tempted
to throw away battalions in risky ventures as after all you`ve got 30
more where that one came from. Don`t do it! Stop and really analyse
if the move/attack you are making is necessary. example: Why send a
decent brigade to attack the enemy in an area where there are no VP`s
to be had! A simple manoeuvre like refusing the main attacks flank
may well do the job without you having to suffer casualties.
Be careful that you garrison strongpoints and critical areas of the
line with good quality troops that don`t often break. Prime examples
of poor formations are any of the Dutch-Belgian Brigades in the
Anglo-Allied Army. They may look impressive with 4-5 battalions but
if one of them routs and the others are close by the whole brigade
will soon disappear. Use them as a second line of defence so that
when they do make contact at least the enemy are already fatigued
and perhaps even disordered.
Move infantry in column whenever possible, the line formation is just
too fragile for extensive manoeuvering. Finally, only use the square
formation when you find your units under threat from enemy cavalry.
It requires careful timing to anticipate the best time to form square
and the problem can be accentuated by units becoming disordered due to
enemy threat zones. Again, keep those lookouts posted and you should
avoid having to face this problem in the first place.
Cavalry
Cavalry come in all shapes and sizes. Some are just made for breaking
squares and counter charging enemy cavalry, others are of little use
except for harrasing, threatening and further routing already broken
infantry units. Know the difference.
The greatest asset cavalry have is their ability to threaten the charge,
this in itself can cause the enemy untold problems with manouevering,
defences, assault lines etc. Before you do commit a cavalry regiment
or brigade to a full-blown charge ensure that they won`t sacrifice
themselves at the end of it. Consider every eventuality and once you
have decided to go ahead and charge stop and think it all through
once again! This way you won`t give the enemy the opportunity to
decimate your splendid mounted regiments for the glory of perhaps
taking out 1 artillery battery. Remember that the best charges are
made from the enemy`s flanks where you can sweep along an entire line
of his troops routing unit after unit. Now thats a charge! Make use
of detached squadrons for observation and wider coverage. Above all
try to keep your enemy guessing as to your true intentions - use the
threat...
Cavalry are also very handy for protecting your infantry`s flanks when
on the move. This will hopefully negate the chance of an enemy cavalry
charge decimating your units from the flank. Finally, keep the cavalry
out of obstructed terrain such as orchards, forests and building
hexes - they are of little use here and will quickly succomb to enemy
skirmishers as they mill about trying to move away and reform.
Artillery
Properly handled artillery can prove absolutely devastating, poorly
handled they provide easy pickings for enemy skirmishers and cavalry.
Keep the cannon well back unless properly supported with infantry and
cavalry. They can be a source of much-needed victory points to your
opponent and rest assured they will be annihilated unless positione
accurately and safely. Don`t squander valuable rounds on enemy
skirmishers, keep your stocks high for when you really need them. The
French Commander can afford to expend round after round on counter-
battery fire, the allies can`t.
Remember this. Also, take note of the fact that when artillery
batteries are overrun if there is a friendly infantry unit in the
adjacent hex the crew will temporarily abandon the guns to take refuge.
This is a great feature which I`m sure Talonsoft are proud of, someone
had their thinking hat on with this one. Finally, artillery strengths
are doubled within 2 hexes of enemy units, if you can get your cannon
this close then do it, its worth the effort.
Summary
One last thing that has only been touched on in the above: Combined Arms.
No one unit type can accomplish much without the support of the others.
In both defence and attack keep a well-balanced force in all local areas
and you shouldn`t go far wrong. Swarms of skirmishers, then columns/lines
of infantry with cavalry on the flanks and cannon tucked in behind -
endeavour to use this formation every time. It works.
Remember to keep your enemy guessing as to your true intentions and
placements, make use of terrain, rotate front line units and keep those
reserves. If you`ve made it this far then I thank you and hope this site
has been of some use. Please contact me if you have any observations/
suggestions at mst@ndirect.co.uk. This is my first attempt at Web
Publishing, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Mark Trowbridge
mst@ndirect..co.uk
From:
Mark`s Unofficial Battleground Waterloo Home Page
http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~mst/
