Cavalry in Column Charged

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MarcusColenious
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Cavalry in Column Charged

Post by MarcusColenious »

During play yesterday, we had an interesting situation arise. A squadron of cavalry in Attack Column charged a cavalry in March Column from the front.

The defending cavalry column could have evaded, but decided to stand (which at the time, I thought was odd). The defending cavalry unit since it was in march column cold not defending fire, as we moved to the charge results. Looking at the modifiers, since this was not a flank attack, and no other modifiers applied, the attack column against the march column was a straight up 2d6 roll against each other.

Question: There are no Charge Roll modifiers if the charged enemy is in March Column? This could be infantry or cavalry. Is that correct?

I scoured the rules and did not see anything to conflict this conclusion Am I missing something somewhere?

As it turns out the charging cavalry won the die roll, and send the defending march column back with a whipped result. I would have laughed if the march column had won so well, that they could have send the attacker running, and been able to Press On for 2d6 movement.
Archdukek
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Re: Cavalry in Column Charged

Post by Archdukek »

Hi Marcus,
Yes I believe that is correct, there is no modifier for the enemy being in March Column. At least I can’t find any either.

In General D’Armee, which I’m more familiar with, there is no specific modifier either but a cavalry unit on a narrower frontage suffers a -1 modifier in the Charge Procedure which would cover this kind of case usually.

If you want an advantage in these circumstances the attacking cavalry would need to manoeuvre to place itself on the March column’s long flank before charging if it could.

John
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Trailape
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Re: Cavalry in Column Charged

Post by Trailape »

I had a similar situation just recently:
A large Confederate Cavalry regiment in March column charged down a road into a union Cav Regiment in line. The Yankees suffered a ‘Whipped’ result and the rebs ‘pressed on’.
I couldn’t see any negative modifiers for charging in March column.
I know of one example at the battle of Chancellorsville where a yankee Cavalry regiment charged down a road lined by woods during some confusion late in the battle so I don’t think it’s unreasonable for a unit of cavalry to charge in march column but my opponent’s protestations were noted. He couldn’t see how a cavalry regiment in March column could get the better of a Cav regiment in line,..
I’ll admit it’s seems odd that the Regiment in line declares a countercharge but then simply bolts to the rear. I chalked it up to the simple fact I rolled high, and the Yankees rolled low.
I did have another unit of Reb cavalry in support so could have called on a ‘supporting unit’ re roll if need but the yanks only rolled 5 on two D6 (3 and 2) and had no supports whereas I rolled 9 (6 and 3).
Neither of us had any plus or minus modifiers that I could see,.
I even suggested that the unit in March Column could / should be classed as unformed but then re-rolled the 3 only to get a 5! So the rebs still inflicted a ‘whipped’ result on the Yankees even if being classed as ‘unformed’!
Did we miss something?
Thoughts?
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DCRBrown
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Re: Cavalry in Column Charged

Post by DCRBrown »

T,

Several points to consider.

Any unit regardless of its formation can be "bowled over" by a charging unit, this is simply represented by high and low dice as you had in your game. So a lucky charge can have a good outcome.

The Line vs. Column debate is a great wargame discussion point!

Yes, Line is an good cavalry formation and so is Column of Squadrons, both have advantages and disadvantages. A march column in order to meet a line must have, I presume, left the confines of the road or track, therefore is able to fan out before contact. However it's not in the perfect formation so I would, as noted in the earlier reply, apply the GdA opposing wider formation charge modifier in this situation and accept a -1 modifier if in march column.

DB
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Trailape
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Re: Cavalry in Column Charged

Post by Trailape »

Thanks for the feedback!
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