A Nation Divided – into Hexes? (3) – The Cuddies

Horse

Mounted troops I have worked on thus far are types CU, TR, GA – being respectively cuirassiers, “trotters” and “gallopers”, and there should probably be lancers and some other kind of light horse still to be thought about.

I have to come clean here and admit that, having spent some time reading about Parliamentarian cavalry early in the war advancing cautiously and using their pistols, I got completely carried away and produced some monstrous cavalry melee rules which were about as straightforward and easy to use as the inside of my grandfather’s pocket watch. Having been shocked out of my excited state by the realisation of what I was doing, I am pleased to say that I have finished up with some CCN-based rules which are much simpler – very much simpler. In case it comes in useful in 30YW contexts, I have preserved a little of my frenzied “pistol melee” efforts as a rather crude “caracole” rule, which I shall append here as something which I do not intend to use at present – and possibly as a kind of warning to other kindergarten rule-writers.

Anyway – these are the first-cut rules:

No cavalry may carry out ranged combat – all pistol and carbine capability is assumed to be covered by the melee rules.

CU move up to 2 hexes and battle, GA move up to 3 and battle, TR move up to 3, but cannot move more than 2 if they are making a melee attack. Typical units of horse in my armies will have 2-4 blocks/bases of 3 figures (on 60mm square bases – these are 20mm figures).

Melee combat: 1 dice per block/base, +1 dice for CU (heavier), +1 dice for GA in first round of a melee (more dashing), +1 dice for certain identified Royalist GA units (not more than 25% of all cavalry present) who are nominated as “rash” (crazier).

The standard CCN rule allowing cavalry attacked by infantry to carry out a manoeuvre called Retire & Reform is lifted straight into this ECW variant. Combined Arms attacks with artillery support are not allowed, since artillery of this period could not co-ordinate in this way.

In CCN, a victorious cavalry unit which eliminates its melee opponent, or forces it to vacate its hex, may take advantage of a Breakthrough rule, by which it may opt to claim the vacated hex, plus (optionally) move another hex, and may carry out an immediate Bonus Melee attack if it is now in a position to do so. My ECW variant will also allow this, but the breakthrough and bonus melee may be repeated as many times in a single turn as the general wishes. 


Rash Cavaliers: to reflect the extra difficulty of controlling successful Royalist horse, a special variation applies to Royalist GA units which are designated as “rash”. Such units must carry out a breakthrough, unless they are brought under control, and must carry it out in such a way as to create a bonus melee if it is possible to do so – the Royalist commander may choose which unit to attack if there is a choice, and he does not have to attack villages, woods or earthworks - terrain situations which put horse at a major disadvantage. If he wishes to stop the breakthrough and continued attack by such a rash unit, after any melee victory, the Royalist commander must get them under control. This is achieved by rolling a Cavalry symbol or a Flag on a single Combat Dice; if a Leader is attached to the unit, control is also gained by a roll of Crossed Sabres.

The Caracole

I fear you are not going to like this – it needs more work, and I don’t intend to use it for the time being anyway.

CU and TR units may make a special melee attack with pistols – the Caracole - and this is the subject of a special rule, as follows:

CU & TR may ride up to melee contact, and declare a Caracole attack. The attacker rolls a single Combat Dice for the whole unit. There may be terrain or other tactical situations which require a deduction from the number of dice, such that the attacker is left with no dice to roll! If they score a hit on the defenders (and crossed sabres doesn't count for this particular type of melee) or frighten them (dice turns up a flag - which can't be ignored - but defenders don't retreat yet), remove any casualties, but there is no immediate "battle back" from the defenders - what happens is the attacking CU/TR cavalry now carry out a CCN-style "bonus melee" - on the spot. So a second round of melee takes place immediately (it counts as a continuing melee, so any defending GA do not get their 1^st-round bonus dice). This melee is a normal 1-dice-per-block-plus-valid-bonuses combat.

If the single dice caracole attack does not produce a fright flag or a valid type of casualty, the defenders get to fight back with a single dice. If this causes the attacking CU/TR to retreat (or eliminates them) then that's the melee over. If it doesn't, the pistol-armed attackers may choose to retire a single hex. If they opt not to, the melee continues in future turns as a normal continuing melee combat.

Dragoons

Dragoons (DR) are neither horse nor foot, and so they require their own rules. The first complication is that I am duplicating my dragoon units so that they may appear on the table in either mounted or dismounted form. Since in their mounted form they will be on cavalry-style bases of 3 figures, it makes sense to put the dismounted dragoons onto special open-order bases of 3 figures too. When they mount or dismount, simply switch the models – it’s a hassle, but it’s less of a mess than most of the options.

Dragoons may not fire when mounted, and they are very poor in melee. Their musket range (when dismounted) is 2 hexes, same as the musketeers. Theoretically, they have a 3-hex move, which they may use to do the following things:

* if mounted, move up to 3 hexes on horseback, or up to 2 hexes and dismount

* if dismounted, up to 1 hex on foot, or mount and ride up to 2 hexes

If they are on foot at the end of the move, they can shoot (half a dice per base/block of 3 figures, rounded up) – so 3 bases get 2 dice, for example.

They can melee at the end of the move, whether on horse or on foot - but not very well (half a dice per base/block of 3 figs, mounted or not).

Unlike Foot units, Dragoons can fight as soon as they arrive, whatever the terrain.