Reply To: Some good viewing for Napolenonic fans…

[elessar2590 18207xp 0]

@robert Square’s are basically just a universal defence against Cavalry (for this period anyway) and they worked by playing on the Psychology of a Horse. Horses won’t charge Bayonets because they aren’t suicidal and they were almost a guarantee against them. The Austrians had a weird Blob Methods where rather than a  hollow Square they just formed up extremely close in a sort of solid square, they gave it up after a few years though so I doubt it was as effective.

As @torros says Cavalry would often just have to threaten Infantry to force them into Square where they presented a larger mass to be shot.

Napoleon at War (My Mass Battle Napoleonic Wargame of choice) does Calvary Right. They have a Bubble effect that basically shuts down your control over your troops if enemy Cavalry are nearby. Cavalry have twice the Engagement Zone as other units so they’re great to scare enemy troops into not taking risks. Essentially just being near Cavalry is the same effect on moral/control as being in a firefight with infantry.

From my Project where you can find out more about NaW.

Elessar2590’s Grande Armee Project

Squares could be broken by Cavalry but it was incredibly hard.

Squares were later used in Colonial Warfare as a way of guarding flanks similar to the Boer/Voortrekker Laager.