Square formation?

[Trapped in Samsara]

[QUOTE=peacemaker;2147866]Well, I'm just taking a shot here, but I think in real life squares were made up of more than 80-ish men. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't trust the whole square to a 2-man deep perimeter. And if there's only two men, think of this:You have only one man behind you and need to stop a massive beast and rider charging at you at full speed, as well as many of his buddies.

The way squares work is that the horse does NOT charge home if the square 'holds its nerve'. The horse never actually impacts the infantry. It perceives the men as a solid object and horses have horse sense. They will not charge into a solid infantry formation anymore than they would gallop into a brick wall.

Also, at Quatre Bras, preliminary to Waterloo for the non-Napoleonic War historians out there, the British fought off French Cuirassieurs in four deep LINE.

If I recall correctly, there are only three verified accounts of cavalry breaking a well formed square throughout the whole Napoleonic War period. One of those resulted from a horse being shot, falling into the infantry, thus creating a gap, into which other cavalry leapt.

Regards
Victor