The all Horse Army

[Fisherking]

Granted in most battles I have only been able to auto resolve (my land battles with more than about six units per side never load properly), but I have had good success with stacks of 4 galloper 6 lb. guns, a couple of straight Cavalry and the rest Light Dragoons. They move well, though the Artillery still slows them some and they most importantly win battles. The Light Dragoons can skirmish and fire from horseback and force the enemy into squares while the cannon can use canister on the squares while dragoons fire into the enemy. Best of all they cover a lot of ground.

I have seen some of the light infantry can move almost as fast as dragoons but I have not experimented with them too much.

Best of all though is when you capture a region, you seldom need to worry about suppression.


Anyone else using an all horse assault force and having any luck?

[anweRU]

I never considered it. A good idea to try with my GB campaign - I should have had all the techs researched for it.

[Relic]

Sounds FUN!. I'll be sure to try creating one late into my current Dutch campaign.

[Dayve]

I might try a 50% cavalry force as Russia because the cavalry tradition was still strong in this period but i'd never do a 100% cavalry, especially not as any western nation.

[JRCDave]

I will try a all horse army. I like the Indian units. I will put together some Indian lancers with Calvary and dragoons. Some 6lbers also. I will go after the Persians next. Thanks for the Idea.

[Dayve]

A full stack made out of those Indian (Innuit?) Lancers would conquer the world.

Srsly, they're overpowered as hell.

[Fisherking]

Had a battle to day as Austria vs. the UP. They decided late in the game to back stab me and played with their lives…and all future generations.

A full stack of infantry, with a couple of generals bodyguards and three cannon vs. 10 light Dragoons, one Cavalry and one line infantry which were sucked into the battle.

I had no cannon and was a touch worried but it was a slaughter none the less. The Dutch Cavalry attacked my infantry as it came on the map but aid from the Dragoons killed them off and they went on to capture the batteries that were firing on their rear. The rest was more of a rout than a battle though the garrisoned house was a problem until the lone infantry arrived and cleared out the last unit.

The casualties were about 30% with the line infantry taking the biggest hit. If I had had even two galloper guns it would have been a cake walk.

The flexibility of the Dragoons is great. When the enemy goes into a square they are had and if they stay in line they are had…

Oh and the little odds bar was showing about 7/10th red against me.

Oh yes! In the last game I cleaned the clocks of the dred scoruge of Newfounland with a horsie stack!

[Miracle]

Given that the Native American factions do not possess infantry with high defence, I think an all-cavalry stack could work well against them. One could theoretically shoot-and-charge their lancers and melee infantry with carabineers. While they are occupied you repeatedly charge the enemy's flanks and rear with lancers of your own. Their missile units can be crushed by either cavalry types. Of course this requires a great deal of coordination or pausing but it should work well.

[lugh]

All horse armies are amazing, I love them more than anytthing. Fill out the bulk with Dragoons, add a few high tech lancer/melee horse and to finish some nice fast horse artillery.

[Megas Methuselah]

Given that the Native American factions do not possess infantry with high defence, I think an all-cavalry stack could work well against them. One could theoretically shoot-and-charge their lancers and melee infantry with carabineers. While they are occupied you repeatedly charge the enemy's flanks and rear with lancers of your own. Their missile units can be crushed by either cavalry types. Of course this requires a great deal of coordination or pausing but it should work well.

Their infantry are almost as fast as cavalry...

[hoom]

I haven't had a chance to try it yet but I've been planning on experimenting with an all horse army similar to that described.

I was thinking more like half-stacks for highly mobile sub-full stack clean-up/defense/raiding type tasks though.
Have been presuming that this sort of army would fail in full stack assault style against a line infantry type full stack army.

[IvarrWolfsong]

I have tried it with mixed results. It worked best as a "flying column" either behind enemy lines or behind my own when the enemy sent there armies deep into my land. I still use a standard mixed force stack to do most of the dirty work.... 8 line, 4 grenadiers, 1 general, 3 arty, 2 heavy cav, 2 light.

[Fisherking]

It is not a starting out army. The light dragoons fire and reload from horseback and that gives them the speed and flexibility on the field.

I have not found too many forces that can stand up to them but it is also a matter of tactics. Two or three units can pick off the enemy on the flanks or in the enemy rear. By keeping your forces moving the enemy has difficulty engaging you and when he moves you can hit him in the flank or from behind. When he forms a square you always have him out gunned and you take out one or two units at a time.

Your galloper guns need some light protection and should hit the enemy from medium rang working on troop concentrations.

The straight cavalry is best against artillery and making infantry deploy while the dragoons do most of the killing.

I have seen that Austria has the carabineers in the early game, but they lack the money and it is best to wait for the tech and money to win wars and not get bogged down or strapped for cash.

[SNIAPS]

I made some experiments on MTW and MTW2 with full cavalry divisions. It required a lot of micromanagement and "hit and run" tactics but they proved to be extremenly powerfull divisions. Very expensive to maintain though.