Typical land battle

[rajpoot]

Main point is, at least what I believe it is is, that cavalry was never given the firearm as a weapon of seious offense........unlike the horse archers of medieval era, the imperial period cavalry did not usually use firearms offensively, reason being that shooting the innaccurate and unwieldly firearms from horseback roobed it of most of its meaning............
Aye, they had firearms with them, but their main job was to use their sabres or lances and charge in on fleeing or wavering foes.....at places where lines had been thinned by musketeers or at the flanks..........straightforward cavalry offensives against infantry would have been stupid because even if the riders won, it would have been at a large cost........
By what I know, cavalry firearms were a sort of scarcely used aid.......why make the dragoons fire against the superior muskets of the infantry when you have musketeers of your own......

[S.Selim_1]

yeah i guess ranged cav are not important at all in this time period..i think the major disadvantage is the reloading. any ways i think cav in ETW will still have a very important role in the game coz as soon as the cav touch the infantry muskets and canons they become deadly...offcourse u'll have to sacrifice a number of them while charging but u can reduce the casualties by setting the loose formation...cav are still deadly in this time of period.
guerilla warfare is also gona be a new gameplay... hiding ur troops and waiting for the right time to ambush is going to be very coooooool... i'm not that worried about the land battles i must say..CA will find a way to make it intresting..i hope !

[Matt_Lane]

any ways i think cav in ETW will still have a very important role in the game coz as soon as the cav touch the infantry muskets and canons they become deadly...offcourse u'll have to sacrifice a number of them while charging but u can reduce the casualties by setting the loose formation...cav are still deadly in this time of period.!

Cavalry generally avoided attacking infantry head one, their role was to use their maneuverability to attack from their flank or rear. A loose order would be used when skirmish but the aim of the charge is to deliver a decisive blow so squadrons would ideally form up into line to maximize the number of sabers they could bring onto the enemy.

[Furious Mental]

"reason being that shooting the innaccurate and unwieldly firearms from horseback roobed it of most of its meaning............
Aye, they had firearms with them, but their main job was to use their sabres or lances and charge in on fleeing or wavering foes"

That is a bit of a simplification. Every cavalry squadron had trained marksmen ("flankers") and their raison d'etre was to skirmish with firearms.

"yeah i guess ranged cav are not important at all in this time period"

Horse archers were still employed in many place outside of Europe. Often guns supplemented rather than replaced bows.

[rajpoot]

Every cavalry squadron had trained marksmen ("flankers") and their raison d'etre was to skirmish with firearms.

That sure is news for me, I didn't know about it. Now I do thanks

[S.Selim_1]

paintings of cav in the 17 abd 18 century show almost every cav has a gun aas a secondary weapon and their spears as primary...i guess every cav used his gun for only one needy shot...i can hardly picture a cav in 17 & 18 century standing i the middle of the battle field reloading thier guns ...that's like suicide!
i hope CA makes the game as accurate as possible thought

[Furious Mental]

Well from the modern perspective it also seems suicidal for footsoldiers to stand in a field getting shot at with guns at cannons. Something you have to remember is that if the flankers didn't form a vidette to hold off or at least slow down an enemy then the main body of a cavalry squadron would start getting shot at and then it's not just the flankers (who were spread out anyway, ) getting shot at, it's everyone. The same was true of skirmishers on foot; it was often their job to risk getting shot at to do things that in themselves were not decisive but which collectively shortened the odds; buy time, conceal the movements of one's forces, inflict some casualties (especially on officers), frustrate artillery crews, irritate and provoke. It helped that it often seemed like a waste to fire volleys or artillery at enemies who were so dispersed and often concealed.

[S.Selim_1]

Cavalry generally avoided attacking infantry head one, their role was to use their maneuverability to attack from their flank or rear. A loose order would be used when skirmish but the aim of the charge is to deliver a decisive blow so squadrons would ideally form up into line to maximize the number of sabers they could bring onto the enemy.

Oh and one other thing...Muskets are not deaf not to hear horses galloping from their behind...if the AI is good enough (I HOPE!) muskets will turn around shooting the cav. it is just as the same as attacking from their front..about the same to be honest. so weather u like it or not...about 40% of the cav will be dead before reaching the infantries

[Matt_Lane]

Oh and one other thing...Muskets are not deaf not to hear horses galloping from their behind...if the AI is good enough (I HOPE!) muskets will turn around shooting the cav. it is just as the same as attacking from their front..about the same to be honest. so weather u like it or not...about 40% of the cav will be dead before reaching the infantries

Battlefields are noisy places with muskets, hooves, drums, cannons, screams and chants disorientating you. After a couple of volleys the smoke from the black powder will probably obscure the enemy you are firing at. Battlefield are rarely open plains so natural obstacles will obscure your view as will the light cavalry. By acting as a skirmishing force they block the enemy's view of the heavier assault troops.

Once you have seen a threat you need to reorientate and reorganize yourself to deal with it and changing the formation of about 1500 men takes time. Well drilled and experienced troops will achieve this quicker than green indisciplined men. Once square is formed the only real hope for unsupported cavalry is that their skirmishers can prevoke the square to fire too early, allowing the cavalry to charge before the muskets can be reloaded. Or that it rains.

[S.Selim_1]

yeah i hope their will be obstacles in the battlefield coz M2TW didn't have much of obstacles in it..it's rare to find a forset or a cliff while u r fighting..but i hope ETW does come up with creative obstacles in the battlefield....yeah i think i read some things about hiding in building and shooting behind walls...sounds fun..but the hard part is the actually doing the game

[Warluster]

Well from what I've read and seen, Infantry was basiclly naked to a Cavarly charge. A square was the best defense. Infantry, shooting at say 150 yards at cav, would take down about 10 out of a Squadron of some 300. At 50 Yards, in a British Line could take down lots more, and this could decimate the cav, but in a French line or Austrian Line, they would easily crumble beneath the charge.

Maybe they'll make something CoH like? Where the soldiers think for themselves? I am crying 'cause I know that won't happen until Atlantic:TW or something...

[Frederick the Great]

As I understand 18th Century(that's 1700's for some people)major battles started with a artillery duel to soften the enemy up.Infantry formed the centre usually with cavalry on the flanks.Infantry battalions were formed up in a line formation about four ranks deep thus making the maximum use of volley fire.These battalions would be shoulder to shoulder forming a vast line and some even had artillery attached using small 3pdrs or howitzers.
Few battles were encounters between two armies and so with the use of cavalry as scouts,one army would defend making use of terrain while the other attacked making use of weaknesses in the defender's line or out manoeuvring him.
Infantry tactics were usually to close within musket range and blast away at the enemy infantry and those with the better moral and discipline standing while the others falted and routed.If this didn't work then a bayonet charge was enough to see them off.
Cavalry usually stayed well clear of infantry because of the devasting volley fire and don't forget at the start of the century some infantry were still using pikes in small numbers.Cavalry tended to concentrate on the enemy cavalry or exploited gaps,flanks and rears of the enemy.They were also used for scouting and breaking lines of supply.If cavalry did charge infantry frontally then it would have to be timed perfectly with devastating effect as the infantry square was not used until later in the Napoleonic period.
Light infantry (skirmishers) were becoming better trained and more tactical using gorilla warfare and picking off officer's and N.C.O.'s and harassing line infantry formation's e.g. American militia with their long barreled musket's during the American Revoltion.
Fog of war or battlefield visability would be at a minimum once the battle got under way because of the cloud's of smoke caused by firing gunpower weapon's.