Crack It!/Crack It!.iso/CONTENT/BGWATERL/BGWATERL.TXT

Text File | 1998-02-24 | 9KB | 211 lines

BATTLEGROUND 3: WATERLOO
BGW Tactics & Tips

Index:

General Advice
Infantry
Cavalry
Artillery
Summary

General Advice:

1) RESERVES
In any of the scenarios I cannot emphasise enough
the requirement to keep a decent sized reserve
available. In attack or defence fresh unfatigued
units can save or win the day depending on how you
look at it. A reserve element should consist of ALL
arms not just a weak Quality 2 rated infantry
battalion! Keep them out of harms way until the
critical moment as they will be of little use if
the enemy are allowed to punish them with artillery
fire or outflanking cavalry charges whilst they wait
for their moment of glory. Also, rotate fatigued
untis out of the line whenever and wherever
possible as the adverse modifiers they attract
can turn even the Imperial Guard into a substandard
melee unit. A unit rested for 1-2 game hours can
often play a decisive role later in the day rather
than suffer the ignominy of constant routs.

2) OBSERVATION
The old saying of "Know thy enemy" is still as
valid today as it ever was. You should also know
his dispositions including strengths and weaknesses
at any given point in the line. This can be
accomplished quite easily with minimal loss by
the adept use of small skirmish formations or
detached cavalry squadrons. Go on...take a look
over that next hill, you may lose 25 skirmishers
but you may also find that your next attack will
surely fail when they get charged by the 3000
heavy cavalry that are hidden behind the reverse
slopes. Observation becomes critical at dusk and
at night as you can`t see beyond 400 yards (4 hexes).
Keep those lookouts posted!

3) SKIRMISHERS
Whether in attack or defence always keep a strong
skirmish line in front of your main force. They can
not only reduce casualties in your densely packed
line battalions but can also hinder enemy cavalry
movement when in enough numbers and force your enemy
to use valuable artillery rounds to clear them away.
Remember to keep skirmishers on the flanks as well
as in front as an enemy flank attack/volley is even
more devastating than frontal ones. Make good use
of all your light infantry battalions, I often find
that detaching all but 100 can give you a very strong
skirmish line without stripping standard
line battalions of their light companies. Finally,
pull the skirmish formations back to their parent
units every now and again to reduce their fatigue levels.

4) COMMAND & CONTROL
Observe Divisional & Brigade Command radius at all
times. Endeavour to keep your formations together
and you will find that units quickly rally and reform.
Keep all the leader units busy - have them racing up
and down the field, rallying routed battalions one
turn and then leading an assault the next..
The modifiers they bestow are well worth the time
spent taken in good leader placement. Army and Corps
Commanders are especially useful at rallying broken
units due to their excellent leadership ratings.
However, beware of using replacement commanders in
critical situations as they are often nowhere near
as good as the original leaders. Finally, don`t
stack 2 leaders in the same hex, this is just a
waste of good leadership.

5) TERRAIN
The field of battle is covered with defiles, hills,
hedges, orchards, buildings and sunken roads - make
use of them! It can be tempting to form a pretty line
going straight across the map with your troops in nice
neat formations, but you will soon find that units in
the open will suffer tremendous casualties as opposed
to ones behind cover. When in defence use every
obstructed hex/hexside to your advantage. It hinders
cavalry charges and massively reduces casualties from
enemy volleys and melees. Follow Wellington`s example
of using the reverse slopes to protect your densely
packed formations with only handfuls of skirmishers
on the ridge tops for observation. On the attack,
keep checking line of sight using the "visible hexes"
command, you will often find safe areas where the
enemy batteries can`t touch you while you manoeuvre
your units into position. One last thing, avoid
obstructed hexes like the plague when advancing as
there is nothing worse than having to spend 2-3 more
turns reforming disordered units when they are needed
instantly.

Infantry

Infantry form the core of both armies and as such
you can be tempted to throw away battalions in risky
ventures as after all you`ve got 30 more where that
one came from. Don`t do it! Stop and really analyse
if the move/attack you are making is necessary.
example: Why send a decent brigade to attack the
enemy in an area where there are no VP`s to be had!
A simple manoeuvre like refusing the main attacks
flank may well do the job without you having to
suffer casualties.
Be careful that you garrison strongpoints and critical
areas of the line with good quality troops that don`t
often break. Prime examples of poor formations are any
of the Dutch-Belgian Brigades in the Anglo-Allied Army.
They may look impressive with 4-5 battalions but if one
of them routs and the others are close by the whole
brigade will soon disappear. Use them as a second
line of defence so that when they do make contact at
least the enemy are already fatigued and perhaps even
disordered.
Move infantry in column whenever possible, the line
formation is just too fragile for extensive
manoeuvering. Finally, only use the square formation
when you find your units under threat from enemy
cavalry. It requires careful timing to anticipate
the best time to form square and the problem can be
accentuated by units becoming disordered due to enemy
threat zones. Again, keep those lookouts posted and
you should avoid having to face this problem in the
first place.

Cavalry

Cavalry come in all shapes and sizes. Some are just
made for breaking squares and counter charging enemy
cavalry, others are of little use except for harrasing,
threatening and further routing already broken infantry
units. Know the difference.
The greatest asset cavalry have is their ability to
threaten the charge, this in itself can cause the
enemy untold problems with manouevering, defences,
assault lines etc. Before you do commit a cavalry
regiment or brigade to a full-blown charge ensure
that they won`t sacrifice themselves at the end of
it. Consider every eventuality and once you have
decided to go ahead and charge stop and think it all
through once again! This way you won`t give the enemy
the opportunity to decimate your splendid mounted
regiments for the glory of perhaps taking out 1
artillery battery. Remember that the best charges
are made from the enemy`s flanks where you can
sweep along an entire line of his troops routing
unit after unit. Now thats a charge! Make use of
detached squadrons for observation and wider coverage.
Above all try to keep your enemy guessing as to your
true intentions - use the threat...
Cavalry are also very handy for protecting your
infantry`s flanks when on the move. This will
hopefully negate the chance of an enemy cavalry
charge decimating your units from the flank. Finally,
keep the cavalry out of obstructed terrain such as
orchards, forests and building hexes - they are of
little use here and will quickly succomb to enemy
skirmishers as they mill about trying to move away
and reform.

Artillery

Properly handled artillery can prove absolutely
devastating, poorly handled they provide easy pickings
for enemy skirmishers and cavalry. Keep the cannon well
back unless properly supported with infantry and
cavalry. They can be a source of much-needed victory
points to your opponent and rest assured they will be
annihilated unless positione accurately and safely.
Don`t squander valuable rounds on enemy skirmishers,
keep your stocks high for when you really need them.
The French Commander can afford to expend round after
round on counter-battery fire, the allies can`t.
Remember this. Also, take note of the fact that when
artillery batteries are overrun if there is a friendly
infantry unit in the adjacent hex the crew will
temporarily abandon the guns to take refuge. This is
a great feature which I`m sure Talonsoft are proud
of, someone had their thinking hat on with this one.
Finally, artillery strengths are doubled within 2
hexes of enemy units, if you can get your cannon this
close then do it, its worth the effort.

Summary

One last thing that has only been touched on in
the above: Combined Arms. No one unit type can
accomplish much without the support of the others.
In both defence and attack keep a well-balanced
force in all local areas and you shouldn`t go far
wrong. Swarms of skirmishers, then columns/lines of
infantry with cavalry on the flanks and cannon
tucked in behind - endeavour to use this formation
every time. It works.

Remember to keep your enemy guessing as to your
true intentions and placements, make use of terrain,
rotate front line units and keep those reserves.