Scene 1

I am the Colonel in charge of a cavalry regiment deployed on the flank of our main unit. This is but one more battle in a hard fought campaign. I ask my General for orders and he replies, "Charge the artillery to your front, that is all cavalry is good for anyway." We mount a gallant charge, route the artillery and lose 400 out of the 600 men.

Scene 2

Our cavalry charged and due to poor defensive fire went on a rampage cutting through enemy unit after enemy unit. This turned sure defeat into victory, earning battle honors for the glorious cavalry.

Sounds like great Napoleonic battles doesn't it? However these were scenes from Civil War battles that took place at different times and places on the gaming table. Even though during the Civil War, cavalry did tend to act like mounted in fantry, dismounting and firing instead of outright charging, on the wargame table this doesn't always take place. For one thing, there are pluses for charging cavalry and if not tore up by fire when going in, these charges can be very effective. Cavalry charges did occur during the Civil War, but not as often as on the wargame table.

My answer to this is to incorporate a tactic found in drill manuals and practiced by units during the Civil War. I am talk ing about the Famous British Square. If cavalry is used in a battle you can allocate several units as having the ability to form emergency square. If this unit is charged by cavalry it can attempt to roll its morale. If sucessfull the unit goes into square and the cavalry charge bonus is wiped out. Also the square can be given a plus in melee combat. Modifiers can be altered to suit any rules according to the players involved.

The square was used in the Civil War. I feel that this rule can add extra excitement to battles involving cavalry and also make Generals more realistic in the use of these troops.