Below is an abstract from Wellington's "Instructions to Officers Commanding Brigades of Cavalry in the Army of Occupation" (i.e. written after Waterloo) which has been taken from Oman's "Wellington's Army" Chapter 5 "Cavalry and Artillery". 1) A reserve must always be kept to a success or to cover an unsuccessful charge. This reserve should not be less than half the total number of sabres and may occasionally be as much as two thirds. 2) Normally a cavalry force should form in three lines: the first and second should be deployed the reserve may be in column (this presumably means column of squadrons - individual squadrons being in line) but so formed as to be easily changed into line. 3) The second line should be 400 to 500 yards from the first if the c cavalry is about to act against cavalry. This is found not too great a distance to prevent the rear lines from improving: upon an advantage gained by the front line nor too little to prevent a defeated front line from passing between the intervals of its supports without disordering them. 4) When however cavalry is charging infantry the second line should only be 200 yards behind the first the object being that it should be able to deliver its charge without delay against a battalion which has spent its fire against the first line and will not be prepared for a second charge pushed in rapid succession to the first. 5) When the first line delivers its attack at a gallop the supports must follow at a walk only lest they be carried forward by the rush and get mingled with the line in front at the onset. For order in the supports must be rigidly kept - they are useless if they get into confusion when they are wanted to sustain and cover a checked first line." It is possible that if the tabletop Uxbridge would follow some such system as that outlined above then it might be possible to avoid the usual futility of most wargame cavalry battles where an interminable scrimmage developes whence neither side derives any benefit. It may of course be objected that to put only one third of the sabres available in the front line might allow the enemy to overwhelm it by putting all his troops in one wave. The point is though that only those of his troopers immediately opposite to yours have anyone to fight while all of them have been disordered by charging: making them easy meat for your supports. The second line can easily attain "the necessary union of coherence and momentum" in the space of four to five hundred yards: in fact Hamley in "Operations of War" considered 300 to 400 yards to be the optimum distance for cavalry to actually charge. The formations envisaged in the above passage obviously provide some security against flank attacks since the second line will itself take in flank any attempt to roll up the first. A different method of deployment is described by Hamley although the object is the same - to provide a flexible way of deploying cavalry masses to ensure adequate reserves for support and exploitation. Quoting Marshal Marmont he suggests that six or so squadrons are the maximum frontage that can be handled. The first line which may be several squadrons deep is flanked by two columns of squadrons which can form front to a flank if threatened or fall unperceived upon the enemy flank if he has been so foolish not to leave any flank guards. Some 400 yards to the rear is the second line which acts as a reserve and may support any of the other three groups. This reserve is best kept in column of squadrons at deployment intervals i.e. the distance between each squadron is enough to allow them to wheel left or right to form line. The only trouble is that these formations take up rather a lot of space - particularly if used with a division which is how they should be used. If your wargames area is restricted however it is always possible to try simply manoeuvring one curassier division against an infantry division i.e. represent one part of a Napoleonic battle instead of trying (and failing) to fight the whole thing. Even with smallish forces of cavalry; say six squadrons; it is possible to adapt with advantage the formations advocated by Marmont and Wellington. Note on Cavalry Units It has been assumed that a "squadron" in the above means about 100 sabres formed in 50 files (a file being one front and one rear rank man) to produce a 2-deep line with a front of about 50 yards, the precise size of a squadron would not only vary from army to army but from day to day. In 1815 Prussian squadrons seem to have been about 90 men each while British ones were rather more say 100 to 150. French squadrons tended to have between 120-150 men in that campaign. Regiments could have 3 or 4 squadrons while one Prussian uhlan unit had five. My Prussian squadrons have 3 figures each; the British have 3 or 4 and the French have 4; but this will depend on your rules and how many men you want each figure to represent. As it may be gathered I have one figure to 30 men. SOURCES Sir Charles Oman "Wellington's Army" (Reprinted 1968). Sir Edward Hamley "The Operations of War" 1st edition 1866). C. de Muffling - "The Waterloo Campaign" (reprinted 1971). Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 117 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1971 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com