AGEOD Forums

Do any of you seperate your cavalry, or other irregular infantry, from the main body of the army, and use them for scouting and reconnaisance type tasks? Does this work well, or do they tend to get into battles and get killed? Can they do a good job if I use a Skirmisher leader to lead the cavalry? Should I try to set them to passive stance when possible to help avoid combat?

Tips?

Well, my early experience seems to indicate that using cavalry independently in BoA is possible, but very risky. In my current PBEM game, I had two regiments of cavalry (with irregular elements) commanded by Tarleton eliminated by an infantry force of my opponent, commanded by Daniel Morgan.

My cavalry force was ordered into passive stance, and had a move order, but Morgan's infantry force was able to hound them over the course of 1 turn and destroy them. They retreated once or twice, but then failed a retreat attempt, and were wiped out.

If the new Avoid Combat command from AACW is later integrated into BoA, it might be more likely for an all cavalry force to avoid an aggressive infantry force. Till then, attempting to use cavalry in this way to highly risky, as the first failed attempt to retreat likely leads to the destruction of a cavalry force.

Oh, and one other thing. The rules say that units automatically adopt aggressive stance when entering regions with less then 5% military control, unless composed of all cavalry or irregulars. This seems to mean that a leader cannot be present. In my PBEM game, I have been trying to use the leader William Tryon with an all cavalry force, but he still does adopt an aggressive stance at times when entering enemy regions.

I checked the code and there is a subtlety. I have managed to stay in defensive with a leader and a cav, but you switch to offensive if you cross a river in an hostile territory...

I think CAV has nice detection and evasion bonus. I even remember someone was complaining that a CAV unit had been able to sortie and pass through a besieging ennemy without being drawn in a fight.

I keep the cavalry with the army unless I'm hunting partisans or isolated infantry units (in which case detached cavalry is lethal in clear terrain). However, I like using the infantry irregulars for recon. In passive stance they hardly ever seem to get in trouble (although I try to keep them out of clear terrain). Works nicely IMHO.

yes, cavalry are rare in BOA and, even if they do get some escape bonuses, are often used as the recon unit in an army stack (more detection points compared to others). For deep & stealthy recon it is better to use irregulars.