The invincible high speed phalanx

[vtsaogames]

Many Napoleonic rule sets allow a historical anomaly: the invincible high speed phalanx. The rules allow a column to move faster than a line and attack with some chance of success. So far, so good. Now pack several columns together cheek by jowl. This monster still moves faster than a line and has a monstrous impact in assault. Even though keeping this behemoth in good order would require as least as many halts to dress ranks as a single battalion in line. It would also make one juicy target.

My first experience with this was many years back playing the venerable War Games Research Group's 1750-1850 rules. The attack of a column against a line was finely calibrated. You really wanted the line softened up first or distracted by skirmish fire. But put a pair of columns together and the line just collapsed like a house of cards. It should be noted that Zayas' outnumbered Spanish regulars held off a massive formation at Albuera for two hours before their ammunition ran out and they were relieved by British regulars.

So, how many rules do you know of where such massive formations are treated properly and not allowed to speed around the table like battalion columns cutting their way through lesser sorts?

Or do you just depend on folks not using such tactics?

[AdamPHayes]

The tactic is the natural gamer’s reaction to those sort of rules. In reality the column formations usually attacked with room on either side to change into line formation if they needed to ( such as when the enemy did not run away!)

[Greuthungi]

General d'Armee has solved this by giving penalties to "Massed infantry columns", and Black Powder 2 won't allow more than one unit per face.

[vtsaogames]

No more than one attacker per face sounds like the simplest solution.

[Billchuck]

You could simply require that a column keep enough space around it to go into line.

[SteveBurt]

We did a simple fix for this problem. If a column is disordered by fire, it *must* deploy into line.
If there's not room, then the blocking units also become disordered.
Very soon you discover why this didn't happen historically; you end up with a bunch of disordered lines milling about in each others' way.

[vtsaogames]

We did a simple fix for this problem. If a column is disordered by fire, it *must* deploy into line.
If there's not room, then the blocking units also become disordered.
Very soon you discover why this didn't happen historically; you end up with a bunch of disordered lines milling about in each others' way.

That's nice, simple and elegant.

[DintheDin]

That's nice, simple and elegant.

I second this! Cheers!

[FierceKitty]

Or stick to SYW, God's own horse-and-musket conflict.

[vtsaogames]

Or stick to SYW, God's own horse-and-musket conflict.

Except our crew has loads of Napoleonic figures, along with our Seven Years War (and ACW, ECW, Franco-Prussian, etc. etc.).

[FierceKitty]

I spoke as a partisan, not in any real expectation of being heeded.

[Greuthungi]

Just picked up 'Over the Hills'. It uses a rule that Infantry units in column at the end of a combat round that are still in combat must form line formation. If unable they get a fatigue hit.

[ArisK]

Of course, whether this is unhistorical or not depends on the ground and time scales of the rules themselves.
Aris K.

[noigrim]

not Lasalle, you move faster but shoot half and hit like a line

[vtsaogames]

not Lasalle, you move faster but shoot half and hit like a line

My issue is never with 1 column vs. a line, it's what the rules do when several columns are massed together against a single line.