Le Soldat test game AAR: Grouchy retreats…

[JW Boots]

At the BOD in Utrecht, the Netherlands I setup another test game for Le Soldat. This time at the battalion level instead of epic, and testing a more streamlined combat mechanic… a great game with a good insight. It is nicely coming together…

The full AAR at my blog: https://tabletopmatrixwargames689972109.wordpress.com/2025/08/17/blog-68-petite-ville-en-ardennes-1815-fictional/

[Ray Rivers]

Nice AAR and minis! 

I found your comments on forming square interesting. I am unfamiliar with the rule set, but certainly the ability of a unit to form square when directly being approached by cavalry who are in charge range, must have been difficult to say the least.

[JW Boots]

Nice AAR and minis! 

I found your comments on forming square interesting. I am unfamiliar with the rule set, but certainly the ability of a unit to form square when directly being approached by cavalry who are in charge range, must have been difficult to say the least.

Thanks for reading my blog.

The rules are still in development, but they are based on Der Söldner that roughly covers the late medieval and Pike & Shot period. Le Soldat will add, and adjust where needed, the specifics for the 18th and early 19th century… like drill and formation changes… like forming square.

I think many rules make it too easy for infantry to form square when the cavalry has already initiated the charge, with which I mean including the initial stages. After I read Nafziger’s Imperial bayonets I realised that the time needed in relation to the distance trotting/galloping cavalry covers is such that in many cases an infantry unit would be already too late. Yet on many rules even when the cavalry is right under the infantry’s nose…

This forming square subject becomes even more interesting once one puts the various developments in the various armies on a time line and compares them… adding the Austrian “masse”, the Prussians abandoning the hollow square in favour of the “klump”, etc.

[Redshank]

Thanks for reading my blog.

The rules are still in development, but they are based on Der Söldner that roughly covers the late medieval and Pike & Shot period. Le Soldat will add, and adjust where needed, the specifics for the 18th and early 19th century… like drill and formation changes… like forming square.

I think many rules make it too easy for infantry to form square when the cavalry has already initiated the charge, with which I mean including the initial stages. After I read Nafziger’s Imperial bayonets I realised that the time needed in relation to the distance trotting/galloping cavalry covers is such that in many cases an infantry unit would be already too late. Yet on many rules even when the cavalry is right under the infantry’s nose…

This forming square subject becomes even more interesting once one puts the various developments in the various armies on a time line and compares them… adding the Austrian “masse”, the Prussians abandoning the hollow square in favour of the “klump”, etc.

Still following with interest. I have Der Söldner and would love to give it a go. I think it might do well for Great Northern War.

You might have seen the separate thread currently on the go about how to account for the visibility-occluding effects of smoke? Seems likely to be relevant to whether infantry can form square in time. As late as the FPW, cavalry were able to charge home partly because of smoke effects (Von Bredow's charge at Mars-le-Tour). You might have SMOKE as an argument. Perhaps a "smoke clock" as the battle wears on. 

[JW Boots]

Still following with interest. I have Der Söldner and would love to give it a go. I think it might do well for Great Northern War.

You might have seen the separate thread currently on the go about how to account for the visibility-occluding effects of smoke? Seems likely to be relevant to whether infantry can form square in time. As late as the FPW, cavalry were able to charge home partly because of smoke effects (Von Bredow's charge at Mars-le-Tour). You might have SMOKE as an argument. Perhaps a "smoke clock" as the battle wears on.

Der Söldner has VISIBILITY as keyword in the generic/central MATRIX, but I did not include the effects of smoke in the description of its suggested use. I made a note to add this when finalising Le Soldat. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Ray Rivers]

Well, my experience is that once a cavalry unit has declared a charge, the infantry must stand and receive, though they may fire into the charging cavalry and force them to take a morale check if they receive casualties.

If a cavalry unit declares a charge, and the infantry response is to change formation to square... they should at least be disordered and should have to take a morale check to see if they are able to actually perform the maneuver.

In my view, in this situation, the infantry most likely will rout, but if they actually succeed in forming a square, they most likely would be slaughtered.

[JW Boots]

Well, my experience is that once a cavalry unit has declared a charge, the infantry must stand and receive, though they may fire into the charging cavalry and force them to take a morale check if they receive casualties.

If a cavalry unit declares a charge, and the infantry response is to change formation to square... they should at least be disordered and should have to take a morale check to see if they are able to actually perform the maneuver.

In my view, in this situation, the infantry most likely will rout, but if they actually succeed in forming a square, they most likely would be slaughtered.

The mechanics in Le Soldat are different from any other tabletop wargame ruleset, at least that is the feedback I get over and over again, and was also my aim. They are MATRIX game based and focus on a single question: what is going to happen? A player makes a proposal and others may accept or dispute. Combat must always be disputed. Disputes are resolved either by argument - counterargument or time checks.

In this case the first dispute, does the infantry reform in time, was done with a time check, and proved successful. The second was the combat and there MORALE was indeed one of the keywords used by one of the players… yet the square stood its ground.

[Redshank]

I guess Napoleonics is most people's key reference, which I don't know much about at all, but I do know in the Mex-American war, there were instances of the US infantry quickly forming square as the Mexican cavalry approached and successfully driving them off. I suppose troop quality matters as well as all the contingencies of visibility etc.

I don't know if Le Soldat is supposed to go into the time of rifled muskets being standard, but that becomes a totally different situation with infantry in line able to chase off cavalry (the 93rd at Balaclava); and by the time of breechloaders, cavalry charges are essentially suicidal unless there are very special circumstances.

[JW Boots]

I guess Napoleonics is most people's key reference, which I don't know much about at all, but I do know in the Mex-American war, there were instances of the US infantry quickly forming square as the Mexican cavalry approached and successfully driving them off. I suppose troop quality matters as well as all the contingencies of visibility etc.

I don't know if Le Soldat is supposed to go into the time of rifled muskets being standard, but that becomes a totally different situation with infantry in line able to chase off cavalry (the 93rd at Balaclava); and by the time of breechloaders, cavalry charges are essentially suicidal unless there are very special circumstances.

My intention is to have Le Soldat end by the time flintlocks get replaced by percussion muskets… To be honest, I don’t know much about the period beyond Napoleonics, the dynamics of improved firearms did indeed change the dynamics a lot, and I have some friends that develop rules for the later 19th century and I don’t want to overlap to much…

Still, the basic mechanics should work and setting up a game require only some adaptations on details like refenence values, ranges, keywords, etc.

[vtsaogames]

I can think of several cases from the well-documented Waterloo campaign.

At Quatre Bras, the 42nd Highlanders didn't complete their square. Some lancers got in and killed the commander and numerous others. The Highlanders closed the square with lancers inside, killed or captured them and drove off the charge. The 2/69th Foot, in their first combat, failed to complete their square against Kellermann's cuirassiers. The battalion was ridden down, losing ~150 out of ~516. The King's color is still on display in the Invalides.  At Ligny, evening cavalry charges against the French Guards who broke the Prussian center failed against squares and French cavalry. The grognards seemed to form square promptly.

Note: the dye in the King's color is quite vibrant, where the eagle standard of the 45th in the Scots Greys Museum in Edinburgh has completely faded to a uniform tan. You have to imagine the tricolor.