Proper use of Dragoons?

[schmellenmuff]

Apart from their garrison bonus, are these guys worth anything? I've stopped using them on the battlefield completely.

Am I missing out?

[Lubeck]

Personally I use them for garrison exclusively unless an army they are traveling in gets attacked.

[YD23]

They are amazing in my opinion. You can use them as cavalry and charge into the rear of your enemy, or when you need some Line Infantry you dismount them and use them as ground forces.

[Plank of Wood]

Light Dragoons are good because they can fire from the saddle and run away quickly after they fire. Don't bother dismounting unless you're going to enter a building.

[the_mango55]

I upped their size in my game to 120 (Swedish to 140) and lowered their melee stats.

[administrator of yackady]

i tend to use them when the main battle line is joined. They can run round the flanks and dismount to provide support fire for your main line or kill enemy artilley and generals without having to engage in a costly melee like cavalry would.

[nimoto]

I use them for just about everything. As cav, as infantry, as backup, as a garrison. They're kind of a jack of all trades master of none. Still good to have around for their rapid deployment, and the fact that after a battle you can leave them in the conquered city and move the rest of the army out the next turn (depending on the city of course).

[Seamless]

I'm also a big fan of Dragoons. They're definitely the most underrated unit. I never have any less than 6 per stack.

[pandoursbox]

I usually bring a couple, as with everyone else, due to versatility. I keep them near my arty to fight off the inevitable flankers, and then run them up to the line or flanks of line for dismounted fun.

[IGdood]

I position them behind my line...so it goes like this...
S = skirmishers, light foot L - line infantry D -light dragoon C- cannons
SSSSSS
LLLCLLL
DDDDDD

^ Nothing can get past this.....nothing.

The light dragoons are on horses, so they can fire above the heads of my men. However, any shots that miss the infantry will most likely hit a horse...

[Zakris]

I prefer using the Light Dragoons ... I use them as a flanking force either charging into the side of a infantry unit or just sit them off to the side and let them shoot the infantry from the flank..

[Hellman109]

They are a waste of a slot IMO.

The infantry that dismount are so so, mounted they are so so, ranged they are so so, melee (on horseback) they are so so.

They are slow to mount and dismount too.

I always rather use proper cavalry, they perform so much better.

I use them for garrisons though

[nate895]

I use them to protect against flanks. They are especially useful when the enemy has a reinforcement army that pops up behind you.

[Eagle Seven]

I like keeping one or two as a quick-salve for my main (infantry) forces.

Artillery about to get flanked? Charge the dragoons!
Linemen routed and no-one is near to reinforce? Dismount the dragoons!
Enemy artillery unprotected mid-battle? Mount the dragoons!


Also, in my experience, people don't appreciate the value of dragoons combined with horse artillery. With their rapid mobility, you can set up the horse artillery to rain fire down onto the enemy's flank (which almost always routs it) mid-battle, but it is very vulnerable. Dragoons can provide mobile protection for your horse artillery, and give the horse artillery time to withdraw if it is under heavy attack.

[nate895]

I like keeping one or two as a quick-salve for my main (infantry) forces.

Artillery about to get flanked? Charge the dragoons!
Linemen routed and no-one is near to reinforce? Dismount the dragoons!
Enemy artillery unprotected mid-battle? Mount the dragoons!


Also, in my experience, people don't appreciate the value of dragoons combined with horse artillery. With their rapid mobility, you can set up the horse artillery to rain fire down onto the enemy's flank (which almost always routs it) mid-battle, but it is very vulnerable. Dragoons can provide mobile protection for your horse artillery, and give the horse artillery time to withdraw if it is under heavy attack.

That is exactly how they conducted battle in the 18th century.

[Zakris]

Also, in my experience, people don't appreciate the value of dragoons combined with horse artillery. With their rapid mobility, you can set up the horse artillery to rain fire down onto the enemy's flank (which almost always routs it) mid-battle, but it is very vulnerable. Dragoons can provide mobile protection for your horse artillery, and give the horse artillery time to withdraw if it is under heavy attack.

I haven't thought to use them in this way, but I probably will in my next campaign.

[caldwell77]

I use them just for fun sometimes (it's not like a campaign is terribly challanging to start with), but mostly I favor them for chasing down the endless raiding parties that are always being sent through your territories when your back is turned. Mobility and flexibility. Just the ticket for a small reactionary strike group. Usually 2 or 4 depending on how intense the raids are. I suppose you could get creative and throw in some horse artillery, but against raiders there's not much point other than to amuse yourself. Maybe if you have shrapnel shot...

[ke3pr]

I like keeping one or two as a quick-salve for my main (infantry) forces.

Artillery about to get flanked? Charge the dragoons!
Linemen routed and no-one is near to reinforce? Dismount the dragoons!
Enemy artillery unprotected mid-battle? Mount the dragoons!


Also, in my experience, people don't appreciate the value of dragoons combined with horse artillery. With their rapid mobility, you can set up the horse artillery to rain fire down onto the enemy's flank (which almost always routs it) mid-battle, but it is very vulnerable. Dragoons can provide mobile protection for your horse artillery, and give the horse artillery time to withdraw if it is under heavy attack.

I'm going to try and use this tactic, haven't used dragoons myself since i really didn't see much use of it. Thanks for this though!

I find they dismount and remount way to slow... I always get them slaughted by enemy cav or inf when they are doing this...

Tell me.. just how fast are horse art? Ive never used them (for some reason I have a real obsession with big calibar cannons lol sometimes I wont even upgrade to 12pounder non fixed cause I dont want to lose the 24pounder demi's lol)

Horse artillery can run pretty fast, only thing that takes a a bit long is the mounting/dismounting the cannons(which is understandable) And for the pounds of the shot, I don't really mind, a cannonball twice as big as a 12lb (24 lb) will not hit additional units , the only advantage i can see is that it will roll further down the field (killing more lines..) But also see a disadvantage coz the heavier the round, the less far it will go.. Don't know anything about this for sure but i think you should use 12 lb cannons that CAN walk over 24 lb pounds that are immovable ;p

[fluffstalker]

I dunno. Very versatile, but on the other hand, for everything they do, theres another unit that can perform the job better. I only use them for policing bonus, when Im launching a large invasion and I have a lot of cash I can simply get one line infantry and one cavalry, and its a lot better than trying to get two dragoon units to be jacks of all trades. When your low on cash they can be helpful, but I mean, when are you low on cash in ETW, only at the very beginning.

If one ups the unit size beyond 60 then they are better... but then theres no point, because you would then take them over cavalry. 100 man cavalry unit that can also shoot muskets and dismount, hell yes, why take other cav now, besides very heavy cavalry.

Usually I end up simply using them as charging cav anyway. Dismounting them tends to get one or two stuck on the horses, meanwhile the enemy is closing in and putting out shots. Better to simply have them shoot from the saddle and then charge, can do a lot better. But even better yet, shoot with a line infantry unit, and charge with lancers .

[Arej]

Light dragoons do heavy cavalry's job as good as heavy cavalry and on top of that they are extremely versatile.