Massed Battalions

Squares get a melee bonus against cavalry bonus and will in NTW as well but Massed Battlions should as well

especially towards the end of the Napoleonc wars massed battalions became more popular against cavalry mainly because they were much more mobile i.e. you could still move but still was able to defend against cavalry by keeping eyes out and turning round to the exterior if cavalry were approaching

i spose this sort of adds to the case of a column button which i was originally opposed to

interesting, any examples?
Reminds me of the French massed columns that were employed in assault.

He is talking about the Massed columns of the Austrians that were employed during the 1809 campaign at the battles of Aspern-Essling and Wagram. They were effective vs cavalry as they were more flexible then squares since they could easily redeploy and fight off any attack. But you have to remember squares in general are great targets for arty. If a cavalry unit couldn't force a square to break or run they would bring up their horse arty to attack the square in between charges while the cavalry is reforming. So the main flaw that the Austrian Massed Columns was it was a lot more dense than a square and if any arty could find its mark then there would be large amount of casualties. So it has its advantages and disadvantages, but I still would rather have a square then a mass column that is a pretty easy target. They seemed effective, but with enough arty it is a dangerous formation to be in

yes
they should still be implemented though

they were an innovation from one of the eras most influencial generals (Charles) and also a tactic used by one of the 5 majors against cavalry as opposed to square

what it did basically was accentuate the strengths and weaknesses of a square
the massed battalion had a larger streangth AND a larger weakness

The Prussians also used Solid Squares at times and yes, this is just one more reason why we need a Column formation in the game. At the minimum we need a rank bonus in melee similar to that which was in the earlier games.

This was a good sim of Aspern Essling and we used it to refight the battle with miniatures. It was mostly in French however.

http://vaevictis.histoireetcollectio...ling-1809.html

Well, NTw is made already and Niesterick said that there aren't any new formations. But ur idea would've fit perfectly!

napoleon also used divisional squares in egypt...according to chandler this was the only tactical innovation he actually created...

I wonder how the napoleonic age formations will differ from ETW. Napoleon used deep formations, in ETW that will generaly be a bad tactic.

Originally Posted by TheAussieDigger

Squares get a melee bonus against cavalry bonus and will in NTW as well but Massed Battlions should as well

especially towards the end of the Napoleonc wars massed battalions became more popular against cavalry mainly because they were much more mobile i.e. you could still move but still was able to defend against cavalry by keeping eyes out and turning round to the exterior if cavalry were approaching

i spose this sort of adds to the case of a column button which i was originally opposed to

Given the absurd speed by which square is formed and broken, I'd not care a bit about massed columns.
They simply ignored our request of a proper column with bonus, so the chance to have such a detailed formation like massed column is nul.

Originally Posted by LEGIO_Desaix

Given the absurd speed by which square is formed and broken, I'd not care a bit about massed columns.
They simply ignored our request of a proper column with bonus, so the chance to have such a detailed formation like massed column is nul.

Besides, cavalry gets butchered in melee with infantry anyway. Square, column, line, doesn't matter.