Infantry Reserves?!

Sorry if this is a noobish question,but how should you use infantry reserves?I understand only moving up where you're strong,and I can understand reserves when facing ottoman melee jennisaries,but I don't really get the point of why you should have 2 or 3 seperate,stacked lines of infantry (like I see in some Point_Man vids) as opposed to one cohesive line. Any help with this?

quite simply flexibility

a sinlge long line is very bad for both attack and defense.

As they a locked into were they have to go

well, i beat a clan with my french line attack. that was funny as hell. he rage quit because every time he would go for my seemingly unprotected light inf i would retreat and turn other troops to fire while my cav engaged them.

I'll make a video for this topic....

i too saw it in a point_man vid AND first hand against the man himself, since then i have shamelessly stole it for my own personal use

i tend to use a line but its a solid one, not stretched out to a man-deep line.but its nice to try and learn new things all the time

This video isn't mine, but I am going to upload this battle to also explain it from my perspective and give out my own opinion on the match.

I used a large army of Prussia, while my opponent Jmartin from TWReplays.com uses the superior army of France. He brought of course three Old Guard, so Infantry reserves helped me resist these tough units. He may have routed my primary lines, but having and using reserves kept me in the battle to later beat his army unit by unit.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Thanks for the advice everyone...and looking forward to this vid Point_Man!

Its hard to call second line "reserves". Line behind light is open order is just line with light screen.
In vanilla and most mods it hard to use reserves in realistic manner. You can also difreance active reserves and passive reserves. Active wich operate behind main line and counterweight enemy manouvers and passive kept stationary further in the back (out of art range etc) waiting for climax of the battle.

Damn vanilla is parody of napoleonic wars, killing and shooting resolves battles instead of morale and manouvers. You may argue but its a brwal and not a battle of wits.

Originally Posted by FilipVonZietek

Its hard to call second line "reserves". Line behind light is open order is just line with light screen.
In vanilla and most mods it hard to use reserves in realistic manner. You can also difreance active reserves and passive reserves. Active wich operate behind main line and counterweight enemy manouvers and passive kept stationary further in the back (out of art range etc) waiting for climax of the battle.

Damn vanilla is parody of napoleonic wars, killing and shooting resolves battles instead of morale and manouvers. You may argue but its a brwal and not a battle of wits.

its a game not a simulation

"I believe your army must be united as a cohesive force to perform effectively."

This quote from Point_Man's post sums things up perfectly, I think.

The original disposition of your troops is irrelevant. The important issue is how fast and how well positioned you get your troops to engage the opposition.

Ask yourself...'are all of my troops shooting at the enemy?' ...This is an oversimplification of a lot of tactical concepts, but is a good starting point to discover them.

DunkFunk's argument is also correct: it's a game -- get in there and get your troops shooting at the bad guys.

Let me add my own input: movement and maneuver is the key.

PM used that to destroy me in the video he posted. I've put a new vid up on my youtube channel to try to explain this better. Move your people into better shooting positions...that's the real deal.


Me: peapd here on these forums (jmartin was taken), jmartin on steam, twreplays on youtube, twreplays.com

Its not a simulation its medieval with napoleonic skins.

Originally Posted by DunkFunk

its a game not a simulation

Read your sig again and don't feed the trolls

yep there is no true tactical reserve in nap with orders being carried out instantaneously. which defeats the need for one


My second line in my formation is the closest thing to a reserve. And even that has nothing to do with allowing flexibilty in my army.


__xx__
__xx__

the lines represents the line units with all other units being around based on pasing whim

And even thats prety much no more than a travel formation

A slightly better representation of it

XXX O...O XXX

XXX ....... XXX

......VVVV

X -lines
O - lights and milita
V- cav and any art


This is at deployment. from getting near the enemy it can cahnge into what ever would be advantageous

Actually I place my men like:

O O O O O
X. X . X . X . X
X... X... X . X
V..V V..V

Primary lines are to protect your lights, secondary line support the primary line from cavalry rushes. I mainly use this strategy with only Prussia because their skirmishers are enough to beat line Infantry, so honestly, I don't need a single great line of fire.

While using reserves, your opponent will always use a cavalry charge down your center to support their troops if their attacks are failing or succeeding (For the purpose of speeding up a rout or supporting an attack), but with reserves, you can easily counter cavalry charges. If your opponent decides to use their cavalry to attack your flanks, awesome is what I say, then I can easily just decide to place my reserves on my flanks because there is no cavalry threatening my center.

I believe your army must be united as a cohesive force to perform effectively. So I mainly use a few units to backup my center but for 3v3s & 4v4s, using your reserves against your opponent is a battle of attribution that they can't win because of the limited space. Bring a large army, not much cavalry is needed or even wanted to be honest, because counter cavalry charges will just kill your own troops from behind.

Without space for your opponent to focus a rush army to attack, a large army using reserves will wear them down.

Originally Posted by Point_Man

Actually I place my men like:

O O O O O
X. X . X . X . X
X... X... X . X
V..V V..V

Primary lines are to protect your lights, secondary line support the primary line from cavalry rushes. I mainly use this strategy with only Prussia because their skirmishers are enough to beat line Infantry, so honestly, I don't need a single great line of fire.

While using reserves, your opponent will always use a cavalry charge down your center to support their troops if their attacks are failing or succeeding (For the purpose of speeding up a rout or supporting an attack), but with reserves, you can easily counter cavalry charges. If your opponent decides to use their cavalry to attack your flanks, awesome is what I say, then I can easily just decide to place my reserves on my flanks because there is no cavalry threatening my center.

I believe your army must be united as a cohesive force to perform effectively. So I mainly use a few units to backup my center but for 3v3s & 4v4s, using your reserves against your opponent is a battle of attribution that they can't win because of the limited space. Bring a large army, not much cavalry is needed or even wanted to be honest, because counter cavalry charges will just kill your own troops from behind.

Without space for your opponent to focus a rush army to attack, a large army using reserves will wear them down.

Thanks PM,that really explains it better

But one question: how do reserves help against cavalry?Wouldn't you just give your men friendly fire?Or does the square make cav easier to hit?

the losses you take in friendly fire are worth it cav just dont stand a chance. I have a replay showing how devastating this tactic can be. watch the left flank http://www.sendspace.com/file/m62p2c

My army is primaly a 1v1 and 2v2 formation. In a 3v3 and 4v4 it poinless as that one wing could be considered an entire army in game with 6-8 players

Also the formation changes but the organization nature stays the same,it always based around 2 concentrated forces. some times they might be next to each other, others on each extream of the enemys army


P.s. Plus sybols show general starting location not numbers.

........VVVV

..XXXXXXXXXXXXX

...XXXXXXXXXXXXX

...ooooooooooooo
_________________ centre line
............LM....ooooo
.....................XXXX
XXXX...............
....................X..XX
XX...............
.......V........VVV

And normly ends up resembling that