GRANDE TACTIQUE

Charge procedure

1. Only eager cavalry and eager infantry not in square and not firing can charge.

   • Thus shaken troops cannot charge.  Artillery cannot charge.  Squares cannot charge.   Infantry who are firing cannot charge.

2. Charges must be declared and paid for (with PIPs) in the PIP Phase.  At that time, charging units have a Charge marker placed them, positioned in such a way as to clearly signal who it is the charging unit is charging.  (I use triangular Charge markers and position them so as to point at the target.)  

   • Note that the targets of charges have to be declared in the PIP Phase.  This is a different policy than for firing.

3. Multiple charges on a single target are resolved together (rather than sequentially as for firing).  The attacker designates one charging unit as the principal one.  The results apply immediately to all attackers (e.g. for a failed charge, all become shaken).  Only the principal attacker pursues or performs follow-up charges.

4. You cannot combine charges with units of different commands.  If units from more than one command are charging the same enemy unit, choose which command’s units will charge and remove the Charge markers from the unit(s) of the other command, which just sit(s) there. 

5. You cannot charge more than one defending unit simultaneously.

6. You can charge if already in contact and not firing (spending 1 PIP), or you can move to contact (spending 1 PIP) and then charge (spending an additional PIP).  

7. As noted above under Movement, cavalry cannot move to contact without charging.  Infantry, however, may move to contact without charging (or firing).

8. Cavalry cannot charge through a Built-Up Area, but it may charge around it.

9. Charging infantry cannot fire in the firing phase.  Artillery cannot fire on a target that is being charged, but infantry can.

10. Defending fire is expressed in charge resolution, there being no defensive fire phase.

11. Resolving a charge: First roll a Morale Check for the attackers; then, if they pass, roll a Morale Check for the defenders.  The defenders do not roll a Morale Check if the attackers fail their Morale Check.

12. When the charge is over, remove the Charge marker(s).

13. Charges against routed units are automatically successful, with the results specified under Fleeing & Routing.  

 

Attacker Morale Check Results (in charge)

• If pass, charge goes ahead: roll Morale Check for defender.

• If fail, remain in contact and become shaken; defenders start firing if infantry or artillery; if there is only one attacker, they also turn to face.

  • ​Exception: if cavalry fail when attempting to charge cavalry, there is a countercharge: move the charged cavalry to meet the charging cavalry 1/3rd of the way towards the point where the charge began.  From there, the charging cavalry flees (11”+2d6) and the charged cavalry pursues it one inch less and becomes shaken.

 

Defender Morale Check Results (in charge)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Locked in Combat 

1. When defending cavalry pass a Morale Check against charging cavalry, or defending infantry pass a Morale Check against charging infantry, both sides are momentarily Locked in Combat and fight it out using the procedure below.

2. To resolve a Locked in Combat situation, both sides roll until one beats the other (i.e. reroll ties).  Ignore all modifiers except the following:

   • ​Veteran troops receive a +1.

   • Lancers receive a -1.

3. The results are:

   • The loser flees (7" for infantry, 11"+(2d6)" for cavalry; see below).

   • Winning infantry “takes the position” (see below) and becomes shaken. 

   • Winning cavalry pursues (loser's flight distance minus 1") and becomes shaken.

   • If an infantry unit routs as a result of a lost Locked in Combat resulting from its own charge out of woods or a BUA, it remains (in a Routed state) in the woods or BUA it charged from.

4. After a Locked in Combat situation has been resolved, remove any Charge marker(s).

 

Taking the position 

• When an attacking unit “takes the position,” it immediately occupies the space vacated by the fleeing enemy and turns to face the direction of flight.

• When told to “take the position,” an attacking unit is not obliged to leave woods, a linear terrain feature, or a Built-Up Area (though it may do so optionally). 

 

Follow-up charges by cavalry

Note: for diagrams of cavalry charges, follow-up charges, and pursuit, see the Cavalry Charge Diagram Slideshow.

1. When a cavalry unit charges and its target fails a Morale Check, the charging cavalry must perform another Morale Check to see if it pursues or, instead, undertakes a follow-up charge against a new target:

   • if it fails, it must pursue their fleeing enemy (see below under Cavalry pursuit);

   • if it passes, it must attempt to perform a follow-up charge against a new target as part of the same attack. 

2. Cavalry can perform no more than two follow-up charges after the initial charge.

3. The Morale Check for determining follow-up charges is subject to one of the following penalties:  

   • For the first follow-up charge, there is a -1 penalty to the Morale Check.

   • For the second follow-up charge, there is a -2 penalty to the Morale Check.

4. If the cavalry unit passes the Morale Check and does perform a follow-up charge, it must select a new target that is wholly to its front, visible (attacker can draw lines between each of his two front corners and two corners of the target base), and at least partly within 8” of where its prior target had stood.  If there is no such target available, the cavalry unit pursues the prior target instead.

5. In a follow-up charge, the charging cavalry is moved to contact in as straight a line as possible and the charge is immediately resolved, following the Charging proceedures described above.

   • Note that this means the charging cavalry, once it has passed a Morale Check to determine whether it will perform a follow-up charge or pursue, must roll a Morale Check to see if it goes through with its follow-up charge.  Cavalry could, for example, successfully charge a first target, pass the Morale Check to perform a follow-up charge, and then fail the Morale Check when attacking its second target. 

6. If the first follow-up charge is successful, the cavalry unit must roll a Morale Check to see if it performs a second follow-up charge; if the second follow-up charge is also successful, the cavalry automatically pursue.

7. Note: cavalry performing a follow-up charge against a unit that is being charged by other friends do get the morale bonus for charging a target with help from friends, while the target suffers the morale penalty for being charged by more than one unit, provided that the charge by the other unit have not been resolved prior to the cavalry's follow-up charge.

8. When performing a second follow-up charge, charging cavalry cannot charge a unit it has already charged that turn.

 

Cavalry pursuit

Note: for diagrams of cavalry charges, follow-up charges, and pursuit, see the Cavalry Charge Diagram Slideshow.

1. Victorious cavalry pursue the enemy unit they caused to flee or destroyed if they

   • fail the obligatory Morale Check to determine whether they perform a follow-up charge;

   • pass the obligatory Morale Check to determine whether they perform a follow-up charge but are unable to find a target;  

   • have successfully performed their second follow-up charge that turn.

   • win a Locked in Combat situation. 

2. First resolve all effects (if any) of a fleeing unit’s passing through friends (see the rules for Fleeing and Routing), then move the pursuing cavalry.

3. The pursuing cavalry first occupies the exact position of the unit it caused to flee, then pivots, and then pursues, following the path taken by the fleeing unit.

4. The pursuit distance for cavalry pursuing infantry is 6".

5. The pursuit distance for cavalry pursuing cavalry is 1” less than the distance the pursued cavalry has fled (see below under Fleeing and Routing).

6. If, in pursuing, the cavalry encounter enemy units passed through by the fleeing unit, perform a follow-up charge against them.

   • If this follow-up charge is successful, the cavalry may attempt a second follow-up charge, up to a maximum of three charges (including the initial charge) per turn.

7. Cavalry who have completed the pursuit move automatically become shaken.  

8. If a cavalry unit is called on to pursue an enemy unit that was supposed to flee  but instead was destroyed because surrounded by enemies, the pursuing cavalry unit instead merely “takes the position” of the destroyed enemy unit, ends its charge immediately, and becomes shaken as the pursuing cavalrymen busy themselves in hunting down the soldiers of the destroyed enemy unit.

9. If cavalry are pursuing as a result of their second follow-up charge and encounter enemies, do not perform a charge against them but instead leave the cavalry unit (now shaken) in contact with those enemies.

10. Pursuit to terrain: If a cavalry unit is called on to pursue enemies who rout into woods or a Built-Up Area that the pursuing cavalry can reach, the pursuing cavalry unit is moved into contact with that area of woods or Built-Up Area and becomes shaken.

11. Pursuit off the map: If a cavalry unit is called on to pursue enemies who have fled off the map, the pursuing cavalry unit pursues to the point on the edge of the map where the pursued enemies left and is marked shaken.

12. Pursuit of destroyed routed units: Cavalry charges against routed units are automatically successful and the routed unit is removed from the game and counted as destroyed.

    • This counts as a successful charge and the charging cavalry can attempt a follow-up charge (in an eager state) if it has not exhausted its limit of three charges per turn.

    • If the charging cavalry pursues after a successful charge against a routed enemy unit, determine the path the target would have fled along if it had been able to flee and move the pursuing cavalry 6" along that path, following the rules above for how to handle any enemies it may encounter on that pursuit path.  

 

Distinctions among types of cavalry

The following rules reflect differences in behaviour among various types of cavalry:

1. Cuirassiers move at 6” (rather than 9”), though they flee and pursue in the normal way.

2. Cuirassiers receive a +1 morale bonus when charging cavalry

   • This bonus does not apply to Morale Checks when attempting to perform a follow-up charge, or in any other circumstance.

3. Lancers receive a +1 morale bonus when charging infantry

4. Lancers suffer a -1 penalty to their die roll when Locked in Combat.