Battles of 1866:
The Cavalry
By the 1860s, a dramatic shift had occurred on the battlefield. No longer did
cavalry dominate as it had until the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Rifled artillery
and the breech-loading rifle brought the horseman back to earth.
Our Classic Wargame offering Battles
of 1866 continues to move down the track
toward publication. As work progresses on the game,
we've been producing a series of previews and updates,
charting the game's development and giving a look
at some of its features. This time, the subject
is cavalry. The Saxon cavalry was covered in the
Saxon order of battle
update.
Austrian Col. Joszef
Rodakowski
and the Trani Uhlanen ride
to glory at Custoza, 1866
In the War of the States/Empires system, cavalry can charge. Heavy cavalry
will receive a die roll modifier, but we're also giving a modifier to Prussian
infantry trying to repel a charge. So while the Austrian cavalry is formidable,
so is their task if they take on a Prussian infantry unit that hasn't suffered
many losses. Austrian players are going to find themselves picking on weakened
units with their cavalry rather than going after the big battalions.
Light cavalry has the option of retreating before combat, something the heavy
horse doesn't get to try. This makes them useful for screening the army, their
traditional role. They can charge as well, but receive no modifier.
Cavalry are limited in assault combat. They cannot defend themselves,
and in this game (unlike Gettysburg & Chickamauga)
defend themselves at half strength. Some Austrian
light cavalry are armed with breechloaders, though,
and trained to use them. These units defend at double
their usual strength. In game play this formation
is the Austrian player's secret weapon, and playtesting
is going to have to find a way to keep the Austrian
from using it as a 19th-century version of a World
War II armored "fire brigade."
All three armies involved in the Bohemian campaign, the Prussian, Austrian
and Saxon, gave great emphasis to their mounted arm. Cavalrymen held greater
social prestige than their non-mounted counterparts. Command of a cavalry regiment
stood on the career path of every officer hoping to obtain high social standing
(though curiously, in Austria at least, few senior generals came out of the
cavalry). Nowhere was this more true than in the Austrian Empire.
Austria's heavy cavalry trained relentlessly for shock action. They lost their
armored breastplates in 1860, but even the "dragoons" did not carry
any firearm other than a horse pistol. Their primary weapon remained the pallasch,
the long, straight heavy saber carried by Austrian cavalrymen for centuries.
Austrian practice still carried many old traditions, one of them visible on
the counters. Where many other armies trained their cavalry to charge in orderly
rows, Austrian practice preferred wedges. Each man rammed his kneecap behind
the knee of the rider next to him; among well-trained riders and horses, this
formed an unstoppable tide of flesh.
The practice grew out of Austria's long wars with the Turks. Unable to match
the huge clouds of Turkish light cavalry, Austrian horsemen instead relied on
mass. Their bigger horses would overthrow those of the Turks, should they turn
and fight.
Even against gunpowder weapons, this remained a formidable tactic. A warhorse
can weigh upwards of half a ton, and travels at 30 miles per hour. Before the
introduction of motor vehicles, there was little else that could more easily
smash a man flat where he stood. Few infantrymen cared to stand and face a massive
cavalry wedge bearing down on them.
Austrian light cavalry also trained to charge, but this was not the emphasis.
These men prepared for scouting and screening duties, and in 1866 performed
them very well. Austrian scouts kept track of the Prussian armies, while cavalry
screens kept the Prussian high command in the dark. They also stole Prussian
telegraph wires and more than once intercepted enemy message traffic.
Leopold von Edelsheim-Gyulai, commander of the 1st Light Cavalry Division,
armed his men with the excellent Werndl breechloading rifle in March, 1866,
three months before the war broke out. These weapons had good reliability and
much better performance than the Prussian Dreyse needle-gun. Regiments of 2nd
Light Cavalry Division received muzzle-loading carbines just before the war's
beginning, as the high command belatedly saw the wisdom of Edelsheim's private
venture. They quickly ordered 5,000 Winchester repeaters to re-arm the rest
of the light cavalry, but these did not arrive until the war was almost over.
Light cavalry regiments in Southern Army facing the Italians did not receive
any shoulder arms at all, and relied on their lances and horse pistols instead.
In Prussia, cavalry regiments held just as much social prestige as they did
in Austria. They simply weren't as good as the Austrian horse. When comparing
cavalry units, a potential Prussian player needs to remember that infantry is
the queen of battle. He's not going to win many games relying on his cavalry.
North German horse breeding lagged behind the horse industry of Austria and
Hungary. Prussia imported many of its steeds, and these always lacked the quality
of Austrian stock. While the infantry set a high standard of training, the cavalry
lagged behind. Observers during the 1866 war reported that Prussian cavalry
regiments literally stank - a sign that the men did not take proper care of
their animals. Saddle sores and foot injuries were common among Prussian cavalry
horses. The worst Prussian losses at Königgrätz came when two Prussian
cavalry regiments tried to stem the Austrian grand charge of three full divisions.
Unable to form ranks, the individual horsemen were ridden down and both regiments
simply disappeared under the oncoming wedges.
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