is it better to send your calvery running of round a side path to take them by the flank?

Ahh... the endless possibilities ...

...flank of a calf...
...eating horse flesh...
...send the running...




alas, the question was probably genuine so ;
In a campaign or battle?
In what terrain?
What forces are involved?
Was the General wearing smart uniform?
etc, etc..

Give us some details so we may help

calvary = faster than all other troop types.... running "around the flank" would =you loose ground, not gain it, RUN THEM DOWN!!!!

2 things:

1. Cavalry...not calvery or calvary

2. As Rog said, you would need more detail to make any informed decision as to the value of flanking. "Run them down" is not always the right answer anymore than "always flank them". (eg., you have a line of melee troops engaged and he has ranged troops behind...it would be very wise to send any extra cavalry around the flank and hit them.)

Cheers,
H.

Omg you corrected my capitilization of a Noun?! *Glares and goes through last 30 hwatta posts to find mispellings and Inaccurate grammar*

Besides, cavalry is stolen from the french (or some other latin language) and misspelt in the first place, isn`t?

Last Edited : Friday, 6 August 2004 - 05:25

Maybe we should just say horsy

horsies Boe, horsies!

Horsery or maybe horseborn

Last Edited : Friday, 6 August 2004 - 05:28

Here’s to another thread turned totally useless, choke-filled with teasing, bad humour and aggravated delinquents. The instigator in this case was… surprise, surprise… not one of the usual suspects like Gutter or Sage or some Ugga-like noob. A simple enough question about the preferred/advisable usage of MOUNTED troops.

The asking party, linkasy failed to provide the necessary details to get an informed answer, but he provided a classic opportunity for some of WOL hot-heads like DoRW and Mog to launch into one of their flammable routines, for other come-along joy-riders like LOD, Boe and Guer to add some oil into the flames and other sufferers of verbal diarrhoea like Rog to write endless lines of crap.

1. Sorry linkasy; we can’t answer your question. We need more info. A general question about the attributes of mounted troops could be well answered by a large unit of Demonlords. Do some reading, play some campaigns and battles and you’ll have the perfect answer. Whatever you do, don’t listen to Kyrion! His version of Mounted troops has some very unsavoury suggestions regarding Orphaths and their mating habits.

2. Calvary – the place just outside ancient Jerusalem where Christ was (supposedly) crucified. The place is also known as Golgoltha (Matt. 27:33) which comes from the Hebrew word Golgolet, which means Skull. But I don’t think you meant sending your mounted troops to Jerusalem or be crucified?!
Cavalry on the other hand are soldiers on horseback (or in armoured vehicles), which means they get places faster and also confuse DoRW’s faster, forcing them to come up with quick explanations about their original intentions.

3. Cavalry comes originally from the Latin word caballus though using them to “...running of round a side path to take them by the flank..” might confuse even the most veteran of foes.

4. I have no clue how to continue this expertly amalgamated rubbish post so I’ll just refer you to Boe’s post…: “Maybe we should just say horsy”.

Last Edited : Friday, 6 August 2004 - 08:27

firstly
id like to say u lot r imature
*linkasy looks round for where he can sighn up*
but to be more specific
i will give u an example:
he has his his knyte round his rear
i have got 3 falcs free of melea wile all of his units r ingaged apart form the knyte

form linkasy, the confused one

Flanking is always good, since either you totally grab your opponent offguard, or make him/her split his front (as you put it in other forum -- his screens).

But it has its down sides, you take stacks from the front and don't use them for a few good turns. If your oppenent catches you and he's good, he can concentrate on the flanking stacks, and you have effectibily left a few stacks to fight a battle against his whole army. There are also terrain considerations to take.

I have done successfull flanking, and I been successfully flanked, so it's doable.

Now If you can hit head on that knight, like open a path to it with ranged, or something, then with your lowest and smallest rock stack (to consume his retaliation attacks, and also to make sure your stack is destroyed therefore opening another spot for your big boys), then stick to this knight 2 or maybe even 3 falcs and it will be very much gone on the 1st strike.

Last Edited : Friday, 6 August 2004 - 09:15

To get back to the issue of flanking and it's strategic importance...

The main goal is to do the most damage you can to the enemy. To this end, flanking CAN help as you can get your troops operating on a larger area and if you have superior numbers even trap the enemy and stop him/her from retreating. However, you have to factor in the time that you flanking troops take to get in position and ask yourself, would these particular troops be better off attacking the main face of the enemy? Also you have to consider what the enemy is or can do once you flank them. Can they still focus on only one of your attacking faces, and perhaps destroy them in the process? This could amount to the enemy getting free hits in on your ranged that they wouldn't have gotten if you hadn't of flanked. Even if you have suceeded in trapping them, they can still make it very painful.

You also have to consider the appearance of enemy reinforcements vs. your own. When flanking your troops that are taking the long way will most likely be closer to the enemy's reinforcements/barracks. As such, you MIGHT have thought that you trapped them, when in fact they have you trapped.

Altogether flankings is a bit risky, but if you've got solid intelligence on the enemy and where their other troops or how fast you can expect them to get there it can be a successful one.

In battles, flanking is a bit different. IF you can attack with everything at once, then flanking is great. But if it takes you an additional turn or two to get your flanking troops in position, it's probably not worth it, espeically if these troops are your most powerful (HC). This is because your opp will be able to focus on you less powerful front and take out a good deal of it before your other forces move in.

Card

Actually, let's call what I was referring to above "tactical flanking" as it refers to attacking a group of troops and flanking them to do more damage.

Others may endorse a kind of "strategic flanking" which would be to attack the enemy in multiple places (not just one groups of the enemy's forces). This would be for example, moving in on the castle from both the north and the south. I find such manuevers to be a waste of time myself (unless we're talking about DT mode). Spreading out your troops is OK, but only in a more limited way. Like chess you need to keep your forces protected, meaning try not to stray too far away from the range of your other troops.

Card

*mutters about how everyone could take lessons from rog on the art of hypocracy.*

what sort of archers does your opponent use, and what archers are you using. flankings primary use is to get to the soft underbelly of an army. if they are using all HC/maceman flanking will get you into loads of trouble as your opponent smashes one or the other of your flanks.

on another note if your opponent has a lot of archers/marks; a well timed flank can split his guarding forces giving you a better shot of breaking through. If you are a massive marks army; protect your flanks and keep the enemy in front of your shield.

It is hard to flank on most maps i've seen. the simple fact is there is too much difficult and impassable terrain to make a large flanking move.

I have pulled off flanking before but can take 3 turns to time it right. If your opponent is good and scouting with units to his flanks It is almost impossible to pull off.

Richard

this is coming from another FNG but this is my interpretation from many wargames

Still not quite enough info to make a completely informed reply, but here is a reply based on your new info and a few assumptions:
From your post-
Your troops and your opponents are engaged in melee along a single line. He has knights behind his lines. You have some falch available to sweep around some terrain barriers and flank his engaged troops to get at the knights.
Assumptions-
Your line is holding and you will not need the falch to plug a hole. There are apparently no ranged units involved on either side. There are no other paper type targets that you could switch your front line out and hit with the falch instead. You have no concentrations of rock type that he is likely to change out his troops and hit with his knights. You can get to the knights within 2-3 turns.

If all these things are true, go with the flanking move. If some are true, make your best guess. If none are true, don't do it as you have better things to do with the falch.

Cheers,
H.

*Dorw...check your spelling again...it was not the capitalization of a noun that was the issue. I make my fair share of typos and spelling mistakes, despite my best efforts. This one only caught my eye since two of you misspelled the word in a row...in 2 different ways. Now that I have seen another of his posts I note that linkasy is likely not a native english speaker and I respect his efforts to communicate in this forum to the best of his ability. Sorry if it bothered you that I noticed this strange occurrence.
H.

I can respect that hwatta, but its not your job to correct peoples grammar.... I will take your criticsm and thankfully adjust the way i spell calvary (im also from the south wherei ts pronounced cav-al-ree, and i spell phoenetically most the times) Im not a big english student at all, never liked the subject, i preferred math/science/sex under bleachers and sports.

Just please in the future refrain from knocking a person of there spelling, or send them a Private message if you have a problem with it please, but again thank you for the correction =) never knew i was spelling it wrong, and now i can go and win that gold trophy at the Y.

Darn...I was so looking forward to getting a huge check this month too! Luckily, I have no intentions of quitting my day job and don't rely on my grammar correction income.

They pronounce it cav-al-ree in the north too.

I didn't say you were supposed to be an english student or that you never would get sex under the bleachers because you can't spell!

The purpose of my short one line comment at the start of my first post was just to point out the oddity of two misspellings in a row of the same word in 2 different ways because I found it interesting. I was not making any personal judgment about you by pointing this out. I am sorry you took it as such.

I am glad you are now aware of the correct spelling and good luck at the Y.

To attempt to keep this on topic...I usually find it best to flank the incorrect spelling instead of running it down directly. It seems to have worked in this case, but was on the borderline.
Cheers,
H.

Ah, the good old days.