Wg Cdr Luddite wrote: ↑Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:38 pm
I'm not familiar with this period but the questions I would ask are:
1) Did these armies actually have a proper skirmish doctrine and troops trained to use it ?
They were very much regarded as "irregulars" (as were Highland regiments in the British Army of that time) and as such they took part in the kleine krieg/petite guerre warfare that took place away from the main battlefield - or at the very least, was relegated to the flanks, or outposts. Whilst they were instructed in the same manuals as line troops (and guards) for parades and such like, their style of fighting was much looser than those types of troops. I'm not sure if they had fully evolved the main line/supports/reserve doctrine of the Napoleonic period, but they were certainly moving towards it.
Wg Cdr Luddite wrote: ↑Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:38 pm
2)Did these troops have any effect on major battles ?
If the answer to either question is No then I have solved your basing problem.
Not really, no. Some nations used their hussars as third-line battle cavalry - cuirassiers/carabiniers in front, dragoons in the second - but only if a commander sensed victory, but had no other troops left to deliver the coup de grace to a defeated enemy, or if a losing commander was really desperate, would he unleash such troops on the main enemy force.
Kein Plan überlebt den ersten Kontakt mit den Würfeln. (No plan survives the first contact with the dice.)
Baron Mannshed von Wreckedoften, First Sea Lord of the Bavarian Admiralty.
