Dragoons in DBN

Are Dragoons (Russian in particular) Heavy Cav or Light Cav in DBN?

TIA,

Jeff

Dragoons would fall into the Light Cavalry class. The army lists section shows what should be classed as what. British "Heavy" Dragoons, for example, are classed as Heavy Cavalry as is all Cuirassier. Now don't get me started on "superior" cavalry.

Frank

Good question. In the new Battles of Napoleon game from Nexus/ Fantasy Flight Games, the figures they use for heavy cav are dragoons, rather than cuirassiers. However, for DBN, I too have understood that dragoons are LC, with a few exceptions as noted by Kontos.

I have not seen a copy of the DBN rules but am intrested and would appreciate any clarification from those that know the rules. I have a collection of Naps currently based for the old WRG rules for the 1809 Danube campaign and am interested in whether rebasing is desirable.

The comments made raised a query in my mind as to how Dragoons are represented. During this campaign the French Dragoons were brigaded with the Cuirassier in the Heavy Cav divisions as opposed to the Light Cav Divisions which consisted of the Hussar and Chasseurs a Cheval. The Austrian Dragoons were brigaded with the Kuirassier in the Reserve Cav Korp rather than within the Infantry Korps as the lights were.

Dragoons in both armies were mounted on bigger horses with the troopers armed with straight swords similar to the Cuirassier but with out the armour. They were used as cheaper alternatives to the Cuirassier as Heavy Cav but not as Light Cav.

Is there a distinction within DBN of the slightly different qualities or is it just a simple split of Cuirassier/other Cav?

I have also notice with interest that Phil has HFG as one of his next targets. This does appear to be more of a Horse and Musket version of DBM rather than DBA, but is there any suggestion of a Phil HFG for DBA?

Thanks, Martyn.

Martyn,

I agree that Dragoons were considered as Heavies vs Lights but that is why I asked the question for the DBN rules. I personally don't give a flip for what Phil does with HFG. For DBN, I've taken some Dragoons as heavies (four to a stand) and some as LC (3 to a stand). As I recall the Russians converted a good number of Dragoons to Cuirassiers. (1812?)

DBN only differenciates btw Hc and LC, no separate classes for Lancers etc. KISS. Keep It Simple..., I guess.

Jeff

I use Dragoons as I need them. If I do not have enough LH, I will add them to that contingent. If I do not have sufficient Cuirassiers, they become heavy. 3 vs 4 figs per base, but if identified in game, should not matter.


The rules say
"3.3.1 Heavy Cavalry (HC). Heavy Cavalry are the Napoleonic ‘knights’ or
mounted ‘shock’ troops of all armies. Such is the momentum of their charge
that when victorious they always pursue a defeated enemy one base depth.

I do not recall Dragoons being used in this capacity on a regular basis. Anyone have good example of Dragoons doing a shock charge?

Actually there are FOUR classes of cavalry in DBN plus some "tweak" tools. The classes of cavalry are:

Heavy
Light
Skirmish
Irregular

The descriptions for each of these are in the rules so I will not repeat it here. If anyone wants the definitions and does not have the rules, email me and I will cut and paste from the rules.

The "tweak" tool is DBN allows for what is known as "superior" cavalry. This allows a cavalry element to fight +1 better against its own class and is useful for those elements players deem to have fought with either more elan or as a "heavier" class than its "equal".

Frank

Originally Posted by Kontos

Actually there are FOUR classes of cavalry in DBN plus some "tweak" tools. The classes of cavalry are:

Heavy
Light
Skirmish
Irregular

The descriptions for each of these are in the rules so I will not repeat it here. If anyone wants the definitions and does not have the rules, email me and I will cut and paste from the rules.

The "tweak" tool is DBN allows for what is known as "superior" cavalry. This allows a cavalry element to fight +1 better against its own class and is useful for those elements players deem to have fought with either more elan or as a "heavier" class than its "equal".

Frank

I thought you didn't want to get started on Superior LC?

Jeff

Originally Posted by Jeff Caruso

I thought you didn't want to get started on Superior LC?

Jeff

I didn't want to get married again either.

Frank

Originally Posted by Bob. (and his dog)

I use Dragoons as I need them. If I do not have enough LH, I will add them to that contingent. If I do not have sufficient Cuirassiers, they become heavy. 3 vs 4 figs per base, but if identified in game, should not matter.


The rules say
"3.3.1 Heavy Cavalry (HC). Heavy Cavalry are the Napoleonic ‘knights’ or
mounted ‘shock’ troops of all armies. Such is the momentum of their charge
that when victorious they always pursue a defeated enemy one base depth.

I do not recall Dragoons being used in this capacity on a regular basis. Anyone have good example of Dragoons doing a shock charge?

Bob,

I find it curious to quote a rules set and then ask for historical examples to support the rules definition, that I didn't wriite. There have been enough rules sets that depict Dragoons as Hvy Cav. My original question was for the treatment of Dragoons in DBN. Clarity, not Concensus. I don't consider the merits of which class Dragoons should fall into as particularly important to my enjoyment of the game. I must say I'm enjoying DBN as much, indeed much more than DBA.

It gets figures out of their storage boxes and onto the gaming table. I yield all such questions and conflict resolutions to Maharaji Kontos.

Jeff