Massed RE benefits

Having established

A Massed Unit has the following characteristics.
✣ A Massed Unit moves more slowly on the battlefield (see lists)
✣ Unless otherwise specified by the army list it has a Melee Modifier (MM) +2.
✣ Artillery firing at a Massed Unit has a +1 modifier.✣

and

Massed Units of Reiters can use a special rule called Caracole.




So massed RE get Carocole and MM+2 - even more reason to like them. It also improves their survival against GA.

....and they can be Massed for no extra cost.

there's a downside. i played RE without mass the other day.

they trotted up for caracole, shot, then tried to trot off. they failed, and were shot to pieces in the next enemy round. if a cannon had been pointing at them as well?

toast.

I must admit I tried Unmassed Reiters once, just once.

It was too painful to try again. Extremely brittle.

Oldentired wrote:there's a downside. i played RE without mass the other day.

they trotted up for caracole, shot, then tried to trot off. they failed, and were shot to pieces in the next enemy round. if a cannon had been pointing at them as well?

toast.

Not sure what you mean by "tried to trot off". You always complete the second move, the test is to determine whether you end up disrupted and not whether you can move. So you should end up 3BU from the unit you shot at. If the unit you shoot at, passes a reaction test and shoots and the RE become disordered then you are in heaps of trouble.

Un-massed RE are brittle, mostly to other mounted - mainly GA, who tend to just ride over the top of you.

RE can move-shoot-move. Having walked up and shot, they really like to then move away. All too frequently they don't manage to and get caught and chopped up (or in this case t sounds like they trotted towards infantry who then shot them up on their activation).

It is expected that they are ridden down.  RE are poor quality, less armored horse using the dubious caracole tactics & quite cheap.