Here's my initial pre-voting thoughts.
[ ] OOB Reform: Institute Cavalry Reserve
I'm not sure how to formulate this in terms of a nitty gritty OOB, but the single most important yet easy to do reform would be to institute a Cavalry Reserve. If this is anything like the historical armies of the revolution at this point, the cavalry was in a pretty bad state, with the cavalry being parcelled out to the various infantry components in small chunks, being used up and quickly reduced in numbers in foolish actions ordered by incompetent leaders, as well as general attrition, leading them to becoming even less useful as they became reduced in numbers. Or for example using cavalry as bodyguards for the headquarters, basicly removing them from being used on the battlefield, besides making a general look good.
This isn't helped by cavalry taking a pretty long time to train competent replacement for, I think Elting talks about it taking two to three years. Even training simple artillerymen (not officers) goes a lot faster. Infact, in the armee nord the cavalry quickly grew so weak it had to rely on horse artillery to stiffen it, instead of being able to be used as a strike force (According to Bayonets of the Republic).
So, the reform I would suggest is reordering the cavalry so that the infantry divisions/etc are supplied only with the light cavalry needed (still a sizeable chunk) to provide sufficient screening and recon (very important duty). Everything else should be gathered in a Cavalry Reserve (essentially a beefy Cavalry Division) to be used as a decisive striking force either offensively or in a counterattack. A consistent issue in the armee nord was the inability to follow up victories decisively, dragging out the conflict quite a bit, most likely precisely because of the lack of such a force. We're going to change that.
On a meta level, I would suggest that Napoleon's inspiration for this idea, right now, could come from an offscreen conversation from Davout (past or present), who was at the end of the day, originally a cavalry officer and always more well versed than Napoleon in light cavalry tactics thanks to that background. Or a book, Napoleon was always reading. Regardless, it might be an idea that might impress our new commander.
Historically this exact change was a reform that various commanders came up with independently, such as Moreau, Hoche and Napoleon, around '76 or so, I believe.
I'll try to think of a more detailed OOB if I have time for it, but I hope it's enough otherwise to just give the intent.
Edit: Looking over the list in detail, we actually have a great deal of cavalry, so it might fit into a full strength cavalry division and a much smaller one, potentially.
[ ] OOB Reform: Institute Cavalry Reserve
I'm not sure how to formulate this in terms of a nitty gritty OOB, but the single most important yet easy to do reform would be to institute a Cavalry Reserve. If this is anything like the historical armies of the revolution at this point, the cavalry was in a pretty bad state, with the cavalry being parcelled out to the various infantry components in small chunks, being used up and quickly reduced in numbers in foolish actions ordered by incompetent leaders, as well as general attrition, leading them to becoming even less useful as they became reduced in numbers. Or for example using cavalry as bodyguards for the headquarters, basicly removing them from being used on the battlefield, besides making a general look good.
This isn't helped by cavalry taking a pretty long time to train competent replacement for, I think Elting talks about it taking two to three years. Even training simple artillerymen (not officers) goes a lot faster. Infact, in the armee nord the cavalry quickly grew so weak it had to rely on horse artillery to stiffen it, instead of being able to be used as a strike force (According to Bayonets of the Republic).
So, the reform I would suggest is reordering the cavalry so that the infantry divisions/etc are supplied only with the light cavalry needed (still a sizeable chunk) to provide sufficient screening and recon (very important duty). Everything else should be gathered in a Cavalry Reserve (essentially a beefy Cavalry Division) to be used as a decisive striking force either offensively or in a counterattack. A consistent issue in the armee nord was the inability to follow up victories decisively, dragging out the conflict quite a bit, most likely precisely because of the lack of such a force. We're going to change that.
On a meta level, I would suggest that Napoleon's inspiration for this idea, right now, could come from an offscreen conversation from Davout (past or present), who was at the end of the day, originally a cavalry officer and always more well versed than Napoleon in light cavalry tactics thanks to that background. Or a book, Napoleon was always reading. Regardless, it might be an idea that might impress our new commander.
Historically this exact change was a reform that various commanders came up with independently, such as Moreau, Hoche and Napoleon, around '76 or so, I believe.
I'll try to think of a more detailed OOB if I have time for it, but I hope it's enough otherwise to just give the intent.
Edit: Looking over the list in detail, we actually have a great deal of cavalry, so it might fit into a full strength cavalry division and a much smaller one, potentially.
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