Battle tactics and formations

Currently Prince Viraja was standing in training ground of the royal barracks with colonel Virendra and his personal attendant Bhimrao, in-front of him were his 5000 men divided into companies of 500 men each along with the newly minted major and captain's standing in disciplined ranks. Surveying them he said "I have chosen you all to be part of my private army to protect not only my territory but also interest of my trading company beyond the kingdom borders. Though you all have been discriminated with and suppressed till now due to caste prejudice rest assure if you serve me with loyalty I will never discriminate you in-fact you will get the respect you deserve and your families will be protected too . I would also expect the same from you all to treat you fellow comrade in the army with respect and do no discrimination due to their caste origin and work as single unit with discipline and loyalty". With this he turned towards his attendant and the colonel and told them to make sure that they are given salary as per proper standard. Hearing the prince words the men were touched, one by one first the officers and then the men themselves started kneeling before him with fist to their heart as they sweared their allegiance to him and promised to obey his command without question.

After sometime Prince Viraja is seen occupying one of the room in the royal barrack where the training drill of his army was going on as a temporary office. Colonel Virendra is sitting across the table and is giving him reports, that the army has been re-organized as per his specification. Hearing this Prince Viraja said "Excellent job colonel now here are the official documents which includes all the tactics and formation that you will need to drill into the soldiers". With this he handed him a stack of papers which includes notes and design of concepts of tactics and training regimen that needs to be implement. He said to the colonel "The information in this document are classified so make sure this documents does not leave your hand and that of your officers. Now I know it will take sometime for you to get an understanding of all the tactics and formation written there and my door is always open to you if you need any clarification but still I will give you a run down of the same just to make it easier for you". 

"First is the Foot drill, this is to instill discipline into soldiers so that they can work as a unit to gather and march in formation based on instant obedience to commands and synchronized completion of said commands with the others in the unit.I have already given the details of the commands and drill format in the document which you need to drill into the soldiers".

"Second is the line infantry formation and tactics, which includes three main formation the line, the column and the square.In case of line formation the infantry was aligned into long thin lines, soldiers shoulder to shoulder, and fired volleys at the same time on precise command of .a experienced officer.The line infantry will work both as range unit and melee unit with the help of the bayonet. You will find out the formation tactics details which include commands and line infantry advance and retreat tactics in the document. Next comes the column formation it is for marching in a disciplined manner and finally is the 4 rank deep square formation with hollow in the middle where the other range units like crossbow men can take refuge and shoot at enemy cavalry or infantry". 

"Third is Bayonet melee training, the ring bayonet will be fixed to head of the musket there by turning the musket into melee combat weapon just like a spear. The melee combat training includes attacks like the bayonet thrust, stockbutt attack, swinging and so on.Make sure the soldier are proficient in this combat especially in case of bayonet charge".

"Forth is crossbowmen tactics where the soldiers will carry repeating crossbow which will provide range cover to the musketeers when they are engage in melee combat". 

"Fifth make sure the soldiers can shoot at least 3 shoot per minute using matchlock musket as a unit".

"Sixth there is pikemen who carries pikes and fight as disciplined cohesive unit and uses the phalanx formation. One thing that you must keep in mind colonel I want an elite army which is disciplined and proficient in obeying command and shifting of formation with ease and fluidity".

"Finally troops should be trained into 5 companies of musketeers, 3 companies of crossbowmen and 2 companies of pikemen. As for cavalry my personal royal guard will assume that role".

After saying this Prince Viraja waited for any comments from the colonel. Finally after thinking for sometime the colonel asked "Your highness when will we be getting the musket and crossbow". Hearing this Prince Viraja said that "The pike and the normal crossbow including the light Armour(Cuirass and helmet) will be delivered within a week from the royal smithy as for the musket and compact repeating crossbow it will take some time to procure the weapons so for now concentrate on formation training and instilling discipline into the soldier for efficient execution of command of the officers and use the dummy weapons for the same".With this the prince dismissed Colonel Virendra so that he can get back to his duty.