How does wedge formation work?

[Desmond]

Im not saying its not working but I never understood how charging with 1 person and adding an additional person per line makes it easier to charge....its like one guy at first...if you stop him the rest are gonna get slowed by trying to run over its corpse.

So how is that beter than a large line charging that seems alot scarier than seeing 1-3 guys

[SleepyNarwhalz]

The point of a wedge formation in history is to pierce enemy infantry formations and for an easier way to turn the cavalry.

[Mountain King]

I think that generally speaking, the horsemen would have things like spears or lances and the infantry would not, because that would be suicidal. And your horse probably would refuse to charge into them because even they know that a big pointy stick hurts. But if they were swordsman you could jam your pointy sticks into their front lines and then plow through them without them being able to offer much resistance. Also irl troop formations aren't able to just magnetically stick together and flawlessly obey even complex orders, so being able to punch through a formation could break it entirely or at least let you turn around and perform another charge from the rear, which could be extra nice if the enemy had mostly positioned his anti-cavalry units on the flanks expecting you to simply flank with cavalry.

By all historical accounts it was considered very effective for punching through enemy formations when used correctly, and used by both cavalry and infantry. Though it was probably more effective and common with cavalry.

[TheAlmightyProo]

It focuses the force and weight of an offensive movement on a single narrow point instead of spread across the frontage of an opposing unit, increasing the damage, penetration and disorder caused. It's most effective historically with heavy cavalry, with the added mass and weight of horse, armoured rider and lance but could be just as useful for light horse in some situations. The diamond cavalry formation as seen in TW: Empire/Napoleon was a further refinement of this, allowing a unit to turn or adjust it's facing quickly by rotation of individual horsemen rather than wheeling the whole unit. An oblique attacking movement held similar advantage for infantry.