Somewhere in Europe - the battle

 

Everything just about in position. Except for the French artillery - they arrived late. Mainly because I forgot about them...

The Guard attempted to attack the Prussian troops in the cornfield flanked by the Bavarians.

Meanwhile the other French infantry regiment attempted to attack the troops in the churchyard while they also tried to use their superiority in cavalry to outflank the Prussian army.

The guns finally arrived and started an artilley duel with the Prussian guns. They completely failed to have any impact on each other throughout the battle. Incidentally, the horse teams are the Rose teams I did for my Rose ACW armies.

Forcing the right flank, the French took a lot of casualties - not helped when the Prussian cavalry charged into the Bavarians!

Things weren't really going well for the French on the left. The cavalry couldn't break through and the infantry  bounced.

Things were no better on the right. Especially as the Prussian cavalry were starting to make an impact! So the French decided on a tactical withdrawal at this point.

Which makes a lot of sense when you look at the respective casualties! Quite simply, attacking troops behind walls while in column without outnumbering them by quite a bit doesn't work. Likewise, having to cross a fence into withering fire is a bad idea, especially when the enemy has cavalry on that flank and you don't! I made a deliberate decision to split the Prussian cavalry but keep the French cavalry together - I thought that the French would benefit most by having theirs together - wrong, it was the Prussians who gained the most!

So an interesting battle that I completed in one day. Perhaps this will help me kickstart the Napoleonic side again? Need a lot more infantry regiments for meaningful battles!