Napoleonics: French v. British

 After a break in proceedings due to an expedition to Nepal, Camp Cromwell re-convened again tonight.  But due to Covid, car troubles & other circs only Mike & Jim were able to attend.

It was decided that it was about time we gave Mike's Brits a run. 
He is deployed on the far (right) side of the table.  Jim's French are on the near (left) side.
The Brits have deployed their two infantry divisions either side of a gap in the middle with all their cavalry on their left flank.
the French have deployed in a solid block, infantry in front, cavalry behind.
The Brits have more & better infantry, the French have more artillery & cavalry.

The Brits got first move & immediately advanced their cavalry while making small adjustments to their infantry.  The French are redeploying their cavalry to their right, advancing their right flank infantry & deploying their left defensively.

The French cavalry have attacked the British cavalry.
The French infantry advance has been halted & the the troops deploy into a defensive line as the British infantry advance to meet them.

The French are getting the better of the cavalry fight & have turned some cavalry to support their infantry which is being pounded by superior British musketry.  The French artillery is well deployed to support their infantry, but at this stage the dice gods are favouring the Brown Bess over French cannon balls.

The British cavalry is reduced to half strength & looks doomed.  Some of the British infantry has been forced into square to take some pressure off the French infantry.  The French artillery should be pounding the square, but continues to fail to hit while the Brown Bess' 6's keep on coming.  

The British cavalry have finally been put down, but they took 3 French cavalry units with them, leaving only 3 to support the hard pressed infantry.   
On the far flank the highlanders & rifles have finally made an advance on the French left.

The French infantry is in a bad state, but the British line has a weak point with the line beside the square now being shaken, providing an opportunity for the cavalry to save the day. Dragoons charged the shaken line.  Hussars supported them behind & the other dragoon unit attacked the square to cover their right flank.  The attack on the shaken line succeeded, making  a gap in the line, but the attack on the square was met with a hail of 6's & that unit was broken.   This left the French cavalry division below half strength, thus it was shaken & unable to continue their advance.

With that, the French had no option but to order a retreat before the British musketry destroyed them.  The British had no cavalry left to dispute this, providing some scope for the Paris Bulletin to describe a successful hit & run attack on a superior British force resulting in the destruction of the British cavalry.  The Times will have a different view.