After licking my wounds from my first two forays into Empire: Total War (one miserable loss and one rather pyyrhic victory where I inflicted half again the number of casualties to my own men as the enemy had...) after finally realizing I now have a computer than can play the game, I loaded up a late era, large funds land battle on Grassy Flatlands I. I played as France vs Great Britain using preset armies.
I'm spoilering this as it's a bit lengthy...
Having learned my lessons and having done some reading on military tactics, I decided to spice things up from my previous, failed attempts. For one thing, I stretched all of my Infantry out two a double-line, giving a greater and deadlier field of fire. Though it chanced the courtship of a potentially devastating charge, I felt I was properly prepared for such an event.
My center consisted of Grenadiers between two units per side of Line Infantry on either side. In front of them, though shifted to the right of the center Grenadiers, my two units of Light Infantry stood at least a dozen or two paces ahead of the main body. Behind the Grenadiers, my General's Bodyguard, for insurance in keeping the center at acceptable morale. The center's main purpose was little more than meet the enemy line's center, inflict more devastation than the enemy, while the right wing did most of the heavy lifting. The Light Infantry, separate from the rest, would use their range advantage against enemy Line Infantry to harass them by letting off a volley at max range, retreat, let off a volley at max range, and then fall back behind the much sturdier Line Infantry and Grenadiers.
On the right wing, two more units of Line Infantry stood about a dozen paces further afield than the center (though not as far as the Light Infantry). To their right were my four units of artillery - two units of 6 lbers and two units of 18 lbers. Behind the artillery, two units of the Cuirassers: heavily armored melee cavalry. This wing's primary purpose was to push for an oblique attack at the enemy line from that side with the heavy firepower of artillery and flanking cavalry.
My left wing also consisted of two units of Line Infantry. The first unit was several paces behind the center, and the other several behind it. Supporting them on the leftmost half of the wing were two units of Chasseurs a Cheval: light cavalry with guns. This wing was meant to deny an attack on the left flank long enough to press hard with the right wing, with the potential to instead audible into an oblique attack from an unexpected side through the harassment of the cavalry and the firepower of the Line Infantry.
Of course, things never go EXACTLY as planned, even at the best of times.
As the battle began, I marched forward across the field while the British advanced to meet my men. However, I severely underestimated the range and position of the enemy artillery, which they had evenly divided between their Right and Left Wings; enemy bombardment began completely unexpectedly. Though the first volley missed entirely, I was only just beginning to react when a second volley tore through one of my units of Line Infantry.
Cursing the ancestors and descendants of every British man who opposed me, I quickly set my own artillery further to the side and angled towards the center of the battlefield to begin returning fire. By this point, the two armies were almost within firing range of one another. My Light Infantry lit up, firing into the ranks of enemy Line Infantry. As planned, I had them fall back and repeat as the enemy formations neared.
Because my army was stretched out much further than their own (my units 2 ranks deep, theirs at least 3), the enemy general intelligently did not waste his men's blood on a simple General Attack against my lines. Instead, he prioritized my Right Wing; the bulk of his army concentrated their movements in that direction. This included sending two units of his Light Infantry to get within range of my Artillery. In reply, I moved up the Line Infantry of my Right Wing to engage the otherwise preoccupied Light Infantry while sending my Cuirassers around to threaten a flanking maneuver. It took no time at all before the two enemy units were practically decimated and fell back behind the enemy's Line Infantry.
While this was happening, enemy Line Infantry also engaged my forces Center. I replied in kind, while also taking the opportunity to test out the bombs of my Grenadiers. Apparently, the British don't appreciate shrapnel, and so they attempted to disengage before the bombs exploded. They only partially succeeded, as the bombs went off against the retreating front ranks, inflicting a respectable amount of casualties. Not wanting to push the enemy Line Infantry into a tactical retreat where they might go on the defensive, as that might have possibly made inflicting casualties a bit trickier and bloodier, I pulled my Grenadiers back into formation with the rest of the Center and to resume firing.
A single enemy unit of Line Infantry also engaged my Left Wing, while enemy Cavalry attempted to flank me there, as expected. At first I had not noticed the cavalry charge, so I scrambled to put my Line Infantry into melee mode and a box formation while my light cavalry maneuvered to outflank their cavalry, shooting into their ranks. This scared them off for the moment, though not before inflicting a small amount of casualties.
By this point, the enemy units attacking my Right Wing were beginning to waver. Taking advantage of this, my Cuirassers charged into the enemy Infantry, routing their units one-by-one. Unfortunately, things were not going so well elsewhere on the battlefield.
In the Center, my units had suffered the one thing I had worried about: a cavalry charge into the weakened double-lines, backed by a melee charge from the enemy Line Infantry. Quickly, I pulled back several units around the engaged men. The Light Infantry, who had done nothing in the battle since the initial screen against the enemy, were able to open fire on the offending cavalry and infantry right before I sent my General's bodyguard into the mix. While not my best maneuver, and costing me far too many of the cavalry, it did help run off the enemy from the melee, allowing me to returned my Line Infantry to their expected formations.
At this point, the fighting had reached its climax, with victory just on the horizon for my glorious French forces. One-by-one the enemy units pulled back, routing, perhaps hoping to find safety behind the fields of fire of their artillery, though withered from the counter-fire of my own artillery.
I sent in my Cavalry to rout the enemy artillery as the rest of my army began its advance anew. This time, however, the advance was not to meet the enemy but to push hard against them to insure their retreat. Though they only got a volley or two off against the retreating forces, it was enough to further punish my foes.
Without bothering to run down my scattered foes, the battle ended. Both sides had entered the battle with nearly 1500 men. I had sadly lost over a third that number - almost 550 - but my foe had lost twice as many as I, with over 1100 losses.
It was not the most glorious victory, nor was it one won by genius or skill, but it was my first true, solid victory with the game. Using some of the things I had learned and read about was fun and exciting, even if things did surprise me a few times. I could have possibly won that battle with as few as 300 losses, had I been able to foresee and/or react faster to some of the things the enemy did. I had gotten a little bit of tunnel vision on my Right Wing, which distracted me from keeping the rest of my army (relatively) safe.
tl;dr - A French army defeated an evenly-matched British army, ~500 losses to ~1100 on my 3rd ever battle with the game.
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Topic: How did you last *own*? (Read 1296700 times)