Thanks for the detailed guide .. will surely use it in the next campaign. I finished the Egyptian Campaign just now. This time I consolidated my presence in Alexandria and Cairo, instead of madly grabbing regions. Built 2 guard armies near Alexandria in addition to Napoleon in Cairo. Built a navy and sent a full stack to Sinai. Captured it, built more troops there and sent the full stack to Jaffa, captured it, built a garrison and moved on to Damascus the last region I needed to win. AI was now accumulating forces near Damascus. An early skirmish (that I made the mistake of auto-resolving ) depleted my Cavalry and skirmishers and left my line infantry units understaffed. I had a 600 unit force with just one unit of horse artillery against 1800 men (mostly conscripts but with 3 artillery units and 3 generals).

The AI sneaked two artillery units and before I knew what was going on, half my cavalry was running off the edge of the screen !!!! I dealt with them swiftly and then swung across the battlefield to redeploy my troops on the left, with the left and center moving while the right flank moved in to guard positions. This maneuver allowed me to put my artillery on the higher ground with a clear line of fire. I deployed my infantry in the tree line with the cavalry unit and the general flanking the artillery in the center. The AI moved its troops forward all across the line.

Phase 1 : The sword infantry tried to attack my weak left flank with two half strength skirmisher units and 2 under strength line infantry but some how the line held thanks to a suicidal cavalry charge that prevented the swordsmen to reach the part where the skirmishers stood (had they hit the skirmishers the left flank would have collapsed.).

Phase 2 : The attack broke and the swordsmen ran, the center and right faced a large line of angry gunners whom I introduced to canister shot and massed infantry fire. They too broke fast, and withdrew behind a line of dense trees while the last remaining artillery unit tried to hit my troop concentrations.

Phase 3 : I redeployed my troops again this time the line was placed with the artillery as the hinge with a flat line of depleted line infantry on the right. The left was made of whatever was left of the previous melee in Phase 1 arranged at a 120 degree angle from the right flank. The enemy once again rushed, this time on the artillery and right flank. I ordered my remaining cavalry and general to hit the last artillery unit while the enemy Infantry was pounded with massed fire from my right flank and artillery. I quickly moved the left flank to a right angle to the right flank and let loose another volley and saw the enemy breaking and running away. The last standing unit (some Cedit) got lots of canister fire and finally broke and ran.

I got a heroic victory with 200 losses and 1700 kills. Before the battle the bar showing comparative strength gave me approx 30/100 (the bar with blue and red colors). Had I auto-resolved again I would have lost the army and then Jaffa too. Only this time I shook off the laziness and also got lucky