Sharp Practice Austrians v French

A return to Sharp Practice after a long gap saw my 1809 Austrians take on Ed's French in an encounter scenario. My force consisted of three groups of German line infantry, one each of Jaegers and Grenzers, one of Hussars and a light gun:

The Austrian Line deploy on the left with the light infantry in the centre. In the distance the French mass their infantry: 

The battle begins with the Jaegers inflicting casualties on the French Grenadiers. The Hussars lurk behind their infantry awaiting an opportunity:

The Austrian line advances. French Voltigeurs occupy the house while more French Line move up on the Austrian right:

The Voltigeurs cut down three Jaegers as the two infantry lines exchange fire:

The Austrian artillery opens fire:

While the Austrian Line are winning their firefight with controlled volleys against the French Line the Jaegers and Grenzers have lost heavily and retreated into the nearby orchard:

The French follow up against the Jaegers and Grenzers:

The situation is looking desperate:

Meanwhile the Austrian Hussars have managed to charge home at the gallop against the weakened French line, even better the French infantry are unloaded:

Even so the result is not conclusive with the French merely driven back. One of the oddities of SP is that units do not pursue after combat so, somewhat bizarrely, the Hussars just stand there and let the French retire!:

While the charge was not entirely successful it has helped drive off the last of the French infantry on the Austrian left. Unfortunately for the Hussars they were left in front of the French artillery after their charge. If they got to move first they could charge and cut down the gunners. If the French moved first they would obliterate the Hussars with cannister. The French fired before the Hussars could move and drove them off!:

A similar situation occurs on the right with French infantry and the Austrian artillery. The Austrians lose out again and the French get to charge the gun before it fires:

The gunners are routed:

However, the French column is now vulnerable with a group of Austrian Line on one flank and the remnants of the Jaegers and Grenzers on the other. Austrian fire pours into the French flanks:

The French column breaks and runs:

The French Voltigeurs who have been sniping from the house throughout the battle emerge and engage the Austrian line:

It's too late though as French morale collapses and the Austrians win the field:

It was nice to return to Sharp Practice after a long time and to get the Austrians out, most people at the club who play SP do the F&I Wars or the AWI so opportunities to get the Napoleonic's out are rare. 

I'd forgotten just how awful light cavalry are in SP, it is one area where I think the rules get the flavour totally wrong. The rules take the usual approach of 'big battle' rules in that heavy cavalry are far more effective compared to lights. Given that SP is a skirmish set of rules I think it would make more sense to make the lights much better as that was their role while their heavier colleagues had much less experience in skirmishing and were not intended to do it anyway.

Hopefully the Austrians will get another game soon!