Starter Army lists ... for 1815 ... help needed

[Rich Jones]

Trying to make an army builder type affair - a bit like in Lasalle for people
down at our club to choose a Nap army to play throw together games with. The
idea will be to have a core force for 1815 that has to be taken and then a
choice of other units to add to this core. Not hugely historic I know but will
work for the guys at our club.

SO my question is how many battalions should the brigades (I know the term is
rather loose) have in general terms ... I am thinking:
French - 3 battalions and some arty for a brigade.
Brit/Allies - this is where we are wavering - should it be 3 or 4?

Cavalry - really should be 2 I suppose but this is hopeless in game terms as
they break at 1 ... two routes here spring to mind, one lump some cav in with
the infantry 'brigades' or have all the cav in one brigade as the lights will
have maurader I suppose.

Any help much appreciated ...

Rich

[Cubster]

I have several bits of advice for you, but they all begin with 'Make sure what comes up in your search engine is relevant to your original question.'

[carvel2]

[Invisible officer]

Most British Brigades at Waterloo had 4 Battalions, but some only three present. Like the 10th Brigade, part of 6th Division. = 4th, 27th, 40th

Cavalry was much more varying.

1st Brigade had 9 squadrons in 4 Regiments.
2nd Brigade 9 Sq in 3 Regiments
3rd Brigade 11 Sq in 3 Regiments.
4th Brig 9 Sq in 3 Regiments
5th Brigade 6 Sq in 2 Regiments
6th Brigade 10 Sq in 3 Regiments

Some Regiments had 2 Squadrons, some 3, some 4 present at Waterloo.

For the French, the ideal Brigade had 4 Battalions of Ligne and 4 of Legere in a Brigade. But that hardly existed at all. You find all Ligne Brigades and some had only Regiments of 2 Battalions present. So you find Brigades with 4 Battalions, and some with 8.
Brigades had no artillery. The division had usually one compagnie ~ Battery. So in a Brigade you could in theory field a half battery only.