My dear General Schmidgall, so good to see you again, sir. I have often heard officers sporting about numbers of troops as if the advantage in our battles rests on that factor alone. As you are well aware, I am a seasoned veteran of many engagements, and far from the wide eyed Ensign of my youth. The 30,000 man advantage that you cite means absolutely nothing on this field given the terrain, deployments, command advantage, and troop quality of the French Army. It is, in fact, very easily negated by some rudimentary maneuvering. Just my opinion of course. Others may well see it differently.
I have played the Battle of Leipzig only once, as the French with General Knox as my partner. I well know what the French Army can do on this field. I do not personally ever allow myself to be misled by the history of the event, or any preconceptions of what should occur. I am a simple soldier who studies the map before me with an open mind to all possibilities. In truth, though I hold you and the officers who stand ready to engage by your side in the highest esteem, I have not the time to contest you on the field at this moment, much less to participate in a mirror matched engagement. For any of my Coalition bretheren who might be interested, I would suggest that they do mirror match the engagement if playing the French side is not an option for them in a single game.
I wish you the very best of luck in securing your opponents, General. Perhaps a Prussian team would be brave enough to accept your challenge. I hear they are particularly fierce in battle although, in truth, I seem to recall that it may actually have been a Prussian officer who made that claim to me.
