HPS Series Cavalry and other mysteries

[Steel God]

Would some kind soul explain Cavalry 101 to me for the HPS Nappy series?

I have watched repeatedly while my opponents use their cavalry to great effect, attacking my units of all kinds and achieving lopsided kill ratios, while I have never managed to win a cavalry attack of my own against anything other than undefended artillery units. And by win I don't mean just pushing a defending unit out of a hex. I've managed that, but usually while sustaining at least equal if not higher losses. I charge when possible. I add leaders into the stacks. I work to achieve flank attacks and rear attack. I try for numerical advantage. And still, time and again I take 100 or so casualties while inflicting a handful and getting no where. And I've been playing the French so we're talking about B, A and A+ quality units. What am I doing wrong?

My great frustration with this series so far is the complete lack of any numbers on the counters. Here's a battalion of troops, here's the number of men in the battalion, here's what they are armed with, and here's their quality. A great history lesson to be sure, but what does it mean in game terms? How many combat factors does that unit produce? When I play PzC I see a unit has an attack value of 8 and has 100 men, I know it's got roughly 800 attack value before modifiers. makes sense, I can count and make a plan of attack. In Nappy (and I suspect ACW is the same way although I haven't played with it yet) I see none of that. It's just stick a battalion in and see what you get. Anyone care to share some knowledge on this subject as well?

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time.

Paul