the problem with cavalry is that it has to be used in certain circumstances.
- charging isolated artillery units works perfectly
charging isolated routed infantry is a must for cavalry. With infantry i found it takes ages sometimes to take down a routed unit then its fit for combat again routed then fly away etc..
with cavalry charge the routed infantry just die on the spot.
the weakness of cavalry is that they're somewhat weak when it comes to receive bullets and they tend to fly away quite fast.
attacking any unit able to receive support from nearby infantry or to some extent guns is likely to fail.
i found carabine cavalry to be very difficult to use, i found them of great potential but the micro needed is just too much especially in very big battles.
this being said i'd be interested if anyone has managed to win the mission where you've got to raid the confederate supply depot with only cavalry carabine units ( you got a few good guns along)
that's the only mission i keep losing and losing.