My command structure for l'Armee du Nord for the summer of 1815 would therefore have been as follows.
Commander in Chief The Emperor Napoleon 1
Chief of Staff Marshal Alexandre Berthier
Chief Staff Officer General Francois Bailly de Monthyon
Commander of Artillery General Jean-Ambroise la Riboisiere
Commander of Engineers General Jean-Baptiste Eble or
  General Andre-Bruno Frevol LaCoste
Marshals Commanding Groups Marshal Andre Massena & Marshal Jean Lannes
Imperial Guard Commander Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout
Old Guard General Louis Friant
Middle Guard General Alexis Morand
Young Guard General Charles-Etienne Gudin
Cavalry of the Guard Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessieres
Light Cavalry General Antoine-Charles LaSalle
Heavy Cavalry General Lepic, Nansouty or d'Espagne
Artillery of the Guard General Alexandre de Senarmont
1st Corps General Louis-Charles Desaix
  Cavalry General Charles-Claude Jacquinot
2nd Corps Prince Eugene
  Cavalry General Hippolyte Guillaume Pire
3rd Corps General Dominic Vandamme
  Cavalry General Claude-Etienne Guyot
4th Corps General Maurice-Etienne Gerard
  Cavalry General Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes
6th Corps General Alexis Delzons
Cavalry Reserve Prince Joachim Murat
1st Cavalry Corps General Pierre-Joseph Bruyere
2nd Cavalry Corps General Louis-Pierre Montbrun
3rd Cavalry Corps General Francois-Etienne Kellerman
4th Cavalry Corps General Jean Joseph d'Hautpoul

In selecting Murat as leader of the Cavalry Reserve, I am not saying that he was tactically the greatest leader, but though many consider him to have been reckless to say the least, there is no doubt that he possessed a charisma and a presence on the field that others would loyally follow him whatever the circumstances. Under his command they believed themselves to be invincible.

In bringing back Gudin I have reconstituted Davout's old III Corps with the three original divisional commanders and with Davout himself, what a quartet they make.

Placing Bessieres at the head of the Cavalry of the Imperial Guard and therefore subordinate Davout the overall Guard commander may have caused some problems for Davout as le duc d'Istrie usually insisted that he only accepted orders direct from the Emperor himself.

You will have seen that I have displayed a degree of uncertainty when selecting the heavy cavalry commander. Nansouty, Lepic and d'Espagne all had the necessary qualities and experience but if pushed, I would have to opt for the last of this trio, d'Espagne, yet another Gascon.

Alexis-Joseph Delzons has earned his appointment as commander of the VI Corps. Had he survived at Maloyaroslavets is it extremely likely that he would have been created a Duke after the name of that place. He was another highly experienced soldier and a General since mid 1801. Having served in Austria in 1805 he spent the next few years in the relative backwaters of the Illyrian Provinces and so missed the headline making battles of Eylau, Jena and Friedland and indeed Aspern-Essling. The Aurillac born soldier saw action against both the Russians and the Montenegrins at among others, Castelnuovo, Mont Kitta, Gospich, Ottochatz and Fiume etc. He briefly joined the main stream and was present at Wagram and Znaim before again departing for Illyria returning only in April 1812 when he joined Prince Eugene's VI Corps de l'Armee for the Russian Campaign, which we all know, he was not to survive.

All four Cavalry Corps commanders virtually pick themselves. They are all extremely talented, highly experienced and each enjoyed a good reputation.

It's all a bit of nonsense really, just designed to provoke thought and comment on a hypothetical scenario. I have ignored the question of age and physical fitness. For example Lepic suffered very badly from arthritis so even had he not gone over to the Bourbons, he would not have been fit enough, but for my exercise he is in remarkably fine fettle. For this purpose also, the Emperor is deemed to be in much better health than he really was at Waterloo. The abilities of all commanders are assumed to be at the pinnacle of their respective careers. i.e. Massena is selected on the basis of his early career and not on his performances in the Peninsular.

I hope you will join in this fun and let me have your comments and observations about the wisdom or otherwise of my selections and put forward your own views on whom you think would be given what post.