For a good introductory game, the overall play experience you want the new folks to have is more important than the details of the map. I have two main pieces of advice that are pretty much agnostic of system, era, or setting:
My first piece of advice would be to deploy some of the units controlled by each new player on the table at the beginning of the scenario in a way that ensures they will be involved in combat within half an hour of play time.
These forces should be large enough to get a good understanding of how the main combat mechanics of the game work; personally I'd aim for 1/4 to 1/3 of a player's force, but anywhere up to 1/2 will probably be fine. If the game normally has an involved deployment or approach march phase, decrease this proportion but don't eliminate it, as early combat will involve new players in the action immediately and also allow them to understand what to expect from the game in terms of lethality, decisiveness, etc. to inform the decisions they make with their remaining forces.
As a corollary to the first point, each new player should also have a substantial force (at least 1/3) off-table or in a reserve position that are not released to them until at least after their first serious combat encounter is resolved.
These reinforcements serve several purposes: they allow a new player to learn the rules with a manageable force before taking on a larger task, they give that player a goal to work towards and look forward to ("hold until relief arrives" or "make an opening for the reserve to exploit"), they allow the player to implement what they have learned from the first couple of turns by deciding where to commit these fresh troops with a better understanding of the game, and finally they ensure that the new player will not knock themself out of the game early on because of their unfamiliarity with the rules, allowing them to keep playing and learning for the duration of the game.
Given the forces you've mentioned above, I'd recommend deploying at least one of each player's brigades (infantry, if possible) about one turn's movement beyond skirmish range of the enemy, with a second on table farther back or guarding its flank, and at least one (likely cavalry) in whatever reserve is appropriate.
For your table, use physical terrain features (hills, tall buildings, clumps of trees) that give each player a visible target and a clear path to it (roads, fields, dry streambeds) for their troops to follow. Avoid choke points that control the battlefield, and since it sounds like a multiplayer game (6?), situate the players so that each will interact with more than one opponent (example below):
[Pru #1] [Prussian #2] [British] [Pru #1]*
[Russian #1] [Russian #2] [Cossack]
*perhaps cavalry reserves arriving later?
For maps, pretty much any map of appropriate terrain will do. Roads meeting near a village, one or two hills, several woods, and perhaps a shallow stream on one flank.
Many rules systems include a couple of basic scenarios or have them available for download on their website. I mainly play Et Sans Resultat, which has sourcebooks detailing scenarios from different campaigns. The game Blucher also has a battle generator called Scharnhorst that is worth looking into (and which has some sample maps available online), but I wouldn't have new players use it to generate a battle (although you could use it yourself to pick a map ahead of time).
Best of luck! Hope everyone enjoys it!
paints the Dogman from the Flintloque starter set.
