Waterloo Revisited

The urge struck last night for a wargame. A little fossicking brought out recent favourite W1815, and the board was set up.

Napoleon begins with a boom! - the Grand Battery roars its delight at battle commencing. Anti-climactically, the mud interferes, Orange is unaffected, and a relieved Wellington passes the baton to Blucher, who gets lost.

The Grand Battery fires again. This time Allied morale suffers. Blucher brings a division onto the field. Good man!

Once more the Grand Battery barks; again the mud interferes.

Blucher brings on another.

Napoleon changes plans. Reille is activated and Hougoumont threatened, but Wellington calls upon the Reserve, and Hougoumont holds.

Reille attacks again with casualties on both sides. Blucher brings on a third division.

Kellerman is activated to strike at Hill. Allied morale is affected, but at a cost. Hill, having formed square, orders his troops back into line.

Reille attacks again: more casualties on both sides. Blucher brings on a fourth division. Reille continues to attack, and the Reserve is called upon to reinforce Hill.  Reille attacks again with more casualties to both sides. The British cannot sustain the fight, and Hill's command is broken.

Wellington turns to Blucher, who brings on another division and is now present in considerable force.

Reille threatens Hougoumont again, and for the last time the Reserve is used to preserve the position. Milhaud attacks, but Orange goes into square and staves off damage. Blucher launches, and the Guard must activate to prevent Plancenoit falling.

Blucher moves to bring on another division. The Guard attacks Orange with Napoleon's blessing, and does good work.

Blucher launches at Plancenoit again, and this time it succumbs.

The Guard attacks once more, and the Allied army, morale test failed, routs. Victory to the French!

Game 2.

The Grand Battery fires off again, and Blucher navigates his way to the battlefield. This interplay continues for some time. Eventually Kellerman moves against Hill, who goes into and comes out of square. Reille hits Hougoumont but is repulsed. Casualties mount.

Reille throws his all into the attack on Hougoumont. The Reserve activates to hold the French off. Blucher comes as quickly as he can; so quickly that Lobau counter-attacks him.

The Guard moves and Blucher comes on in force. Casualties mount; the French push, but, just as they are about to drive Wellington off his hill, their morale breaks. An unlikely victory for the Allies!

And so W1815 provided an entertaining couple of hours play. The French were very unlucky in the second game to fail a morale test just as they were about to break Wellington on casualties alone. They rolled a six for morale, and with two plus-ones in play, just tipped over their breakpoint. It must've been the spectre of the Prussians that did it!

Overall, the game is nicely balanced, and there are different strategies to explore. It is mostly the French who drive the action, but there are moments when the Allies can apply pressure and force Napoleon into desperate choices. Well suited to solitaire play, I think.

Don't tell the missus, but I enjoy this game so much I've ordered its scion - Hollandspiele's Table Battles and all its expansions - from the US. I wonder if I can smuggle it into the house unnoticed? The chances are not good!

A Napoleonic Affair

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited out to attend a 28mm Napoleonic wargame put on by local wargamer Roundie and his mate Keith, using the General d'Armee rules.

As far as I can recall, it's only the second Napoleonic miniatures game I've ever played - the first being some 25 years ago! - and it was simply magnificent. Roundie's table, terrain and figures were marvellous to behold. Honestly, it was like stepping into a wargames glossy photo shoot. Having been used to a rather more modest approach to wargames terrain, I was blown away by the spectacle.

And the rules and scenario weren't bad either. As part of the Austrian command, our mission was to clear two hills situated either side of a prominent church. We had five brigades - two of line infantry, one of grenadiers, two of horse - with which to do it, and were up against six or seven French brigades.

Without boring people with all the details, we got our artillery into good positions which allowed us to take toll of the French first encountered, and thence to eventually get onto the hill on our right. But there were too many French for us to drive off completely, and we never quite had the command resources to get our cavalry into play early enough to make a difference.

The game itself was very good. The scenario was nicely (im)balanced, with the Austrians having initial deployment and weight-of-numbers advantages offset by French proximity to objectives and quantity of reserves.

I thought the rules were straightforward and play was driven by a pleasing mix of player decisions and dumb luck. The command and control mechanisms were playable and easy to understand, but still involved giving orders. There were obvious advantages to wearing down the enemy, but melee combat was risky, and even the best prepared attacks could go wrong.

It was a great day, and I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to command troops in such a magnificent setting.

To finish, I'll chuck on a few photos of the action.

Showing the Austrian advance and the two hills that were our objectives.

Showing the centre where a hasty attack launched by the Austrians in an effort to dislodge the French from the leftmost hill ended badly for the aggressors.

Matters proceed more advantageously on the Austrian right, where the guns wear down the enemy as the line infantry advance into position to assault the hill.

We get onto one hill...

...and the French charge down on us from the other.

Things look grim for the Austrian centre, but the deployment of the guns will throw back the  French attack.

On our right we get onto the hill in force, and will not be dislodged now. With neither side achieving their objectives, the game is an honourable draw.

(Gratuitous shot of the French cavalry...)

(Another gratuitous shot, this time of one of our brave battalions taking the hill)

As I say, a most enjoyable day of gaming with our host Roundie, Keith umpiring, and the fearsome French under Rob and Michael. I would certainly want to play these rules again.