Battle of Waterloo

As I was playing these rules solo for this game, I thought I would just play it as the battle was fought to get used to the rules. It took a lot longer to set up than I imagined, having to place the field boundaries was a pain. I had to stop and redraw the map so I could work out the measurements, by the time I had placed the troops on the board it was 2.00 a.m in the morning, it had only taken about 5 hours. Although now I know the pitfalls, I'm hoping to cut the set up time down considerably. The table is 5ft by 8ft and I used 15mm figures based on 2 inch square bases, one for cavalry and artillery and 2 bases for infantry, to show their different formations. Instead of damage cubes , I use damage counters with a single dead figure on each one.

Initial positions of the troops

Sideways view of the start of the battle, French on the right and Allies on the left

I started the Battle an hour earlier than in the Board game. The french opened up with an intial bombardment of all the Allied Line. In the Allied turn the damage counters were moved back from the strongpoints to behind the crest, while Wellington waited for the first attack.

French Infantry attacking the Dutch in the orchard in front of Hougomont

At Midday the French Infantry attacked Hougoumont, but first they had to beat the Dutch unit in the orchard in front of the strongpoint. The plucky Dutch were able to hold back the frontal attack, but they were then attacked in the flank by another 2 French Infantry units, who bought a devastating volley on the single Dutch unit. The Dutch were then eliminated after having 7 damage counter assigned to them.

D'Erlon Corp Attacks

The Victorious French attacked Hougoumont hoping for a similar success, but they had no chance against the British Guard in the stronghold and were beaten back. At 1.00 p.m after another heavy French bombardment the whole of the French Centre attacked the Allied line. The attack came to a stop against the farm house of La Haye Sainte and the village of Papelotte. But in the center, D'erlon himself advances over the crest pushing back the Allied Line.

D'Erlon creates a breakthrough in the Allied Line

Wellington sent in his Heavy Cavalry who crashed into the French Infantry who were still in a mobile formation, not having enough time to form a defensive line, all three units were eliminated including their General D'Erlon as well.

There's no stopping the British Cavalry

The cavalry carried on charging over the crest and downhill into the French second advancing line.

The victorious cavalry take the French guns in the valley

The British cavalry carried on and finally halted after taking the French cannons, but were unable to profit on their success because they had no infantry support. Wellington managed to use this time to fill in the gap in his center with reinforcements.

French attacking the Allied Right Flank

The French decided after losing 3 units, that Hougoumont was too hard a strongpoint to crack. So they decided to try and go around the Allied Right Flank, but were again beaten off.

The Prussians arrive.

At 3.00 p.m the Prussian Troops began to appear out of the woods. Napoleon sent his reserves to meet this new threat.

Birdseye view of the end of the Game

At 4.00pm with more Prussians arriving and no clear French Breakout on the Allied Centre I decided to end the game, as I was running out of time.

In conclusion the game was very enjoyable and the rules were very good, usually even after the first play I am tinkering with them because I dont think they give the right feel. These rules however, I believe do, so I will definitely use them again for my refight of the Battle of Talavera on 28th of July.