Eureka !

I have been wargaming for 30 years, and its hard to believe but this is the first time I have played the Battle of Waterloo. Maybe because I have read and seen so much about the battle it just seemed to be unplayable. Any way, I had placed this project on a back burner for a few months and was just looking for a game system I could use.
I wanted something simple and easy to use but still felt realistic. After a few false dawns in finding the right rules, I came across the excellent Boardgame Geek Website. On there was a review for a new game called Waterloo by Martin Wallace. When I saw a picture of the gameboard I realized this is what I was looking for. The rule system was also a hit for me, the Damage cubes was something I had been using in a similar way in some rules I had devised myself, also the combat system seemed logical as well. The actual scale for the units when I compared it to the actual Order of Battle was beautiful in its simplicity. Infantry units represent about 2500men, Cavalry around 1000 and Artillery 25 guns .



Many years ago I finished using rules that required a measuring tape to move and fire. Instead I started to use either squares or hexes to speed up the game, but the table always looked too unrealistic been broken up in uniformed lines. Thats why when I saw Martin's Board I knew it was like Garlic Bread (the future). I don't know what the term is for it but for the moment I will call it Crazy Paving. There was one drawback the rules are pretty specific to Waterloo with modifiers for national traits, British troops being better than Dutch etc. So I changed the rules slightly so I could play any Napoleonic Battle with them. Intead of Dutch, British etc, I used 3 classes of training and morale, Inferior, Regular and Superior. Also I distinguished between Heavy Cavalry and Light Cavalry , Horse and Foot Artillery.

In the next installment I will give a battle report with pictures of my first attempt.