A few weeks ago I ran Waterloo as a remote game for six players over two evenings. This was prompted by the discovery on Wargames Vault of Evening Napoleon by Alex Trumier. I think the download set me back about £5.
I had played through a few turns of a game some months previously and so was completely confident* that all would go smoothly. Above is the table setup with the French deployed - the playing area is 2x2 feet! Toys were all from my collection of 15mm.
The Cast List:
Wellington - Tim C
Picton - Pete
Prince of Orange - Mark
Napoleon - Simon
Ney - Jerry
Grouchy - Martin (he was away on holiday...)
Blucher - John
and of course...
Both sides are now deployed. The dark brown area marks the lower slopes of Mont St. Jean, the green hills the top of the ridge line. The three built up areas are (from left) Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte and Plancenoit. The coloured counters at this time mark the deployment/arrival areas of the Allied (yellow), French (green) and Prussian (red) armies. In subsequent photos the markers are morale chits. Nasty things.
The initial French assault on MSJ. The Guard are following up.
French cavalry on the right. They were strangely inactive in the early part of the game.
The armies getting stuck in. By now Wellington is about to send the Dutch/Belgian Div to his right flank.
The Emperor wondering if it's time to commit the Guard.
A desperate British cavalry attack on French artillery.
The Prince of Orange (top left) leads his men in person.
Morale chits continue to proliferate!
Cavalry aside, the French force was by now fully committed. So who would show up first - Blucher or Grouchy?
6 comments:
That was a great game- I enjoyed playing it. Interesting how both side ignored the built up farm buildings that feature so much in the actual battle.
Cheers,
Pete.
Hi Tim -
Here was I thinking I hadn't 'quite' got the wherewithal to do 'Waterloo' - and now I see this! Lesson learned. Double. Now Waterloo is definitely on the agenda, and, after a fine (rather larger!) Napoleonic game at the club last Sunday, methinks it is time to have another look at my projected 'Retreat from Smolensk' and 'War of the Final Coalition' campaigns...
Cheers,
Ion
Looks like a most interesting way to do scale-down (or should that be scaled-up, I'm always confused by that terminology?!) Napoleonics. I take it that a base is roughly a brigade, or perhaps division?
Looking forward to part two.
Regards, James
Pete
The BUAs were certainly isolated but I wonder if defending them might have broken up or delayed the French attack.
Archduke Piccolo
I’ve been involved in several Waterloo games. From small numbers of 6mm or 15mm bases like this to the 1500+ 54mm figures we had back in 2015! You always have enough stuff for a battle - it’s all a question of scale!
James Fisher
The level,of representation is open to some debate but the important thing is that the game more or less worked.
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