Sunday, November 29, 2015

Battle Report Waterloo

At our club (Ottawa Miniature Gamers) we have been playing the Battle of Waterloo.

This was organised by one of our members. The basic concept was

Scenario: Waterloo 1815
This scenario is a framework for playing the battle over 4 sessions, representing the timing of the main phases of the battle.

Basic concept
Each division will start in one of the areas on the map, as indicated below. When an attack occurs a battle is fought. The campaign is designed on the assumption that the battles will be fought using Lasalle, though players are free to use other rules, with appropriate adaptations.

The possible lists and attachments for each battle will be determined by the campaign coordinator, based on the elements and strengths assigned to the battle. Standard attachments are noted in the tables below, but may be modified by the campaign coordinator. Standard battles will be between one normal Lasalle list plus one support. If the divisions assigned to a battle are at least 50% larger on one side than the other, the larger side can add a second support. 

Turns
To give a sense of the progression of the battle, the four campaign turns represent approximately the following times of day on 18 June 1815:

Turn 1 – 10:00-13:00
Turn 2 – 13:00-16:00
Turn 3 – 16:00-19:00
Turn 4 – 19:00-22:00
You can read about the entire campaign at the following link;


This battle report is Turn 4. I was representing Napoleon. This was the battle for Mont Saint-Jean. A victory would possibly give the French a victory at Waterloo. This is the map at the start of turn 4.
I have circled the area that I will be battling. There were three other battles going on at the club and two battles needed to be rolled for. My battle was played using the Lasalle rules.

I am using the French Infantry Division (Hundred Days) with a Light Cavalry and Veteran Infantry Organic Brigade. This can be found at page 107 of the rule book. The British are using an Infantry Division and an Infantry Support Brigade. The amount of support brigades were decided on the strength of the troops in the battle.

I will show the pictures then have a brief explanation. 


This is the initial set up. The British are at the far side of the table. (at the top of the image) and the French at the bottom. The image shows the entire British Force, but only the right flank of the French force. The French elite Infantry are in the centre. You can make our the yellow Infantry. The Cavalry is on the right. The British only have Infantry and two Arty Units. During the reaction phase the British fired their Artillery and cause one disruption. It takes four disruptions to kill a small unit.

This is a close up of the British Position.

 French Left flank. The Infantry is moving up, using the buildings as cover from the British artillery.
On the right flank the French have moved up mostly in March. The Cavalry is moving on the right to force the British infantry in square. The British move their right flank (Top left of picture) 

 Turn 5 French centre. Artillery fires for no effect.
 Turn 5 French left flank. Still moving up.
Turn 5 French right flank. Cavalry are closing in. I decided to by pass the British left flank. The Cavalry is aiming for the Artillery. Two of the British Infantry units have gone to square. (Top right)

 Turn 7 French left flank. Still closing in. The British are redeploying the Infantry on the tree line.
Turn 7 French right flank. French Cavalry have close on first British Infantry. The British decided not to go into square. When a cavalry unit attacks infantry in square, the amount of dies are halved. This not being the case the Infantry had to half the amount of dice. (Defender halves combat dice if Infantry not in square are attacked by Cavalry) So the amount of dice were French 16 and British 4. The unit was destroyed.

 Turn 9 French Centre Flank. The French Infantry have now reached the British Centre. This is the Elite French Infantry. One French Unit attacking one British Unit. (Just on the left of the smoke marker) The attack failed and the French were forced back.
Turn 9 left flank. The French are closing in on the British line in the woods. The trees are hiding one British Infantry unit. The French attack with the Unit close to the house. (Centre of image) This attack also fails and the French are forced back.
Turn 9 right flank. The French are still advancing with the Cavalry and destroy the British Artillery . Unit. The British decide to move the two units that were in square and move towards the objective.

Turn 10 British attack with Artillery and cause one disruption to yellow unit. (French elite infantry)

Turn 11 French Cavalry have killed all infantry and Artillery on British left flank. The British will be rolling for morale as they have hit break point. 1/3 of their units have been destroyed. The British make their roll.

 Turn 13 French left flank has collapsed the British Flank. All that is left is four British Infantry Units. One close to the Objective (The well top middle) and one that is surrounded by French Units and two that are on the complete British left flank.
Turn 13 French right flank. A French cavalry and Infantry unit decide to attack the two remaining British Infantry units on the British left flank. On the British turn they would destroyed the French Cavalry Unit and a French Infantry Unit. The British again beat the morale roll. They roll 5 dice and must beat the turn number. In this case they would need to beat 13.

Turn 15. This is the end. The French have captured the objective. The only remaining British units are the two Infantry Units that are just off the map. Having taken the objective the British roll only 4 dice and must still beat the turn number. The British fail to roll higher then 15 and lose the game. This was a decisive victory. The French lose 2 Units.


Final result of the Waterloo Campaign.

2 comments:

  1. First time I have seen a battle played out like this. Thanks Serge. Congrats on the victory!

    ReplyDelete