#ThursdayNapoleonics: SPI's Wellington's Victory at 14:00hrs

My ongoing Naps project is my boardgame: SPI’s Wellington’s Victory, their Waterloo monster game from the late 1970s. It’s going very slowly.  Here’s the overall map at the conclusion of the 13:45 turn.

 

Close up of the centre position.  

The ridge anchoring the Allied line to the left of La Haye Sainte is starting to look at little porous as the Belgian/Dutch units give way under the bombardment of I Corps’ cannons.   LHS itself is holding out as the defenders exchange ineffectual musketry with the French skirmishers.   If Napoleon wants to take the position, he will have to send in men to take it with the bayonet, and that will be bloody.  However, with the Imperial Guard drawing close now, LHS will need to be taken.  Between LHS and Hougomont, elements of Reille’s II Corps are moving forward to give the Imperial Guard some space to deploy if Napoleon decides to send it in that direction.

Most worrisome for Wellington now has to be his left flank, which is slowly but inexorably being turned by I Corps, supported by Milhaud’s heavy cavalry, which so far have proved the French stars of the game.  

The British cavalry has had very poor luck stopping them.   In the last 15 minutes, Ponsonby was killed leading his troopers in a desperate charge to slow the French advance, but was countercharged and routed by Vial’s cuirassiers.  Hanoverian landwehr are streaming to the rear, and over 1500 of them have already exited the map, a terrible and permanent loss to Allied morale.   Wellington has ordered Lambert’s British infantry brigade and the entire Brunswick division to shore up his left wing, hopefully they will be enough to hold the wing.  It’s an hour before the first Prussian units enter the map.

Cheers,  MP+

 

#ThursdayNapoleonics, SPI's Wellington's Victory at 1:00pm

Wanting to finish the latest batch of minis has taken my eyes off the game lately, but the monster awaits, in the cat-proof gaming room, and so we have started the 1pm turn.  Here’s the overall view:

D’Erlon’s I Corps took a bit of a beating in the last half hour.  Three of his four divisions are battered and intermixed, but are continuing to put heavy pressure on Wellington’s left wing.   Currently the British cavalry of Vivian, Vandaleur and Ponsonby are buying time.  Two of Ponsonby’s three regiments charged successfully, routing 1600 French troops and dispatching the crew of D’Erlon’s 3d Div artillery, which was rashly pushed forward.  However, the French have managed to capture Papelotte, and have just cued up three cavalry charges in a bid to turn Wellington’s flank.   About to do the morale checks for the Allied units within the triangles of the blue charge markers.

In the centre, bands of French skirmishers are starting to lap around La Haye Sainte and have evicted the King’s German Legion from part of the orchard.   French cannon have started to bombard the Sandpit.  At 1pm, Napoleon commits the Old and Middle Guard and orders them to move forward.

 

#ThursdayNapoleonics: SPI'S Wellington's Victory, the Battle of Waterloo at 12:45pm.

Hello friends:

It’s Thursday and time for the weekly Napoleonic update.   

I took a chance on these new Osprey rules, hoping they’d be to Naps gaming what Dragon Rampant has proved for quick and easy (an earlier generation of grognards would have said beer and pretzels) gaming.

Boyd Bruce, the author, promises in his forward that these rules will indeed be simple and fast playing.   It is agnostic to scales and bases, and while the game’s smallest unit is called a division, grouped as corps, the rules still allow for tactical formations (square, column, line) which seems odd to me.   I’ve had to wade through with a highlighter to understand the mechanics, as there is no index or any QR charts, but I think I grasp the mechanics and hope to try it with some 6mm units soon.  More to follow.

Currently in my bedside reading is this book, obtained from a recent Hellion Press sale.

The authors have done a brilliant job of combing the archives and pulling together letters from a wide variety of soldiers - rankers and the odd junior officer - and  they are generally grim reading.    A typical letter might read:  “Dear Mother and Father, I am tired of war.  Please send me money as I lost my equipment and need to buy more.  I am hungry, cold, have no shoes.  I send my love.”   Many of the letters focus on conscription, trying to obtain release from the army or exemption for younger brothers, and most are very simple, as the letter writers were not all that literate.  Sometimes men from the same village or town would pull together and have someone write a letter  for them, in all their voices.   There are notes for each letter explaining what is known of the soldier writing it, and sadly, many never came home.   Grim reading that inspires respect for the hardships these men endured.

Now, down to the basement and the gaming room, which thus far has remained cat proof.   Here is the Battle of Waterloo having just finished the 12:30pm turn.

 

On the right, a token force of French light infantry has forced their way into the orchard of Hougoumont, but show no signs of going any further.  Foy’s and Bachelu’s divisions of II Corps are now committed and appear to be moving towards La Haye Sainte??

Pressure building on La Haye Sainte and on the Allied centre.  Galling fire from French skirmishers has caused some 300 casualties to the KGL and Rifles holding the farm this last turn.  Allied musketry in response was unlucky.  French I Corps artillery is now unlimbered and ready to fire at long range.

Fighting has been fiercest on the French right.  D’Erlon’s I Corps has been pushing hard, but a company of Dutch/Belgian skirmishers amazingly still hold Papelotte and have already seen off an attack by ten times their number.    Some of the Dutch battalions have broken but the Hanoverians are holding steady and Pack’s redcoats are in line behind the ridge waiting for their moment.   There have been charges and countercharges - Vivian and Vandaleur’s brigades have pushed back Jacqunot’s chasseurs, with losses on both sides.  Of the commanders, Perponcher and Vivian on the Allied side are hors de combat, and Bruno likewise.  Shock combat has proven deadly to chaps in lace coats.

French infantry attacks are proving fragile, as seems right, but the pressure on Wellington’s left is growing and it is a long time before the first Prussian columns appear on the map.

Any advice for Wellington or Napoleon?

Blessings to your die rolls!

MP+

Thursday Napoleonics: SPI's BIG Waterloo Game, Wellington's Victory, to 12:15pm

For my June project, I am revisiting a game I first played in high school, against a much older and patient opponent, who methodically dismembered me, though if you’re reading this, Dave, you got some key rules wrong!

This is Wellington’s Victory, one of SPI’s monster games of the 1970s, and in my opinion there is no lovelier paper, hex and counter game, though the colour choices for the elevations seem quite arid for the rain-soaked spring landscape of Belgium.   Certainly the national colours for the various units are lovely.   Here is the complete setup for the complete Battle of Waterloo, which commences at 11:45 on the turn track.

Any Waterloo game has to assume that Napoleon knows that Grouchy will not come, otherwise it doesn’t make much sense.   So, in this solo game, my object as the French is to throw as much of my weight as possible against the Anglo-Dutch, though the drain of committed brigades on the Army Morale total (let it drop to zero and bad things happen) mean that I have to decide carefully how much of my force to commit at the outset.

Opening Moves:  French commit Bauduin’s brigade of Jerome Bonaparte’s 6/II Div.  These light infantry battalions will deploy as skirmishers and move against the Hougoumont orchard to keep the British honest.

On the right, me/Napoleon commits all 8 brigades of D’Erlon’s I Corps, as well as the Corps light cavalry division of Jacquinot.  The French plan is to threaten Wellington’s left without getting sucked into the Hougoumont trap while punching hard  against the Anglo-Dutch left.

 

British throw the 1/95th Rifles and a battalion of KGL lights as skirmishers into La Haye Sainte to reinforce the position.  Meanwhile a regiment of British Guards deploys as skirmishers and moves to reinforce Hougoumont, but no more reinforcements there for now.

 

D’Erlon’s Corps begins its advance.

French light infantry skirmishers begin to press into Hougoumont’s orchard at bayonet point, both sides taking some casualties.  I begin to feel the magnetic pull of  chateau.  Must Resist!

Close up of the action as the French press against the Belgians and Dutch holding Papelotte.  

Just after this photo was taken in the Allied fire phase, the French columns started coming under cannon fire and three battalions were disordered with casualties.  Meanwhile, Milhaud’s 3rd HvyCav Div is committed and moving up.  Allies responded by committing Vivian and Vanderleur’s two cavalry brigades on the A-D left flank.

More to follow as I play it!   Who knows if I’ll finish the game this calendar year!

Blessings to your die rolls, 

MP+