Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Battle of Waterloo


Historical background
On 18 June 1815 Wellington fought his first battle against Napoleon and the last battle of his military career, at Waterloo.  Blucher’s arrival forced Napoleon to detach a large part of his army to slow the Prussian advance.

Wargame background
 No attempt has been made to recreate either the actual battlefield or the historical orders of battle.    This is a wargame based on Waterloo, but fought using 28mm figures on a relatively small table 6x6 foot.   Due to the size of the table only the main part of the battle, between Wellington and Napoleon, is fought.



Map of battle of waterloo


Historical Orbat

Wellington                              69000 infantry                        14000 cavalry              192 guns
Blucher                                  99000 infantry                        12000 cavalry              313 guns
Napoleon                               87000 infantry                        22000 cavalry              344 guns                     

Wargame Orbat
Wellington      Gifted             128 Infantry    16 cavalry        4 guns                         
Soult              Gifted             128 infantry   16 cavalry        4 guns


British commanders
Cooke            Average           32 infantry      1 gun              
Picton             Average           32 infantry      1 gun                          
Clinton            Poor                32 infantry      1 gun  
Cole               Average           32 infantry      1 gun
Uxbridge         Poor               16 cavalry

French commanders
Drouot             Gifted             32 infantry      1 gun  
D’Erlon           Average           32 infantry      1 gun              
Reille               Average           32 infantry      1 gun  
Vandamme       Poor                32 infantry      1 gun
Pajol                Average           16 cavalry
Kellerman        Average           16 cavalry

 Table at start of battle

French army nearest to the camera
2nd and 3rd corps left of road
Guard and 4th corps right of road
Cavalry in reserve

British at top of table
Far left 1st corps in and behind Hougoumont
Centre 2nd corps in and behind La Haye Sainte
Far right 3rd corps on and behind hill
4th corps and cavalry are in reserve


 French left
2nd and 3rd corps ready to advance
5th cavalry corps in reserve

 French right
Guard and 4th corps ready to advance
6th cavalry corps in reserve

 British left
3rd corps on hill, 2nd corps behind La Haye Sainte
British cavalry in reserve

British right
2nd corps behind La Haye Sainte, 1st corps behind Hougoumont
4th corps in reserve


Rules

This battle is based on Waterloo, it is not meant to be a refight of it.

We don’t have models of Hougoumont or La Haye Sainte in 28mm

We use our own rules to fight all of these battles.

Link to wargame rules

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