Nearly Waterloo – The Wargame

  Table at the Start of Game

This is not a recreation of the historical battle

Terrain and orders of battle are not historical

The orders of battle for both British and French are fictional. 

The British have 12 infantry brigades, 4 cavalry brigades and 4 guns

The French have 16 infantry brigades, 4 cavalry brigades and 4 guns

To win the French must take the cross roads by the end of move 12

The battle starts at 0800 and each move is one hour

Move 1 – 0800 to 0900

Napoleon orders attacks on Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte and Papelotte

The reserve artillery will support the attack on Lay Haye Sainte

The Guard and cavalry will remain in reserve.

Wellington sends one brigade to support La Haye Sainte

Move 2 – 0900 to 1000

French advance brings them within range of British artillery

French artillery unlimber at close range to Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte 

Move 3 – 1000 to 1100

British and French artillery both open fire

French infantry skirmish Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte and Papelotte

La Haye Sainte garrison suffer casualties but pass morale test

Move 4 – 1100 to 1200

British garrison retreat from Hougoumont and Papelotte

Garrison of La Haye Sainte hold on

White stars indicate casualties

Move 5 – 1200 to 1300

British reinforce La Haye Sainte

French enter Hougoumont and Papelotte

British cavalry advance 

Move 6 – 1300 to 1400

French rout garrison of La Haye Sainte

French infantry approach ridge behind Hougoumont and Papelotte

French Guard and both cavalry corps ordered to advance in centre

Move 7 – 1400 to 1500

British artillery withdraw to main battle line

Napoleon orders a general advance towards the British position

Move 8 – 1500 to 1600

British counter attack La Haye Sainte

French win cavalry melee on the left

Also win melee on right and then charge and rout nearby gunners

Napoleon leads forward his Guard infantry and cavalry in the centre

Note.   Stars indicate brigades in rout

Move 9 – 1600 to 1700

The table has been extended at the top to include area behind British position

French attack, white stars indicates hand to hand fighting

British rout from ridge on left

French take La Haye Sainte centre left

French guard infantry and cavalry fight centre right

British hold on right

Move 10 – 1700 to 1800

French continue to advance

British start to retreat

Move 11 – 1800 to 1900

Reille has taken the hill on the left

Ney had broken the British centre with the Imperial Garde

D’Erlon has taken the hill on the right

Each white star is a British brigade in rout

Summary

With light casualties Napoleon has won the battle of Waterloo

Wellington has 15 of his 20 brigades in rout

The first half of the battle was fairly even and either side could have won

With the loss of Hougoumont and Papolette the tide turned

Despite holding La Haye Sainte through most of the battle

The dice just went against Wellington resulting in a one sided battle

Both started with 96 infantry, 16 cavalry and 16 gunners

British lost 41 infantry, 4 cavalry and 7 gunners

French lost 12 infantry, 1 cavalry and 1 gunner

Game Note

Despite the one sided result this was a very enjoyable wargame

The artillery were pretty ineffective on both sides

The cavalry combat resulted in a convincing French victory

But the battle was decided by the infantry combat

This was largely down to dice, which was very much in favour of the French

However the British held La Haye Sainte throughout most of the battle

Using the same figures and same tactics the British could easily have won

Slide Show

There is a slide show of the game here

   

https://youtu.be/VdYHubd40q0