Waterloo 2026

Last week I headed-over to Shrivenham with other members of the club to take the part of the French in a Waterloo refight using Bloody Big Battles. We were facing a tough fight against some top notch military strategists and the author of the rules. So we did what anyone do - we reached for maths and spreadsheets.

The plan

Having refought this battle a few times we had a few possible plans in mind.

• A left hook taking Hougoumont, out-flanking the ridge and taking the Brussels road.
• Grabbing the farms and then moving against the ridge.
• A right hook taking La Haye Saint and Papelotte before crossing the ridge. 

We also made a few assumptions in making our plan

• We could outshoot the Allies if we managed to mass our guns but needed to keep moving not get bogged down.
• The farms would be strong positions with the Allies best units. Hougoumont likely the toughest of all.
• Grouchy would not arrive but the Prussians would, possibly quite early.
• The ridge would provide shelter from our guns and could be tricky to cross. In fact the brief made it clear we could charge from one side to the other, making that easier.
• Our right hook plan was the most likely to be a success given the  photos we'd seen   

So having viewed the table we decided on a variant of right hook plan; 

• II Corps (Nigel) would screen Hougoumont and attack the ridge
• IV Corps (Robin) would assault La Hay Saint then attack the ridge
• I Corps (Adam)would attack Papelotte then also cross the ridge. The Guards would support IV Corps
• Much of our Cav (me) and the Young Guards would hold Placenoit and delay the Prussians .

The execution

Start positions from the Hougoumont side

Deployment on my flank

We began as planned with the right flank holding back and the rest advancing as we looked to form a Grand Battery in front of La Hay Saint to bombard it and later the ridge. This was disrupted by some accurate Allied fire but we were still able to take the farm after a couple of turns.    

La Hay Saint in our sights

II Corps ay Hougoumont

The attacking Corps then moved forward towards the ridge with Papelotte falling quickly but the attempt to exploit this being pushed back by some well motivated Militia troops. With the attacking divisions approaching the ridge we were pretty much on plan when the Prussians arrived.     

Grouchy proved about as useful as we assumed he would - few troops made it to the field (one Division) and he did little to delay the Prussians with three Corps arriving on our flanks in quick succession. I opted for a series of spoiling attacks and then some evading to draw the Prussians onto me and deny them the time to take Placenoit. 

Turn 9 was the high watermark, and last turn, with Mont St Jean falling to the Guards before they were pushed back by the British. The result was declared a draw with both sides holding two objectives, the Brussels road not cut, and the French still with a powerful army in the field.      

The day

From the French side we felt we'd exceeded Napoleons performance on the day, but did have the advantage of hindsight and spreadsheets.

 It was certainly a fun day and my first game in an active military establishment. There were some nice side chats about BBB, history, gaming, and the fickleness of dice. All seemed keen for further games, which is the mark of a successful event. Big thanks to our hosts for the venue, hosting and friendly spirit.