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.      

Montrose Turn 3

As we enter June 1644 Montrose attacks a strongpoint in Dumfries & Galloway. The Royalists must destroy or occupy the tower to win the game.

In the pre-battle phase both sides mixed bombardment with manoeuvre with the Irish suffering the most from the fire. With the terrain being fairly dense neither had room to deploy their Horse to full effect and they had limited impact on the game.   

The tower

Royalist right

Montrose sought to push forward across the line but poor command meant that the Raw Lowland troops bore the brunt of the early fighting. They managed to make some progress in the east of the field before running out of steam.   

Parliament manoeuvres to protect the tower from the Irish

The Irish attacked in deep formation in the west but for once were unable to break through the Parliamentary forces lines. They fought well but were weakened by artillery fire before the assault and this may have led them to be less effective that usual.  

The Irish attack 

Campaign Situation

So Dumfries remains in Parliamentary hands following their first win. 

 

Montrose Turn 1, April 1644

The campaign began with Montrose launching attacks into Lower Highlands and Ayrshire.

Upper Highlands - Determination 

In this game both sides scored points from getting units over the centre line, with the Pike & Shot battalia worth double the other units. The terrain was hilly with scattered scrub. 

Montrose at the bottom of the picture

Both sides advanced with their cavalry on the eastern side of the field. The Royalists pushed their veteran Irish units up the centre. Other units were used by them to outflank in the west and their horse held back.     

Montrose Irish

The Royalists were able to push through in the middle and attack around the outside in the west. The cavalry battle was tussle where the Royalists had a slight edge.   

Covenanter foot counter the Royalist flank moves

The final score was 6-4 to the Royalists. Royalists Win.

Ayrshire - Forlorn Hope

In this game both sides began with 2 units and their guns deployed forward and the remainder of the army looking to catchup. Points were scored for kills with the forlorn hopes scoring extra.

Royalist forlorn hope 

In the pre-game movements the Parliamentary forces caused some damage on the Irish troops while the Royalists looked to advance their cavalry as a screen to protect the Highland units seeking to outflank the Parliamentary forlorn hope.     

The Parliamentary forces had the better of the cavalry battles but Montrose horse hung on long enough to let the Highlanders attack the forlorn hope and push them back. Meanwhile the Irish on the Royalist right punched through the Parliamentary battalia opposing them.      

Highlanders get around the corner

Losses mounted on both sides but the Parliamentary armies morale gave way and they retreated in the gathering gloom. Royalist Win. 

Campaign situation

A good start for Montrose with both Lower Highlands and Ayrshire coming under his influence.  

 

Spanning the centuries

The last 10 days have been pretty busy on the gaming front - thank goodness I'm retired as I've never have the time!

First up some WWII using the latest iteration of Keith Flints Startline battalion level rules. They have a strong heritage in the classic 80s WRG rules but cleaned-up and sped-up. We cracked through a 1944 scenario in an evening and there is interest in doing a Monday-night club campaign.   

Germans hiding in wait

British attackers

We're now almost ready to start our Montrose campaign so we did a final practice game that introduced the Scottish/Irish troops. They are more fighty than the Covenanters but shoot less well.  Not shown I also played a 20mm game with Roy but the intense heat forced us a to halt before the end.  

Highlanders attack

Irish getting stuck in

It was also monthly Beneath the Lilly Banners time with us once again fighting Ottomans vs Russians in the Great North Wars. This game has a distinctly colonial feel and was a resetting of the Battle of of the Pyramids. We called in a marginal victory for the Russians as they took the riverside village and withstood fierce Ottoman attacks which broke up the front square but did nt rout it. 

Front Russian square - they would bear the grunt of the casualties 

Finally some Blucher - the Battle of Mincio (1814) river which pitched French/Italians against Austrians in an encounter game where both armies were divided by a river. Both sides opted for a left flank movement with the French looking initially to be too slow. 

6mm Austrians

The French centre was able to hang-on while their comrades on the left destroyed all the Austrians west of the river. Units were traded in the centre allowing the French to break the Austrians when their losses hit 50%.  

 

French attacking the Austrian centre and flank

Finally finally (not pictured) was some Deadzone scifi skirmish. I'm playing in  a tournament in August so some practice was in order. I was nt entirely happy with the Enforcers I used (AKA space marines) so will return to my trusty cyborgs from the evil Mazon Labs list 

Triple S - SciFi, Scots and Spies

 A fairly busy week of gaming as we approach the end of June. 

I'm still painting for a new addition to the "5 Parsecs From Home" solo Sci-Fi skirmish  family - "Planet Fall". In this variant of 5FPH you are the commander of an expedition seeking to colonise an alien world. I've been painting both the xenomorphs and the crew.

Crabman xeno

Expedition soldiers

Expedition scientists

I've also been to Fishponds for another game of "Test of Honour". The scenario involved the Samurai trying to smuggle a spy off the table as the Warrior Monks look to block their progress.    

Warrior Monks

Samurai

The spy did nt escape before we completed the game be we called it for the attacking Samurai.    

Action in the centre

Finally we're starting our new campaign looking at the Montrose rebellion in ECW Scotland. We're using "Never Mind the Matchlocks", a new set for us so plenty of learning to do.     

Highlanders

Covenanters

Our learning this week is that the cavalry rules are more complex than the infantry ones. We'll look to reduce the cavalry numbers to speed up the game.