Waterloo Campaign 2.0 - First days

 

Early morning: Armies about to lurch into motion...

Early on 15th June 1815, the signal to advance rippled up and down Napoleon's columns and they began the campaign that would restore or bring down Napoleon's imperium. 

Overall situation, dawn 15 June 1815: Who, what and where

Unsure of Napoleon's plans, the Allies had rather scattered themselves along the Belgium-France frontier. The Anglo-Dutch were at Alost (I Corps), Ghent (II Corps, off table), Brussels (Reserve, with Wellington) and Ninove (Cavalry Corps). The Prussians were dispersed thus: Fleurus Ligny (I Corps), Namur (II Corps, with Generalfeldmarschall Graf Blucher), Ciney (III Corps) and Liege (IV Corps, off table).

Napoleon's plan seemed to involve a northward thrust aimed directly at Brussels. Somehow, the Duke of Wellington conceived a notion that Napoleon might try to insert his army between his own and the North Sea ports, an apprehension that lead to the scattering of his command. Instead, Napoleon had disposed of his army in a species of his customary bataillon carré.

General view looking north from behind Beaumont

The right wing, under command of Marshal Grouchy, comprised IV Army Corps and II and III Cavalry Corps. On the left, Marshal Ney commanded I Army Corps with I and IV Cavalry Corps. The main centre column comprised II, III, la Garde, and VI Army Corps. Napoleon himself could have been found accompanying his Guard.

General view at nightfall, 15 June. First battle
between Prussian I Corps against French IV Corps
(led by Marshal Grouchy)

General view, looking NW. Battle of Charleroi

As Marshall Grouchy led the IV Corps into Charleroi, they came under attack from the Prussian I Corps - or at least most of it. Meanwhile, II and III Cavalry Corps were passing through Fosse to cover the army's right flank against possible incursion by the Thielmann's III Corps. To the left of Charleroi, Reille's II Corps swung right at Binche in order to support Grouchy, and/or to take the road to Quatre Bras. Vandamme's III Corps continued up the north road to Seneffe, leading the Imperial Guard and VI Corps following on. Meanwhile d'Erlon's I Corps reaches Mons at nightfall.

The bellicose Graf von Zieten immediately engaged Grouchy's wing at Charleroi. Not all of Zieten's Corps was up, however, elements of horse, foot and guns not advancing beyond Fleurus. 

In this rule set, an attack from one hex into an adjacent counts as a hex move, even though the attacker doesn't fully enter the 'battlefield hex'. My procedure is to nudge some of the attacker's figures just over or on the battlefield hex edge. That way, at any time we know who the attackers and defenders are. Now, movement along a road is two hexes for foot troops. Although the laggards could have reached the hex adjacent to Charleroi, they could not have engaged in the battle. Zieten could have simply waited for the following day to engage in battle with his whole force, but I made Zieten a bellicose type not overburdened with patience. A bit like Blucher himself, come to think on it. I found it simplest to leave the stragglers back in Fleurus.

II and III Cavalry Corps passing through Fosse,
whilst several kilometres away, the Battle of Charleroi 
rages

Allied Cavalry Corps reaches Hal

Reille's II Corps passes close by Charleroi, as 
Vandamme leads the main column towards Seneffe

Will Reille join the action at Charleroi...
or march on Quatre Bras (the road leading off to 
the bottom right of the picture)?

Battle of Charleroi, first day. X marks the dice that cancel
each other out; R the dice that are redundant for lack of the 
enemy type to eliminate. Although the Prussians weren't too
outnumbered, the result is a heavy defeat.

Zieten's bellicosity failed to pay off. Leaving some elements out of the battle is not totally downside, as they can not be lost, and there is a chance of wasted dice. But this battle was a heavy defeat for the Prussians, losing 4 foot and a horse to a single horse element from IV Corps. 

Battle of Charleroi. The French don't have 4 horse to lose;
The Prussian have only 4 foot... So three threes and 
one five have no effect.

One 'foot' hot on the French side was superfluous - redundant, and on the Prussian side, three dice went to waste. Napoleon's campaign had opened with a great victory at Charleroi. Zieten's command fell back upon Fleurus, where they joined the three figures left behind. As this was the only battle of the 15th June, it was a simple matter to rally the stragglers - half of the losses by each arm, foot rounded up, others rounded down. So IV Corps lost its cavalry, as did the Prussians, but they got back two of the four infantry figures.

Battle of Fleurus. Following up the repulse at 
Charleroi, Grouchy scores a second victory at Fleurus

16th June:

Of course, Marshal Grouchy simply had to follow up the repulse of the night before, and at once launched an attack upon Fleurus. This fight should have been more even Zieten has lost 5 elements  from the battle, recovered 2 and was joined by the 3 left out. So once again had 10 dice to roll. The French seems to have been allocated 8 only, though there ought to have been at least one more. Nevertheless, this was a signal victory for the French Corps, which inflicted the loss of 2 infantry, one horse and a gunner upon the Prussians, for the loss of one infantry.

Reeling from the blow, Zieten fell back upon Gembloux whilst Grouchy occupied Fleurus.

Battle of Quatre Bras - and a disaster for the Allies!

Reille had meanwhile passed by Charleroi and pushed on until reaching Quatre Bras in the afternoon of the 16th. There they encountered the Duke of Wellington, leading in person, the Allied Reserve Corps. The French having slightly the superior strength, they again prevailed, though only after a stiff and costly fight. Destroying three foot elements, II Corps might have destroyed a horse, had any Allied horse been present. In return, the Allies did eliminate a horse unit, and a gunner as well. But three elements eliminated for two was another French victory.

But it got better. The two extra sixes put the Iron Duke at hazard. What happened to him? In such instances we roll two D6 dice. Double-six inflicts a mortal wound; six-five an incapacitating one. In some circumstances, e.g. a lost battle, a score of 10 might indicate the commander taken prisoner.

So, what was the roll? Double-six. The Duke of Wellington was no more. The Allied Reserve Corps straggled back to Waterloo.

The Allied Reserve Corps has no cavalry to lose, 
but they do lose 3 foot - though the French don't 
come off unscathed. Those two sixes, though...!

Such was not to the end of the tale of French victories, though they would have to await the morrow. 

Namur having been vacated by Blucher and II Corps
Exelmans's dragoons seize and occupy the town!

So would Blucher's vengeance for Zieten's defeat. As I Corps retreated upon Gembloux, Blucher led II Corps up to Fleurus. Marshal Grouchy would soon find himself in yet another battle. But behind Blucher a minor setback ensued, as General Exelmans' led his corps of dragoons into the town. What might that portend for the whole Prussian army?

I Corps on the left, with I Cav Corps and III Corps
converge upon Allied I Corps at Soignes

Far off to the west, Marshal Ney's wing took longer to see action. Nightfall of 16th June found his I Corps still well short of Soignes, where awaited the Allied I Corps. Nearer at hand was General Vandamme's III Corps, which formation had veered off the Brussels road and closed upon Soignes. To add to the tale of menace, the light I Cavalry Corps was also moving up from Binche. The Prince of Orange would find the Seventeenth a very warm June day...

General view, late afternoon 16 June.

The battlefield losses for the day were:
French: 1 foot, 1 horse, 1 gunner
Prussian: 2 foot, 1 horse, 1 gunner
Anglo-Dutch: 3 foot and the Duke of Wellington.

Overnight the half the losses are returned - stragglers or lightly scratched returning to the colours
Foot are rounded up; specialists rounded down. However, for rounding purposes specialists - horse and foot may be grouped together. So the returns are:

French get back: 1 foot and 1 horse or gunner:
Prussians get back: 1 foot and 1 horse or gunner
Anglo-Dutch get back: 2 foot.
The Duke of Wellington is not replaced.  Somebody takes over the command - probably the Prince of Orange - but, without Wellington's battlefield presence, the extra combat die is no longer available. This might prove decisive!

Despite three signal French victories, the Allies' losses don't amount to so very much. Attrition is by no means a factor yet! 

Waterloo Campaign 2.0 - Beginnings

 This was my introduction to my first attempt at a one-table 'Hundred Days' campaign, about 3 years ago: I called it the 'Hundred Minutes Campaign':
A misnomer, as it took a whole lot more than 100 minutes just to prepare, but this is, as the title might lead you to guess, a cut down, laid back, bathtub in a shoebox version of the Hundred Days' Campaign. On one table. The whole thing. There was even a 'Battle of Quatre Bras' and  'Battle of Waterloo'. But there were a fair few other combats besides. This was another indulgence of an idea that has been with me now for several years.  

This time round I put a little more thought into the army composition and the rule set. 

The theatre - looking SW along the line of the 
Meuse and Sambre Rivers

Map and Table Set-up:

The table was set up on the basis of this hex-map.  There were some changes, mostly simplifications of road and river networks.  This time, not only the Meuse and Sambre Rivers appeared on the table, but also the Dyle, Dendre and Heure rivers. That still left a number of streams I might have added, had I enough river!

My table map.

The Armies:

In terms of figures, I had the idea of much larger army corps in terms of figures than I eventually ended up with.  But 9-12 infantry, 2 cavalry and 2 gunners for a 'standard' French Army Corps, though it could just 'fit' a hex grid area, was really too large, especially as the Allied formations (my thinking ran) would have to be larger.  There is another problem with this concept using figures: even at maybe half a dozen figures and a model cannon, the battles would be really be single army corps facing off.  But what that led to was plenty of action!

Allied Cavalry Corps marching through Ninove

Anglo-Dutch:
General Officer Commanding (GOC): Duke of Wellington

I Army Corps (at Enghien): 7 infantry, 1cannon, 2 gunners
II Army Corps (off map, at Ghent): 7 infantry, 1 cannon, 2 gunner
Reserve Corps (at Brussels): Duke of Wellington, 5 infantry, 1 cannon, 2 gunners
Cavalry Corps (at Ninove): 7 cavalry, 1 cannon, 2 gunner

Anglo-Dutch Totals:
19 infantry, 7 cavalry, 4 cannon, 8 gunners, plus the Iron Duke in person.

Blucher surveying his II Army Corps marching 
through Namur

Prussian:
General Officer Commanding: General-Feldmarschall Prinz Blucher
I Army Corps (at Fleurus/Ligny): 5 infantry, 3 cavalry, 1 cannon, 2 gunners
II Army Corps (at Namur): Blucher, 6 infantry, 3 cavalry, 1 cannon, 2 gunners
III Army Corps (1 hex south of Ciney): 4 infantry, 2 cavalry, 1 cannon, 2 gunners
IV Army Corps (off map, at Liege): 5 infantry, 3 cavalry, 1 cannon, 2 gunners...

Prussian Totals:
20 infantry, 11 cavalry, 4 cannon, 8 gunners, plus Marschall Vorwaerts himself

Allied Totals:
37 Infantry, 18 Cavalry, 8 cannon with 16 gunners. 
Leaders: Duke of Wellington and Generalfeldmarschall von Blucher.

The Imperial Guard, marching through Beaumont.
Ahead of them, II and III Corps. Off to the west, Marshal Ney, 
I Corps and IV Cavalry Corps. I Cav Corps heads towards
Soire-sur-Sambre

French Army:
In Command: Emperor Napoleon

Le Tondu

I Army Corps (at Mauberge): Marshal Ney, 5 infantry, 1 light cavalry, 1 cannon, 2 gunners
II Army Corps (north of Beaumont): 5 infantry, 1 light cavalry, 1 cannon, 2 gunners
III Army Corps (at Beaumont): 5 infantry, 1 light cavalry, 1 cannon, 2 gunners
IV Army Corps (at Laneffe): Marshal Grouchy, 5 infantry, 1 light cavalry, 1 cannon, 2 gunners
VI Army Corps (entering table on road south of Beaumont): 4 infantry, 1 cannon, 2 gunners
Imperial Guard (on road just south of Beaumont): Emperor Napoleon, 6 infantry, 2 light cavalry, 2 heavy cavalry, 2 cannon, 4 gunners
I Cavalry Corps: 2 light cavalry (lancers)
II Cavalry Corps: 2 medium cavalry (dragoons)
III Cavalry Corps: 2 heavy cavalry (cuirassiers)
IV Cavalry Corps: 2 heavy cavalry (cuirassiers)

French Totals: 

30 infantry, 16 cavalry, 7 cannon, 14 gunners, plus, of course, Le Tondu.

Last time the Prussians were woefully underrepresented. This effort attempted to redress that issue, but it raised another. Those Allied Army Corps - Prussian and Anglo-Dutch - were rather bigger than the French, apart from the Imperial Guard. The Anglo-Dutch Horse were massed into the one cavalry corps; and I continued to field 2 figures in each of the four French cavalry corps.

Figure scaling to real numbers.
This looks very inconsistent, not to say weird, but it seemed to work with the rule set I adopted/ devised for this exercise:
Foot: 1 figure to 4000 men
Horse: 1 figure to 1500 men
Artillery: 1 figure represented about 20-25 guns, or maybe 500 gunners; 1 cannon to about 40-50 pieces.

Note that, although I mention light and heavy cavalry, and the Imperial Guard, I make no qualitative distinction in the allocation of combat dice. One might be tempted to add 1 extra combat dice for the Imperial Guard corps, and perhaps to subtract 1 from, say, the Prussian III and IV Corps, as having a goodish proportion of landwehr. I chose not to do so on this occasion, but it might be worth looking into some time.

Army Corps on the march occupied 2 or 3 road hexes. It was often the case - especially among the Prussians - that not the whole army corps might be involved in a given battle. This had an upside, even though it might not fully offset the downside. The downside was, of course, the absent figures that might have made up the numbers. The upside was that (a) losses were accrued only to the forces present, and (b) you still had the 'reserves' to fall back on or use later. That the losses were accrued only to the forces present meant that if you had but one cavalryman present, then, however many 'hits on cavalry' the enemy scored, one cavalryman was all that was lost.

On occasion I left off one each of horse, foot and guns with the effect that after battle, the formation still had all three arms available. 

French forces crossing the Sambre. First contact at
Charleroi (in the pic just beyond the orange roofed 
village of Fosse, where II Cavalry Corps has entered)

Battle of Charleroi: Lead elements of Prussian I Corps
clash with French IV Corps, led by Marshal Grouchy,
emerging from Charleroi.

The rule set I used for this campaign was one I have used before to test the idea of 'map war gaming' with figures.  Its inspiration of course comes from the Command and Colours/ Memoir '44 types of games.  Here's the link to that article - Sluggard Valley campaign - but as I have made a few small adjustments to the rules - most notably the inclusion of Army Commanders, I'll revisit them here.

Hundred Minute Campaign Rule Set:

1. Movement IGoUGo but each turn, dice for who goes first. Optional. For the first 'Hundred Minute' Campaign I made it simple IGoUGo, the French beginning. This time, the French moved first at Turn One; thereafter I diced for all three armies: French - white; Anglo-Dutch - red; Prussian - green. So it's more like IGoUGoEGo...

I leave it open whether one moves and fights each formation in turn, or moves them all before fighting the battles. Both have their points - to the extent that I do not believe I used the one or other system consistently throughout.  Your choice.

2. The 'Napoleon Rule' 

In the event of the French initiative roll tying with an Allied one, the French went ahead of that ally. Three times in this game, the French got tied scores. Two gave them 'first turn', the other kept them from going last. Any army commanded by Napoleon must have some kind of edge... 

2. Army Corps moved a maximum of 2 hexes along a road (1 hex cross country if forced to do so). Cavalry Corps move a maximum of 3 hexes along a road, including the artillery attached to the Anglo-Dutch Cavalry Corps. On road march a corps may occupy 2 or more road hexes. The Division-sized (2 -figure) French cavalry corps occupied just one hex even on the march.

3. Combat is joined by opposing forces in adjacent hexes.

4. Engaging or attacking the enemy counts as a 1-grid area move, as one side 'moves' into an enemy occupied grid area. The 'move' is notional, the attacking side remaining in the grid area it occupies at the outset of the battle, but with  the leading edge of some of the attacking elements pushed slightly over the hex-side into the battle hex.

Note that if an army corps was stretched along 2 road hexes, it may be only the lead half of the formation may engage in battle - attacking 'off the march', or being attacked on the march. Instead a corps might advance just one space, allowing the rear of the column, moving 2 spaces, to catch up. Then the whole might advance 1 hex and enter the enemy occupied hex to engage in battle.

5. So if an army corps moves 2 hexes to a point adjacent to an enemy held hex, there is no battle. With a 3-hex road move a cavalry corps could move two hexes then battle.

6. Battles between opposing forces in adjacent hexes are not compulsory. Nor is there a 'zone of control' to prevent movement from one adjacent hex-side to another. Recall that the playing area is very compressed from the 'real geography'.

7. Each side rolls one die per figure, plus one for each arm represented. If an army commander is present, add one further die to the combat allocation. Note that the Allied Armies each receive one army commander, the Duke of Wellington and Generalfeldmarschall von Blucher. The French army is commanded by the Emperor Napoleon, seconded by two wing commanders, Marshals Ney and Grouchy.

    Examples:
(i) An army corps of 4 infantry, 1 cavalry and 1 cannon (with gunner) rolls 9 dice: 1 for each of the 6 figures, plus 3 for the 3 separate arms represented.  
(ii) A French cavalry corps of 2 mounted figures rolls 3 dice: 1 for each of the mounted figures, plus 1 for the cavalry arm represented.
(iii) Generalfeldmarschall von Blucher, accompanying II Corps, engages the enemy. II Corps then receives 6 (infantry) + 3 (cavalry) + 2 (gunners) + 3 (3 arms represented) + 1 (Blucher) = 15 combat dice.

8. An army attempting to force a river crossing halves its standard allocation of combat dice (rounded up).  For this campaign, there was no bonus for defending or penalty for attacking a 'town' grid area. (I did consider that perhaps some such rule might have applied to attacking Mons, Charleroi, Namur and Brussels, but decided that the battles would take place, as it were, in the fields outside of town. As it was there was considerable action around Charleroi.)

9. Combat
Combats are competitive; both sides roll -

A roll of '1' = enemy artillery hit
A roll of '2' = enemy cavalry hit

A roll of '3' = enemy cavalry hit
A roll of '4' = enemy infantry hit
A roll of '5' = enemy infantry hit
A roll of '6' = enemy infantry hit and 
hazard to army or wing commander if present.

Having rolled the dice, each die pip score is cancelled by a same pip score by the other, until only the unmatched scores remain. The remaining hits then result in figures being removed. A roll of '4' is not cancelled by a '5' roll, and both sides stand to lose an infantryman.

Note that the cavalry corps can be hurt only by rolls of 2 or 3 on the dice, and 1s if they have artillery present. That is why the tiny French cavalry corps are far from mere pinpricks; and also why the Anglo-Dutch cavalry corps is such a formidable formation!

Dice rolls for IV Corps vs (most of) I Corps (green dice).
Prussia has 4F, 2H and 1G present. 7 plus all three arms = 10 dice
France has 5F, 1H and 2G plus Grouchy = 9, plus 3 for 
all arms present = 12 dice. 

9A. Any excess 6s (i.e. not cancelled by an opposing 6) counts as a hit upon the commander and/or his staff. Roll a separate die. 
1 = commander unharmed (Staff officer gravely wounded beside him. 'By God, Sir! I've lost a leg!' 'By God, Sir! So you have!')
2 = commander unharmed (Hat acquires a musket bullet hole, becomes conversation piece for future family generations)
3 = commander unharmed (Spent musket ball raps harmlessly upon his sword hilt. Spannnnggg!)
4 = commander has horse killed under him, but otherwise unharmed (This twice happened to Blucher in this game. Narratively, it had to mean something!)
5 = commander receives an incapacitating or mortal wound and/or is captured
6 = commander is killed in action.

10.  Units that receive more losses than they inflict in terms of numbers of units, must retreat two grid areas or to a town, whichever is nearest. The reason for this is to allow defeated units to break clear of the victorious enemy, which, following up (a voluntary option), can reach the adjacent grid area, but not bring on an immediate battle.  See Rule 4.

11. Attrition.
At the end of each move, or perhaps a fixed number of moves (IGoUGoEGo triples), the losses are totted up on both sides, and each receives back, for each arm, half their overall losses.  Exact halves are rounded up for the infantry; down for the other arms. However the other arms my be grouped together for rounding purposes.
Example:
During the course of the day's fighting, the Prussian army loses 9 infantry, 3 cavalry and 3 gunners.
At nightfall, the Prussians receive back -
-  5 infantry (half rounded up)
+  1 cavalry
+ 1 gunner
+ the choice of 1 gunner or 1 cavalry.

Had Prussia lost 4 cavalry (instead of just the 3) then it would get back 2 cavalry, and 1 gunner (half of 3, rounded down).

This system seemed to work quite well, and something of an improvement over the system I used for Eckmuhl at the end of 2023. The campaign was well advanced before formations began to show serious signs of wear and tear. 

12. Loss of Commanders
Lost commanders are lost for good. That simply means that the extra die for battles at which they were present are no longer is available.

During the course of this campaign, the only commander who was never 'at hazard' was Napoleon himself. Of the other four, two were still in action at its end...

14. There will be occasions in which two (or more) separate formations will attack a single enemy formation. These battles are resolved severally. However the losses incurred in the first action will be removed before the second takes place.

15. Annihilation of formations
Late in the campaign a battle might result in the elimination of a whole formation (or what has been left of it). The figure losses are returned, but, instead of reconstituting the vanished formation, accrue to the nearest formation of the appropriate army as stragglers. The receiving formation becomes a consolidated corps.

This happened more than once, very late in the campaign.

16. Depleted formations may be combined/ consolidated with other (depleted) formations to for a single formation. The French Cavalry Corps may be so combined with each other, or with other corps. As this campaign neared its close this happened with more frequency.

17. Victory Conditions -
Not as simple as one might suppose. If the French capture Brussels and/or forces one or both Allied armies from the theatre map area, that would count strongly towards the victory. But the French must be able to trace a Line of Communications southward over the line of the Sambre River back into France. In this game, there was a large scale battle for Sambre river line that had a considerable impact upon the overall outcome.

The dice scores pared down. Three of the 3s
and one of the 5/6 rolls were redundant.
losses 5 to 1 - a  significant French victory!

The picture tells the story of the first action, at the end of 15th June, 1815. As there was but one French cavalry figure present, that was their sole loss. The Prussians also lose a cavalry figure, and all four infantry - the fifth 5 or 6 score being discarded. Five elements lost against one is a very considerable French victory. That Blucher was not present means the pair of sixes have no other significance.

To be continued...

About the little cartoons. I've copied them here from last time. I quite liked how the Duke of Wellington looks, considering that I have never mastered the art of caricature.

Waterloo Campaign 2.0 - Heads Up

 A fair while back I tried a Map Game version of the Waterloo Campaign. I called it the 'Hundred Minutes' - stupid name, but the thing itself went with a swing. But I was always conscious of the numbers being a little bit wrong, especially for the Allies. So, I'm revisiting, as I promised myself I would do. This time I want to formalise the rule set a bit more clearly, so this is as much a play test as anything.

Early morning 15 June 1815, the sun breaking over the 
Ardennes forest as we look northwest towards
Charleroi.

The French set the ball rolling on Day 1, with the Anglo-Dutch and Prussians following on. For each of the subsequent days all three armies roll for initiative, with each army making its moves and fighting its battles in descending order of die roll. Otherwise, it's IGoUGo.

Marschal-General Prinz von Blucher surveys 
the Prussian II Corps at Namur

I also added two commanders on the French side, Marshals Ney (commanding the 'Left Wing') and Grouchy  (commanding the 'Right'). They, along with Napoleon himself, Wellington and Blucher, add their figure to the combat count.

Allied Cavalry Corps setting off from Alons
 across the Dendre River.

I'll discuss the mechanics more at large another time. For the moment, we're still in Day 2 (17 June 1815), with the Prussians still to make their moves. The Anglo-Dutch, then the French, have already made theirs.

The Duke of Wellington waves forward
from Brussels his Corps of Reserves 

Plenty of excitement already: three battles fought, Prussian I Corps badly knocked about, and the news from Quatre Bras isn't looking too good for the Allies, either. To add to the Allies' problems, a sinister development around Namur may have placed Blucher in something of a quandary.

The Imperial Guard takes up a lot of road!
Ahead of them are II and III Corps. The Emperor himself
oversees the march.

Situation morning 15 June

Marshal Grouchy had barely arrived at Charleroi with IV Corps when they were assailed by the Prussian I Corps. Not all the Prussian Corps could participate in the action, as 3 elements, a gunner, infantryman and cavalry figure, being back along the road, although they could join the main body, could not participate in the battle. This was due to a move restriction which counts an attack as a hex move. 

Battle of Charleroi, 15 June: Prussian I Corps against
French IV Corps. Marshal Grouchy lends his countenance to the 
French side. But, in the foreground, where are II and III Cavalry Corps going...?

So these 'reserves' awaited in Fleurus(Ligny) the outcome of the action. The two sides were fairly evenly matched, the Marshal making the difference:

Prussian I Corps:
4 Infantry, 2 cavalry, 1 gunner, all three arms present = 4+2+1+3 = 10 dice
French IV Corps:
Marshal Grouchy, 4 infantry, 1 cavalry, 2 gunners, all three arms present = 1+4+1+2+3 = 11 dice.

However, the battle outcome didn't match the evenness of the strengths!
Prussia lost 4 infantry and 1 cavalry figure;
France lost 1 cavalry (having just the one to lose instead of 5!)

This was a heavy defeat for I Corps. They fell back upon Fleurus, gathering in their reserves as they did so. Overnight, some of the stragglers were rallied in. At the end of each day, each side gathers in half their losses by each arm, rounded up for infantry, and down for other arms. As Prussia lost 4 infantry in the battle, they get 2 back. They lost 1 cavalry, but half rounded down is zero. The French also lose their  cavalry outright - rather a blow for them, as theirs was the sole representative of the mounted arm!

In the past I used a different convention: each side lost the lesser of each side's losses per arm. That would have meant both sides get their lost cavalry back, but what of the infantry? The Prussians lost 4, the French none. Do the Prussians get all four back, or none? I think the more usual 'half returns' might be fairer. 

On 16 June, the Anglo-Dutch made the first moves, I Corps to Soignes, Cavalry Corps through Waterloo towards Nivelle, and the Reserve Corps to Quatre Bras. The French moving next, IV Corps followed up their victory at Charleroi to engage I Prussian Corps again at Fleurus (Ligny); II Corps pushed up the Brussels road to engage the Anglo-Dutch at Quatre Bras, and I Corps marched through Mons towards Soignes. Leading the Imperial Guard, III Corps swung left upon reaching Seneffe, also heading towards Soignes where lay the Anglo-Dutch I Corps.  The Imperial Guard, meanwhile, was pushing directly up the road towards Nivelle, which  the enemy cavalry corps had not quite reached.

That left the four Division-sized French Cavalry Corps, and Count Lobau's VI Corps. Word having reached the General's ears indicating enemy troop movements nearing the Meuse around Dinant, he directed his small Army Corps east from Beaumont to Philippeville, with the view to marching upon Gives or Laneffe depending upon events. II and III Cavalry Corps themselves crossed the Meuse, the latter entering Yvoir. That separated the Prussian III Corps from the IInd, but II Cav Corps rather cheekily recrossed the Meuse at Namur, entering the town from which Blucher and the Prussian II Corps had departed the day before.

The French brought the Allies to battle at Ligny and Quatre Bras both...

I'll suspend the abbreviated narrative there for the time being. The two battles have been fought, with some interesting consequences for both sides.  I have some vague notion that this, or possibly the Echmuhl campaign revisited, might form a chapter in a future Compendium. If that is a goer, I want what gets printed there to be fresh, if not altogether new, at least containing more than what appears in this blog or elsewhere.  

One of the features of this revisit is my attempt to reflect the strengths of the various corps a little more closely. This means the Prussians in particular are a deal stronger this time around. But the slightly enlarged corps generally take up more space along a road, and I doubt that the French Imperial Guard will fit into a single hex. This could have some interesting effects. At any rate, the details might be left for another time.

The Little Great War -
This one I am placing on hold for the time being. I have two battle reports to ... erm ... report, and some campaign moves, so the thing hasn't fallen over completely. In fact looking at the pics has restirred the blood at least a little. But I have this itch to scratch first.

To be continued...

Yet another Blast from the Past...

 I suppose just about everyone and his dog has played the Charge! "Battle of Blasthof Bridge" at least once in their lives. The last time I played it, a zillion years back, the Electoral Army maintained its tradition of victory. I was commanding, of course, the Imperialists.



But, back in January, methought to play a Portable Wargames version on a square gridded table. I had completely forgotten about this action, to be reminded this evening by a posting in the Librarian Wargamer blogspot.

This battle used my Warlord figures, my Army of Prinz Eugene of Savoy, split to represent the Imperialists against their inveterate foes of the Electorate. For this action I rather formalised the ORBATs into 6-figure squadrons, 8-figure companies and 2-gun batteries.

The action purported to be an opening clash between the advanced guards of the respective armies approaching an important bridge crossing the river that separated the Empire from the Electorate. Both sides mobilising with equal celerity, the leading forces were soon on the march. The honour of leading the Imperial advanced guard the Emperor bestowed upon the redoubtable cavalryman, Graf Eusebius von Kornstartsch, renowned more for dash and daring than for strategic sagacity. On the Electoral side, an obscure and self-effacing General Charlot Soubise found himself in command of the leading corps, and wondering why he was so appointed. It was later given out that perhaps a staff error, possibly due to a secretary's atrocious handwriting, had substituted the relatively unknown provincial commandant for the more experienced and better known Prince Charles de Soubise for the important command.

Be that as it may, both commanders realised as they approached the objective of their marches that to gain possession of the vital crossing, they would have to fight for it. 

The respective commands comprised:

Teutoberg-Althaufen:

Commander: General Charlot Soubise 
His Aide-de-camp
Weltschmerz Infantry: 4 companies @ 4SP + Rgt HQ (36 figures)
Schadenfreude Infantry: 4 companies @ 4SP + Rgt HQ (36 figures)
Gens d'Armes Cuirassiers: 3 squadrons @ 3SP (18 figures)
Royal la Marine Artillery: 2 guns each with 4 crew   @ 4SP (8 figures)

Totals: 
72 foot, 18 horse, 8 artillery, 2 HQ staff = 100 figures
13 units (counting the Army HQ as one), activations according to dice rolls range from 5 up to 9.
49 Strength Points, exhausted on -17; rout on -25.

Imperial:

Commander: Marschallgeneral Graf Eusebius von Kornstartsch
His aide-de-camp
Grenadiers Guggenheim: 2 companies @ 5SP + Rgt HQ (18 figures)
Fusiliers Finckenstein: 4 companies @ 4SP + Rgt HQ (36 figures)
Kornstartch Cuirassiers: 3 squadrons @ 3SP (18 figures) 
Dromgoole Dragoons: 2 squadrons @ 3SP (12 figures)
Schnitzel Artillery: 1 company of 2 guns @ 4SP (8 figures)

Totals:
54 foot, 30 horse, 8 artillery, 2 HQ staff = 94 figures
13 units, activations range from 5 to 9.
49 Strength Points, exhausted on -17, rout on -25.

Note that the two companies of grenadiers were allocated 5SPs, partly to denote their elite status, but mainly to make up a slight deficit in the SP count compared with the Electoral army.

The Narrative...

Imperial Cuirassiers begin crossing the river, whilst 
the guns open fire, enfilading the enemy infantry fording the stream

Two squadrons crossing, whilst the third waits...

Plenty for the Electoral guns to shoot at!

Elector gained the initiative, but both sides
eager for the fray (the 6s).

...

View from behind Electoral lines. One regiment, with a 
squadron in support, hopes by crossing the river early, to outflank
the bridge position on the far bank.

From behind Imperial lines. The cuirassiers are just following
tradition, really. But they may be able to flank the electoral infantry lining the 
west bank

General electoral advance, whilst the guns roar.

Superb shooting by the Imperial guns.
An electoral infantry company is taking some stick!

Electoral guns proving with this salvo, far less effective!

The inspiration of it all. Fearful execution by the 
right hand Imperial artillery section.

Now, at least some of the Electoral guns 
do damage. Nr 3 Coy of the Finckenstein 
Fusiliers takes a heavy knock

Cavalry fight on the Electoral side of the river, but they have 
only 2 squadrons available against 3.

As the Electoral horse charged, for the moment it is 
2 Squadrons against 2, and they are getting something
the better of the fight...

... but once the 3rd Imperial squadron joins in,
the writing is on the wall.

Musketry duel between Fusilier 3rd Company, and the 
leading company of Weltschmerz Infantry.

Droomgoole Dragoons catch two companies of 
Schadenfreude Infantry in the plough.

The end of the cavalry fight. Both sides have lost 
4 strength points, but 2nd Sqn, Gens d'Armes, has 
been destroyed.

General view. The Grenadiers lie in wait for the enemy
infantry company wading through the river.

Crisis! As the last of Schadenfreude Infantry succumb
to the dragoons, the fresh 3rd Squadron, Gens d'Armes
attacks the already victorious 1st Dragoon Squadron.

Electoral musketry exacts vengeance upon 3rd Sqn, 
Kornstartsch Curassiers.

Gunfire and musketry across the river...

I rather think that it ought to be permissible in a square gris battlefield, that units face the square corners when it is sensible to do so. Of course that does not affect musketry or gunnery ranges, nor arc of fire. Not that it matters a whole lot...

... smashes the Fusilier 3rd Company.

Facing double their numbers, the Gens d'Armes 
survivors scatter in rout.

The end of the action. Electoral losses have been 
such as to cause the whole command to dissolve in 
rout. 

Generalmarschall von Kornstartsch ordered no pursuit. For the time being he was content to consolidate a bridgehead and await the arrival of the Imperial main army.

This is the first time I have seen the Imperial Army win this action. It might have been a different story had Charlot Soubise had acted true to form, and adopted a defensive stance. Bit, perhaps with something to prove, he rather took the fight to the enemy, who, with Kornstartsch in command, were more than willing to take up the challenge.

The figures in this action were the Warlord(?) 28mm plastic figures for the War of the Spanish succession. I find myself in a little bit of a quandary, because I painted up large units for the Imperialists, but have only a limited number of enemies, still on the sprue. That is one project very much in limbo at the moment!