Army Accommodations

 

A recent posting on Bob Cordery's blogspot, Wargames Miscellany reminded me of something I've been meaning to do for a long time: tell of the accommodations of my war games armies. His own accommodations look to me convenient and handy - especially the 'army in a box' concept - something I have striven for but never quite achieved to my satisfaction. We begin with these 'tray towers'.

The coloured ones house most of my Napoleonic inventory. We might call this an 'army corps in a tray', in accordance with my Big Battles 4 Small Tables game system. Some 'double up', such as the two French Cavalry Corps in the picture below. I Cav Corps comprises 3x12-figure brigades of dragoons and a park of 1 gun with 3 crew figures; II Corps comprises 3x12-figure brigades of 12 cuirassiers. Also present in this tray are Marshal Murat with his aide-de-camp, and Generals Milhaud and Lasalle. Some sort of horse grenadier staff officer seems to have accommodated himself there as well.

In the following picture, a single French Amry Corps takes up only about half the room. One of the Divisions (the 5th) has been taken out for some work that needs doing on them. This Army Corps (II) comprises 3x24-figure Infantry Divisions, a light horse brigade and a park of 2 guns each with 3 crew figures. Those triangular and trapezoidal profiles you see are bases for the artillery in action. I prefer (for the moment) not to fasten the guns to these bases.

Below are a couple of Austrian Army Corps in their trays. Top tray, looks like I Corps: 3 Line Divisions, 1 Jager Division (rather larger formation than historica1!), and a unit of Uhlans. Again we have a 2-gun artillery park, but with 4 crew figures each. The artillery scale is determined by the number of crew figures, at 1 figure representing 8 guns, and 200 artillerymen. So this formation's artillery park represents 64 guns and 1600 gunners.

The bottom tray shows part of the Reserve Corps of Austrian grenadiers and cuirassiers.

The next two trays hold my British army: foot in the top, artillery and horse in the bottom. The Royal Scots Greys were an indulgence. Now, these trays measure 26cm x 34cm. The plastic being rather soft, the heavy metal figures tend to sag the floor of the trays. This was a real problem with the next tray tower, whose trays measure 33cm x 37cm. That extra width was enough to cause a sag that would compromise the safety of the figures in the tray below. 

Stack of trays. the whole unit can be wheeled around
or the separate drawers removed. I damaged this 
somewhat several years ago when I tripped over an 
impediment I might as well have placed in order 
to do so, slammed into the thing, and took a hefty gouge out of my 
knee. The bottom tray still sticks a bit... and I still
bear the scar.

This I solved by transferring all the metal figures to the less roomy coloured towers. The armies here are all - very nearly all - plastics. The top 5 hold my 30YW armies. The picture didn't come out so I am not showing any. The next two hold my War of the Spanish Succession Imperialists.

WSS Imperialists: 36-figure foot and 
24-figure horse units. I rather wish I had adopted
a different plan...

... and the next two my Prussian Army, inherited when their previous owner was about to deep six the lot. The Paul 'Jacko' Jackson added to the infantry, Italieri plastics, enough to build the army from 7 to 9 units; and I bought some Italieri cavalry. So 'antispiring' (outspiring?) were the figures that it took me an age to get them painted.  And then, just because I liked the look, and had forgotten what Prussian horse I had, I added a couple of metal (Minifigs). The whole army comprises 3 Army corps, each with 3x24-figure Divisions, an park of 2 guns and 4 gunners, and two or three cavalry formations. This army, like my French, has far too much cavalry! At any rate, the whole lot goes into just two of these trays.

Prussian Army

***

A very useful ... thing ... that I could use more of!

Now, the sort of thing pictured above would have been very handy: hardish plastic, deep enough to accommodate flags and uhlans. This is where my Napoleonic Russian uhlans live, together with Aeryth Chromatica Turcowaz cavalry. Not all the drawers have much in them at the moment.

WW2, some board games I've hardly ever looked 
at (including SPI's Fighting Sail), and 
logistics elements at the bottom.

But that brings me to something I discovered several years ago: these 3-drawer cardboard archive tray thingies. There is a word for them, I'm sure. The white box at the upper centre of the picture holds most of the army of Altmark-Uberheim - one of my 'War of the Imperialist Succession' armies.

My rather inefficiently stacked WW2 and such 
cupboard. The white box with the blue apostrophe 
is what is intended to engage the interest here.

Just lingering in this tall cupboard for the moment, all the other random boxes here contain WW2 items: tanks, vehicles, guns. I really must go through and sort it all out.

Altmark-Uberheim army box.

Altmark-Uberheim foot and horse.

Now this set was deeper than wide, unlike all the other cardboard storage that I picked up over the years. Pity, as for several reasons this was the better design.

Not Quite Seven Years War army barracks.

Here we have it. Everything in those 5 boxes belongs to my War of the Imperialist Succession/ Not Quite 7YW armies. Atop the left of the pile as you see it two flat boxes hold the Imperialist Infantry, and I do believe one Archduke Piccolo might be found there. Four of my five Sengoku armies are in boxes to the right, and that little black box contains my 'Jono's World' aircraft stands. The labels on most of those boxes will have to be redone...

The main drawback of these otherwise splendid units, is that they are not very robust. I might yet end up replacing them once they start to disintegrate. Mind you some of these are twenty and more years since their purchase.

Infantry of Hessen-Rohr 5 regiments of 36 figures in all 
4 companies of 8 plus HQ of 4.

What the boxes contain: 5 x 36-figure infantry and 4x19-figure cavalry. 

Imperialist horse: 3 dragoon and 1 hussar regiment.
I have a notion that the green dragoons are below establishment 
at 15 figures.

RED and BLUE armies, and my really tiny
navies overall

Then there are these two. The contain my Chromatic Wars armies Ruberia and Azuria - and badly in need of relabelling. The armies of Turcowaz and Izumrud-Zeleniya have slightly different accommodation that I forgot to photograph: same idea, but metal-bound plastic. Very large drawers on that one. 

Here's where my ACW armies live. Mostly photographic paper boxes, with the occasional chocolate box thrown in. The whole arrangement is sufficient to hold something like 1500 figures. Not ideal, though. Mainly one box will contain a brigade or possibly two of infantry, the artillery have very shallow chocolate boxes of their own (except for my South Carolina Brigade, which has a 2-gun battery in the same box.  The cavalry have separate accommodations.

ACW boxes.

My Chromatic Wars navies live in a chest of drawers, two of which accommodate the 'whole worlds' navies'. Top drawer: 20 vessels of Ruberian Royal Navy; the 6 torpedo boats of Chervenia; some landing barges; the 8 Hellenic and 9 Turcowaz vessels.

Third drawer: 7 merchant ships (2 armed); 19 Azurian vessels (including the two overscale 'flatiron gunboats'), the light cruiser and 3 torpedo boats of the minute Rhumbarbarian Navy; and the 8-ship navy of Izumrud-Zeleniya. Separating the Zeleniyans from the others, are two riverine boats: a sternwheeler steamship, and a Ruberian  'Fly' class gunboat.

The above is what separates the naval accommodations: my Roman Fort. This featured as the fortified wall of the riverine market town of Kachinga in the 'Darkest Aithops' campaign run by 'Jacko' and myself that was kiboshed by COVID19 2.0. 5 years ago. I don't think it will ever be revived, worse luck. It promised to be very interesting. The colonial army was about to be ambushed at Getmai Drift by what remained of the m'Butu tribal forces, though it was very doubtful that the colonial tide would have been stemmed. 

In another chest of drawers one might locate my 'Byzantiad' armies - and my ACW vessels, which, again, I forgot to photograph

Some 'Byzantiad' stuff. Those galley hulls are from a project begun 
decades ago. Still don't know what to do with them.

Other bits and pieces have their own storage spaces - this unit of bins contains several HO-OO scale buildings, some cardboard railway buildings, some Usborne mediaeval, a few plastic, and a number home made. These days I find myself using more often several underscale buildings that I have stashed elsewhere.

Assorted buildings

Below, counters, dice, little magnetic chessboard, and my hearing aid stuff. 

That folded thing divided into green squares
and tucked in between furniture was one of those
  'could be useful' buys. Still not sure what to do with it

And finally, I have found a place for my 1:600 'Jono's World' expeditionary forces. One change I will probably make. I combined the AA and logistic elements, which seemed to make sense, and perhaps those elements will remain so. But I think some separate AA elements are called for...

'Jono's World' Armies. The aircraft stands are 
for my 'Mighty Armada's' game system that needs 
a fair bit of work to complete...

Well ... that isn't everything, but it is most of it. At some future time I might say something about my folders of notes, sketches, maps, ORBATS etc. I had a look at my ACW folder, and discovered that over the years I had accumulated a fairly useful resource. More of that sort of thing another time...

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.

Note (13 May 2026: It turned out that Wellington's demise had been somewhat exaggerated. I really ought to have referred to the notes I took during the campaign. Although the Reserve Corps had been defeated, and the Duke had indeed received a knock, the injury was only minor. He remained in command ... for the time being. The next posting will reveal more...

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! (See Note above. Wellington was still in command, though having been injured.)

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...