Waterloo - La Haye Sainte (Republic to Empire rules)

Board 1. The French attack goes in.

Sunday 20th March saw the Quorn Wargames Club ( refight D'Erlon's attack on the British left at La Haye Sainte. Simon Breen set the game up and umpired for the day. I felt slightly jittery as I was given the task of controlling the French centre and was faced with a considerable amount of British and their allies opposite.

The French objective was the Farmhouse itself and a part of the ridge across the road and past the sandpit (both of which were full of KGL). When I asked what the best tactic was, I was simply told "just don't do what Napoleon did, and we'll be alright!". Added to that was my instructions to move rapidly to the front, avoiding the cornfields that would slow movement, and veer slightly towards the British right to push their two batteries of guns off the ridge. This would leave Bob, our guest for the day, unmolested on his march toward the farm. In the meantime his own batteries would work away at reducing the walled defences.

Using our extra points we threw the French centre ahead and managed to knock back the Horse artillery that had been covering a wide area of our front. Although not quite managing to keep a foothold on the ridge the French had caused some consternation in the allied ranks. Next a British counterattack pushed us back but as we went into retreat they attempted a follow-up and came down off their defensive position. They also seemed to pour over much of their cavalry into this sector and away from their left wing. The Scots Greys came pounding over the hill attempting to surprise a column of French that were not in square and which I'd failed to get into order after a low charge-reaction roll. Nevertheless the column stood its ground and fought in a determined manner reducing the cavalry effectiveness right down. Both units wavered then retreated, but the Scots Greys were badly mauled and useless for the rest of the game. The two British units that had come off the ridge then routed after being charged by two French units. One was destroyed completely after being charged again when it turned and ran.

On the British left wing both Dave and Paul had come up against some allied reinforcements before hitting the ridge. It caused some delay but by this time it was obvious that the British center was extremely weak having pushed its support over to the right. While Paul cursed and grappled with the British reinforcements, Dave stole the Glory on the day by bursting through the hedge atop the ridge where a moment before a unit of nervy Dutch had been waiting the onslaught.

A French infantryman's eye-view from near Belle Alliance to La Haye Sainte.

Board 2. The British center at the start of the game.

Board 2. The French juggernaut in action.

28mm Napoleonics 'Republic to Empire' Rules. British Vs French

We had our first grapple with the 'Republic to Empire' rules at the Quorn Wargames Club (http://www.sonsofsimondemontfort.org.uk/) yesterday. I was feeling slightly daunted to begin with, this being my third introduction to a Napoleonic ruleset in just a few weeks - the previous being 'Napoleon' and 'General de Brigade'. I was actually quite surprised how quickly we began to pick it up. The point system for actions which was decided with the rolling of 4 average dice each turn made the system less rigid. So for example you could divide up 14 points with moving, changing formation, issuing new orders etc. Obviously there were still some restrictions (as experienced by Chris who voiced his frustration at not being able to unlimber his British 9lb cannons and fire at the Frenchies rapidly advancing up the hill towards him in the same turn - something only Horse Artillery and 6lb cannons could do). I also liked how swiftly we could make it across the board and begin to engage. Brilliant for a good size game that you could easily complete within 4-5 hours.

Another very good aspect was artillery fire. First shot on a new target was inflicted with a few minus points to the die roll, unlike in other games where you'd get plus points. It was deduced that the former was more realistic in that you'd have to range in the cannons with the first few wild shots, and then later increase your accuracy.

The second photo above shows another example of rash heroics (or "Raglan's Blunder") as the British cavalry decided to charge enemy artillery from the front. Accompanied by the immortal words "well, it might just work..." these chaps unfortunately were forced into a rout back to the medical tent to have the canister shot removed from their posterior.

It was an all round great evening, with lots of fun and a nice ruleset which deserves more testing and exploration in the future.