The Corlears Hook Fencibles played a game of the 1815 battle of Wavre using our home-brew rules "Bonaparte Waltz". The game is played on a hex mat a la Memoir '44. Each unit is a brigade or an artillery battalion.
Tom played Prussian III Corps CO Theilemann, tasked with delaying the French while Blucher led the other three corps to fall on Napoleon's flank at Waterloo. I played the less than stellar Marshal Grouchy and Rick was Light cavalry commander Pajol. His troops started off-table and didn't appear until the third turn. The game lasted 10 turns instead of our usual 15 because Grouchy had wasted the morning. The battle starts at 3 PM.
I immediately launched attacks on the right bank suburb of Wavre and the town of Bierges. I was just as promptly thrown back in disorder. On Tom's turn I played an infantry counter-attack card and launched another attack on Wavre. It too was thrown back and all of Vandamme's III Corps infantry were disordered – see the yellow markers.
This ensured a quiet second turn as the French began to rally units. Tom massed his artillery between Wavre and Bierges, knocking some French further back.
I threw in an attack that cleared the right bank suburb of Wavre but Prussian artillery fire drove my troops back out. As Gerard's IV Corps arrived behind Vandamme, I pushed III Corps artillery forward and forced the Prussian artillery to limber up and displace.
While this was happening, Rick's cavalry deployed before Limale. The attached horse artillery rolled hot dice and forced the Prussian 19th Infantry to clear out. Thanks to seizing the initiative on the next turn Tom got two back-to-back moves. He rallied the regiment and used an "On the double" card to move it back into Limale. Prussian cavalry also rode across from his left to assist. Around this time I stopped taking photos, caught up in the game.
Rick's horse artillery repeated their earlier feat and the 19th ran off again. This time French cavalry poured across the bridge and infantry garrisoned the town. I sent one of Vandamme's divisions to cross. Exelman's dragons started from our right to help exploit the crossing. On the way Prussian horse artillery forced some of the dragoons to retreat in disorder. They never caught up. (so many disordered units, so few activation points)
An extended cavalry fight broke out. It finally went to the French who had more cavalry, more horse artillery and a couple infantry brigades thrown into the fight.
Meanwhile the French established artillery superiority around Wavre and cut up a Landwehr infantry regiment. But time was running out. The game ended after 10 turns. The French were across the Dyle River at Limale and the Prussian right flank was tattered. Thielemann had done his duty, keeping Grouchy from assisting Napoleon at his moment of crisis and retaining Prussian III Corps as a force in being.
We played 10 turns in 95 minutes. French losses were 900 cavalry and 2500 infantry for a total of 3400, higher than the historical 2400. Prussian losses were 1200 cavalry, 2500 infantry and 7 or 8 guns and crews for about 3700, more than the historical 2400.
We had done somewhat better than Grouchy but not nearly enough to claim a victory. The scenario is unusual in that the French get the satisfaction of roughing up the outnumbered Prussians late in the game even though they aren't close to winning.
I have a few changes to make to the scenario. One is to rate Limale as a hamlet rather than a town. In the actual battle Pajol seized Limale by a cavalry charge over the bridge. With my current modifiers, light cavalry can't take take Limale. Rated as a hamlet, it is possible if unlikely. I also have to think about my street fighting rules. I'm looking for the back-and-forth surge so often seen in this period.
paints brigs for the British fleet.
