"Battle of Waterloo, 28mm, Shako II." Topic

Two weekends ago at New Buckenham Historical Wargamers it was time for another outing of our big 28mm Battle of Waterloo game.

The game was played over a staggered table set up that was, at it largest, 22 feet long by 21 feet wide. The Rules were Shako II, figures were 28mm. Nearly all historical units were featured.

Set up took all day Friday with the actual game starting Friday night and continuing all day Saturday and up to mid afternoon Sunday.

This year I played on the Allied side and commanded a couple of divisions on the right flank, north of Hougomont. In a twist both CinCs gave their armies "Attack Orders" and so not only did the French attack but the Allies advanced off the ridge to meet them. The Allied commander's theory was to try and deny the French room to manoeuvre and to hit them with the better rated British troops.
With this in mind my units were ordered to advance at an oblique to hit the French divisions between Hougomont and La Haye Sainte.

What followed was two and a half days of epic wargaming with the battle swinging to and fro across the front. By game's end there were no British or Hanoverian units left east of the Brussels Road, with the Brunswick Division refusing the flank along this road supported by a few British units freed up by the destruction of the French left. The Dutch still clung on to Papelotte and La Haye with Prussians beginning to arrive in strength.
To the west of La Haye Sainte the field pretty much belonged to the allies despite the French Old Guard being in Hougomont. A French flanking attack had been bottled up by the Dutch and now British and KGL reinforcement was on it's way.
Away over to the south west the Prussians had managed to reach Plancenoit after stiff French resistance.

After deliberation the two umpires called the game a minor allied victory, thanks in no little part to a last minute morale save by the Brunswickers.

A few of my pictures:

For more including more of my pictures and links to the full AARs and even more photographs see my blog at Jabba's Wargaming

Tony.

That looks great!

Matthew

Fantastic looking game! Great effort by all.

In our 23 Waterloo games the French pretty much steam roller the Allies. Did you tweak the scenario so that couldn't happen?
Thanks!

Wow……just wow….

@wrgmr1 thank you, very much a group effort.
No tweaking. Historical set up then let the CinCs decide their own battle plans. For example this time the Anglo Dutch commander (Wellington) decided to advance his better quality troops and attack the french as they advanced, to try and deny them the room to manoeuvre their greater number of troops. Worked well west of La Haye Sainte and also initially to the east too, before the dice gods intervened. Swung either way a lot over the course of the game.

Amazing stuff – so much to love, the 52nd's tattered colours perhaps my personal fave.

But, for the love of god, take more close-ups! All that amazing painting, all those beautiful 28mm figs and yet for most of the pics they might be 15mm they're so far away!

@Lord Hill thank you.
There are another 332 photographs in the club's albums I link to from my blog page including many close ups. I know they are on Facebook but I didn't take them so haven't the time to download them all and repost.

Now that's a game!

Excellent!!

Adding my admiration to the thread. That's a magnificent table.

Thank you all for your kind comments. This is very much a club effort that has evolved over many years to it's current form.

One day I might get to play Waterloo with y'all. Here's to hope.

Wonderful