Saturday, May 2, 2015

HAHGS 200th Anniversary Waterloo Campaign - Endgame



More and more Prussians descend upon Vandamme's Corps.

A multitude of French troops continue to advance across the Mons table, now devoid of any opposition. 

Gerard and the French Cavalry Corps  continue to slowly push back Ziethen, whilst the Anglo Allied troops do an abrupt about face and start to return from whence they came!

The fighting commences on the Waterloo table near Nivelles.

Von Bulow's Korps still on the March on the Namur table.

a unit each of French Chevau-L:ager Lanciers and Hussars make short work of a straggling Anglo Allied Light cavalry unit, one of the few left on the Ghent table.


More Prussians put severe pressure on Vandamme's Corps, which is still holding.

Ziethen is pushed back to Ligny proper, now that the Anglo-Allied threat is gone.

With almost the entire Anglo-Allied army now concentrated on the Waterloo table, they have little difficulty containing the French. 

Vandamme is battered but holding... barely. 

Nosey turns his attention on the French, intending to make full use of his superior numbers. 

The Vangaurd of Bulow's [actually, Pirch I - see below] Korps finally appears near Gembloux,! However,  Ziethen's Korps is crumbling in front of Ligny. The fresh Prussian cavalry in the vanguard of Bulow's forces fans out to support Ziethen; Kellerman counters by sending his small Cavalry Corps of elite Carabiniers and Cuirassier to meet the threat. 

On the Ghent table, the City is garrisoned by a few Militia units. otherwise the Allies have departed. Emboldened by this,  French sympathizers give D'Erlon directions to the coastal Ports where the British Fleet is stationed.... back towards Mons. D'Erlon groans... it seems that he is destined to be remembered by history as the general who marched back and forth yet again!

The Imperial Guard could march from Mons to the Ports easily enough... but Wellington would be happy to take THAT 2 for 1 exchange!

Bulow's [actually, Pirch I - see below] infantry (being transported on the VUB lid) starts to arrive at Gembloux as well.

Indecisive fighting near Nivelles on the Waterloo table. 

Nom de Dieu! As if Thielmann's larger Korps wasn't enough to deal with already. Pirch's Korps now descend upon Vandamme from Namur. [Correction: I am told by reliable sources inside the Prussian General Staff that this was in fact Von Bulow's Korps, which bhad marched from Liege, whilst it was Pirch I who marched from Namur to Gembloux onto the Ligny table - even the GM gets confused at times by a multiplayer, multi table game!]

Bulow [Pirch I]moves to the rescue behind Ligny!

D'Erlon's Corps, and the cavalry Corps of Milhaud and Exelman's have moved to cut of the channel ports. Wellesley must remove 20 units from the field... of course choosing mostly Militia, Landwehr, and the other troops of his Duitch Belgian allies for the task.... including the garrisons of Ghent and Brussels. The entire Imperial Guard force marches across the Ghent table and onto the Brussels table. The city (above) falls without resistance, and the Guard continues on unopposed. It is ready to descend upon the the flank and rear of the Anglo Allied army at Hal, Waterloo, and Wavre. Due to the rest of the above French troops exiting towards the Channel ports, another 20 Anglo Allied units must be removed. Half of the Anglo Allied Army is now detached to regain control of their LOC!  Game called circa 4:40 PM; Major French Victory. 

A great idea of James' was a short debriefing session at the conclusion of the game. Using two large maps, one of the Player map from the Napoleon! board game, and one of the "secret" umpire's map, we reviewed the broad course of events, with each block representing a Corps, more or less (there are too many red blocks). Above are the opening moves.

Situation at mid-game. Each player moved "their" corps on the map.

Nearing the end of the game. Our Napoleon effectively employed the strategy that  the real life Wellington was originally anticipating - the Maneuvre sur les Derrieres.


My version of the End game.

I will have several player reports, messages sent during the game, and final thoughts in one or more subsequent posts. 




20 comments:

  1. Another fine report, Peter, and a not too surprising conclusion given the loss of the British supply base.

    Logistics!

    One of my favorites quotes on the matter comes from Patton. That is,

    "Gentlemen, the officer who doesn't know his communications and supply as well as his tactics is totally useless."

    From your coordination and execution of this well-attended event, it is clear you, as game master, have mastered logistics!

    Well done!

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    1. Similar is "Amateurs study Tactics; Professionals study Logistics!"

      Actually, as Blucher just reminded me, the Prussian defeat of Vandamme would soon put Napoleon's communications in jeopardy as well... however, there was no scenario rule for that (or the Prussians LOC).

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  2. Nicely done, again a good use of photos of the tables and the brief explanations of what was going on during the movement and battle turns.

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    1. Thanks, Joe. I snapped photos on the fly as often as I could; at least bthey come out in chronological order, which helps organize things!

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    2. Boy! Isn't that the truth regarding snapping photos in chronological order. With out little aid, it would be difficult to reconstruct the action.

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    3. Yes digital cameras and the internet/blogs have had a major positive impact on our hobby over the past 15 years. I'm still using my circa 1999 Nikon digital camera.

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  3. Very enjoyable Peter, and it is quite amazing to see how much can be accomplished in a day. It will be interesting to read the player reports over the forthcoming posts.

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    1. It was very much a team effort - Greg, Joe, and James were indispensible. The players were all very cooperative, one even brought doughnuts for all the players in the AM, and another foooted half of the bill for a round of Pizza mid afternoon. An Army marches on its stomach and all that...

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  4. Very enjoyable Gonsalvo. Have you considered doing 1805 or 1809 or 1796?

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    1. We did a version of the opening of the 18-09 campaign as our first test, with the table maps in hand and the tables set up in correct orientation to one another.

      http://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2012/09/crisis-on-danube-1809-with-snappy-nappy.html

      http://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2012/10/crisis-on-danube-1809-with-snappy-nappy.html

      http://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2012/11/crisis-on-danube-1809-with-snappy-nappy.html

      http://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2012/11/crisis-on-danube-1809-with-snappy-nappy_20.html

      I agree tat 1805 and the "Relief of Mantua" phase of 1796 would be good subjects for this treatment as well. However, it looks like our next one will be the Spring of 1807. Actually quite a lot of maneuver there, and not as well known.

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    2. We did a version of the opening of the 18-09 campaign as our first test, with the table maps in hand and the tables set up in correct orientation to one another.

      http://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2012/09/crisis-on-danube-1809-with-snappy-nappy.html

      http://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2012/10/crisis-on-danube-1809-with-snappy-nappy.html

      http://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2012/11/crisis-on-danube-1809-with-snappy-nappy.html

      http://blundersonthedanube.blogspot.com/2012/11/crisis-on-danube-1809-with-snappy-nappy_20.html

      I agree tat 1805 and the "Relief of Mantua" phase of 1796 would be good subjects for this treatment as well. However, it looks like our next one will be the Spring of 1807. Actually quite a lot of maneuver there, and not as well known.

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  5. Spring 1807? That must mean post Treaties of Tilsit. Do you mean amphibious operations? That would be awesome! Thanks for the 1809 links I will enjoy.

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  6. Enjoy the 1809 write up' defioniotely one i could revisit on a bigger scale.

    Friedland = June 14, 1807, so we're talking about the post Eylau campaign, including Heilsberg and Freidland, that resulted in the armistice and later Treaty of Tilsit.

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    1. Look forward to that! Excellent it will help encourage me to paint my Russians.

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    2. Probably talking Fall 2016 or Spring 2017 for the next "campaign in a Day". They're a lot of fun, but a huge amount of background work! James is supposed to do a lot of the scenario development this time, so that I can be subject to the winds of chance and fortune myself!

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