Battle of Ligny, 1815 at Historicon

I ran the Ligny scenario (to be posted soon) twice at Historicon, once at 7 PM on Thursday evening, and again at 9 AM Friday. It was a good thing that I started it as late as I did, and that the large, "L" shaped table (essentially, two 6 x 10 foot tables side by side and overlapping 6 feet on the sides)  was available early, as it took me nearly 6 hours to set up all the troops and terrain. The Prussian troop mix in particular was such that it would have been difficult for anyone to assist with setting them up, although I did have some help doing the much more straightforward Frenchmen! In any event, I was very happy with the final appearance of the table.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find my camera, and although I was sure that I had packed it, was forced to conclude that somehow it had been left behind at the last moment. Therefore, I took NO pictures at Historicon this year (I had my cell phone camera, but the pictures from that are so awful for this kind of thing that it isn';t worth taking them). That's ;part of why this post isn't up until well after the fact. The photos here are courtesy of Tim's Blog, Victor's blog, and the indispensable Czar Barry. Thanks, guys! Of course, when I got home, I discovered that I had the camera with me all along - just buried at the bottom of my bad, where I had in fact placed it first thing to be SURE I wouldn't forget it. Duh!!!!

Overview of the Table nearing completion of the setup Thursday night (and of Peter fretting over some issue with the OOB). From left to right, the villages along the heavily overgrown Ligny stream  are:   Wagnelee, St Armand la Haye, St Armand, Ligny (near the junction of the two tables), and far off are Tongrinelle, Baignee, and finally Balatre. 

This shot shows the view from the opposite direction, once again with Ligny in the center, and now with St Armand, etc in the distance.

The Thursday night game started with the Prussians wining the impetus roll by 6, and deciding to give the first run to the French, fearing that they'd waste good cards (especially the Infantry Firepower card)  while the French were too far away for them to use them. As is often the case when one makes this bet, the French then proceeded to turn almost a perfect run of Cards - Artillery Firepower, Move, Infantry Firepower, Artillery Firepower, Move, Melee. Above Jim Mauro, assisted by Dr Tim, attacks Ligny. 

The MOVE cards allow the French Reserves to enter as well... Old Guard and the Cuirassiers!  The Prussians got well and truly pounded by this superb card sequence, and were nearly ejected from Wagnelee, St Arman la Haye, and St Armand, and were pushed back in Ligny. We had a full slate of 12 players, but almost half were new to the Field of Battle rules. If I had thought about it, I would have made sure that veteran players were opposite newbies wherever possible so that they could assist them at learning the rules. Naturally, the Prussian players started to loose heart after the string of French successes, despite the fact that they had tons of un-engaged troops in reserve, and their Morale Point reserve was huge. Of course, the thing about a big run of cards in Field of Battle is that an equally long run of cards is going to come to the other side, so as long as you haven't been crushed yet, you'll have your turn. That is of course what happened, and on their run of cards, the Prussians hammered the French, and they lost virtually all of their gains in the villages... and a huge amount of Morale points as a result. The French forces were rather thin opposite the Wagnlee - St Armand leg of the Ligny, and when the next French run of cards proved less than spectacular, the Prussians used their cards to counterattack and severely maul their opposing numbers. Despite the fact that it was only about 10PM, a number of the players were tired and drifted off, so we ended the game then. The French were unable to make any further headway around the villages, and were down about 35 Morale points to the Prussians. Had play continued, a very convincing French defeat was virtually assured!

We used the time to reset most of the troops for the Thursday AM game, and finished the process starting about 8 AM that day.  Here's a shot of the French Right , with Ligny in the background.

Soldier's eye view of St Armand La Haye, with the Bussy windmill in the background, as the French prepare to attack.

Terry's Prussian brigade prepares to advance from its reserve position to threaten the weak French flank near Wagnelee. 

The initial French assault on Ligny was repulsed with heavy losses, but once again they achieved initial major successes at Wagnlee, St Armand La Haye, and St. Armand.

La Garde arrives, along with the Cuirassier Divisions. The French have a decided advantage in the numbers and quality of their cavalry, but the nature of the battlefield makes it very difficult to put it to use! The Prussians, however, have far more infantry, and no lack of places for them to hole up!

The Imperial Guard Artillery is moving up to a position so that they can shell either Ligny and/or St Armand. 

Tim, a renowned beau-sabre, looks for the cards to get his Prussian cavalry across the steep banked Ligny stream to threaten the battered French near Ligny itself.  For the Thursday AM game, we had only 8 players so we left off the other leg of the table. Almost all the players for this game were FoB veterans, so things went far more smoothly. The fighting in and around the villages was vicious!

And they do eventually come! Here Tim's Dragoons, Hussars, and Landwehr cavalry have forded the treacherous Ligny stream  forcing Phil's French infantry to form square. Phil had rolled several "1's" on his Move cards, and thus the French assault on Ligny went nowhere fast.

Overview looking towards St Armand. The Young Guard is preparing to assault St. Armand, the Guard cavalry is heading up the road to counterbalance times troopers, and Sam is sending his Cuirassier Divisions to the French Left to intimidate Terry's Prussians, who have recaptured Wagnelee and St Armand La Haye, and have boldly advanced across the Ligny, threatening to mop up what remained of the French attackers there.

Having re-taken the lost ground in the villages, the Prussians are sending heavy reinforcements to support St Armand, which is threatened by the Young Guard. Poor Bill (grey sleeve) needed a little professional advise about the sudden development of some nasty GI symptoms he was experiencing, but he boldly soldiered on (and felt progressively better as the game progressed). The Prussian Artillery is being used very effectively to pound the exposed French.

Once again the French Morale pool was being rapidly exhausted, while the Prussians maintained and expanded their starting lead in that critical area. A major Prussian victory seemed likely in the offing once again when we had to halt play to set up for the Die Fighting 2 game that followed. Overall, I found myself impressed that historically, the French managed to pull off a fairly convincing victory over Blucher's Prussians, given the strength of their position, and their decided advantage in numbers. I'll have some thoughts about that when I present the scenario itself.