Project Waterloo: Genesis

     Shortly after Historicon 2024 games registration opened, John Spiess approached me on behalf of HMGS Next Gen, asking me if I'd be interested in running a series of games for HMGS Next Gen in Lancaster this year. The games would be held in the Foyer outside the Dealer hall, so very prime space for visibility. The theme for Historicon this year is "Historicon goes to the Movies". I knew that I would want top do a Napoleonic game, but the rules needed to be simple, with a conclusion rendered in 2 hours. Rifleman Harris would also be appearing at the convention, so the battle of Waterloo was the obvious choice. Oddly enough, in 55+ years of Wargaming, the bulk of it Napoleonic, I've never run played in a game based upon Waterloo. Well, OK we did the entire 100 Days as a Campaign in a Day back circa 2025, and Ligny that years well, but that's not really the same thing at all.

    The game woukld be run three times, with a 1 hour break in between each game. In addition, it would be a walk up game; no preregistration. The target audience would be youth and Novice gamers, although by no means limited to same. Given that, a gridded board was a must, and I figured some variation of Neil Thomas's "One Hour Wargames" might be the most suitable rules. 

    The next issue would be terrain. The buildings at Waterloo, particularly Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte, and couldn't easily be substituted for with other pieces. We were  also limited to a 6 x 10 foot long table (I am hoping we may be able to modify that to  5 x12 feet at the show, but no guarantees). Any model of Hougoumont, in particular, that was in anything near 25 mm scale would be huge, and occupy 1/3 to 1/2 of the Battlefield!  OK, so how about 15 mm?  It turns out hey would also be enormous (There was one forced perspective 15 version that might have worked, but unfortunately the owner has been indisposed and was not taking orders.  That lead to finding a 10 mm version that would fit the bill (more about that in a future post)

    Next, how about a scenario? Although crucial to the outcome of the battle, form a game standpoint, I knew I could not include the Prussians. If Napoleon doesn't defeat Wellington by a certain point, the default is an Allied victory with Blucher's arrival. At the excellent Hexes and Miniatures site I found a scenario for just this situation for a hexed version of Sam Mustafa's Blucher rules at: https://storage.googleapis.com/wzukusers/user-19028574/documents/1d47dce8e2d841c89274f9eb11582147/Waterloo.pdf

    The scenario requires less than 30 units a side - enough to still be quite a spectacle, but still doable and leaving the players 10 or less units each to command. Finally, I plan to use quotes form the movie for "chance cards" to be played during the game. Thus the game was registered through HMGS Next Gen as "Waterloo in Two". There is still a lot to do for the game, but I am making excellent progress on all aspects. 

Ramses II takes it on the chin; HMGS Next Gen at the Trumbull Library, Lebanon, CT

All set up and ready to play at 10AM; I arrived at 8:30 Am after a roughly 90 minute drive through the stunning fall foliage on a gorgeous October day. An invasion of Egypt by the Sea Peoples must be stopped by the young pharaoh, Ramses II. 

The players all caught on the gist of the rules (To the Strongest!)  fairly quickly, but of course required assistance at times. Note the Egyptian chariots on the far right flank of the Sea Peoples! 

Everyone getting into the action! The library building was just recently constructed, and is a gorgeous facility/ The large, brightly lit room we were in could have handled 2 games easily,  and I understand there is a second room that could accommodate a third game.  

The participants (correct me if I got any names wrong) , starting with Ray in the blue shirt and proceeding clockwise - Peter (moi, GM) . Emmet, Matt (Librarian, but took over a command when one of the players had to leave), Logan, then the Sea Peoples players Shamus, Jayden, and Ryan. When the game ended, the Egyptian left flank chariots had swept around the Sea Peoples rear, taking both camps, but elsewhere the Egyptians suffered the curse of the Mummy or some such, and suffered heavy losses. No commanders failed their save, which was a first for a TTS! game in my experience. I did remember the Morale Test rules,  and in this game, it cost the Egyptians dearly! Thanks to Jim Stanton for the phots; I cleverly forgot my  cell phone! Jim also set up his Gnome Wars castle assault table, which always looks great and garnered plenty of interest as well. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time or players to actually run it,. but it was helpful for Matt and the players to see another example of what was possible. 

Newly assembled and painted for this game was the Egyptian Obelisk I purchased at Historicon in November last year. It was used for atmosphere, well in the center of the table where no one would have to risk impaling themselves upon it 

A youtube video on the enigmatic Sea Peoples...

Historicon 2022: Selected Table shots

Between running 4 games of my own and providing some troops, terrain, and moral support to the five (well, it wound up being six, actually!) Wars of the Roses games using Test of Resolve run by Tim and David, I had less time to tour the rest of the show than usual. This is one of the 4 tables making up the event that impressed me the most. 

Table #2

Indian village and Pueblo town on table #3!

Mining operations on Table #4

"Have Gun, will Travel", one of two game run on this great terrain!

"The Rules with No Name"

Muchos amigos j

uegando!

Yep, there was that time me and Lefty got trapped that 'ol mine down by Bear Creek..."

Test of Honor Samuari mega game returns, with even more stuff on the table!

A man after my own heart - lots of 25 mm Napoleonics on the table!

Then Middle East, in the well lit foyer of the Heritage hall. Lighting was less than great in some areas, especially including the table in the Federal room where I ran all 4 of my games! 

Modern warfare in the desert.

The scatter material looks good, but it must be a mess to clean up!

Computer moderated Napoleonics with Carnage and Glory. 

Personally, the last thing I want is a computer in my tabletop wargames, but to each their own!

Simple but effective terrain.

Man, that's one big die!  Is someone overcompensating for something?

Nice looking table!

C&G Napoleonics in ? Russia. 

ACW game with an attractive table. 

Another computer moderated game.

Lots of buildings on the waterfront in the Middle East. 

Pretty young crowd at this game!

Giant Hex map with minis!

Setting up the city walls.

Later, the game underway!

Lots of 25mm Napoleonics on some custom terrain that I recognize from November. 

Now THAT's a BIG table!

Hail, hail, the Gangs are all here!

Somewhere in Italy...

Long time Historicon freind, John Mumby in the right foreground, and with no woods in sight! 

This is the first time in many years that he wasn't accompanied by his fellow gamer from Denver, Terry Schockley, who sadly succumbed to complications of cancer earlier this year after a long battle. 

"mark's Game Room"; love the poster!

Lovely terrain, not too many troops. 

Set up for a giant Battle Master game.

Close up of Same. 

Judging by the garb, a Little Wars TV sponsored game. 

Leonardo, the Borgias, and company!

Another very handsomely done table!

The remaining shots are of games run by other HMGS Next Gen GM's, in or outside the Federal Room. 

Some kind of modern game; Hey, I don't do Khaki!  :-)

Catch the cool HMGS Next Gen shirts... I have mine now, too!  :-)

Now, we still need a Banner... right, John?!

Trains, Rivers, and... Gnomes!

Every body's looking for something...

"Kill the Irish!"

(Don't ask me to explain, I can't...)

Speaking of John, here he is running one of his great (and bloody) Dark Ages games. 

Limeys

and

Slimeys!

Ancients in 54 mm!

Get a load of that enormous 4 Horse Assyrian Chariot!

One gratuitous shot of my Caldiero 1805 game, with Field of Battle 3rd edition rules.