Waterloo 1815. Game at NBHW

Last weekend saw our big Waterloo game make another appearance at New Buckenham. The rules used were Shako 2 and the figures were 28mm.
The setup started early on Friday morning with the game proper starting at 7pm. We continued playing all day Saturday and Sunday until 2pm by which time we had completed 18 turns and got to 10pm game time.

My command consisted of:

I British Infantry Corps - 1st British Division:
1st Brigade -  2/1st and 3/1st Foot Guards
2nd Brigade - 2/2nd and 2/3rd Foot Guards.
Attached Artillery.

II British Infantry Corps - 2nd British Division:
3rd British Brigade - 1/52nd, 1/71st, 2/95th and 3/95th Foot.
1st KGL Brigade - 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Line KGL
3rd Hanoverian Brigade - Bremervorde, Osnabruck, Quackenbruck and Salzgitter Battalions.
Attached Artillery.

Apart from the Guards battalion in Hougomont my units started on the ridge line north of this famous landmark and formed the right wing of the allied army until more Dutch arrived.
Unlike in previous years, Wellington this year decided to attack to deny the French the room to manoeuvre their mass of infantry and cavalry. To that end I was ordered to oblique my whole command to the left and aim to hit and destroy Foy's division that had formed up between Hougomont and La Haye Sainte and hopefully bottle up Bachelu's division on their right side.

The French meanwhile had similar ideas at set off smartly too with Foy heading straight at my advancing troops.

To the other side of La Haye Sainte both sides also advanced and it wasn't long before battle was joined all along the line.

What followed was two and a half days of epic wargaming with the battle swinging to and fro across the front. I did manage to destroy Foy's division without losing a single battalion, but the Guards division took so much damage that they broke towards the end of the game after a failed moral check.  Bachelu was also destroyed leaving a large gap in the French line. The Light Division and KGL spent the whole game supporting first the Guards and then swung around to bolster the defence of the right flank. The Hanoverian brigade brought up the rear but towards the end found themselves supporting the Dutch on the right flank.

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 Foy and Bachelu. 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 Old Guard being in Hougomont. Jerome's 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. All in all a fantastic and sometimes exhausting game.

Below are a few of the photo's I managed to take over the weekend.

The Tyrant himself!

My Command heading off to attack Foy.

Attempted panorama of allied right.

Where'd all the French go?

For hundreds more photographs and a fuller AAR, written by our Napoleon for the weekend, see the following Facebook albums:

Waterloo 1pm to 3pm

Waterloo 3pm to 5pm

Waterloo 5pm to 10pm

Tony.