D'Erlons attack at Waterloo

[Russ1664]

In preparation for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo a group of us wanted to test the Field of Glory Napoleonic’s rules to see if they were suitable for recreating the battle. Where “suitable” is a combination of playability, historical accuracy and fun. The idea was to try and recreate D’Erlons and the allied counter attack and see how well the rules (and players) coped with the action.

We used the guidance from the rules to create a historical Orbat for the battle, restricting ourselves to just representing the units to the east of La Hay Sainte involved in the attack or opposing it. So for the French we represented D’Erlons corps and Milhaud’s heavy cavalry corps together with the grand battery. The British (and friends) represented Picton’s Division, 2nd Dutch Division and some of the Cavalry Brigades under Uxbridge, notably the 2 heavy Brigades and 2 light cavalry brigades. So 7 infantry and 4 cavalry brigades for the British and 8 infantry and 6 cavalry brigades for the French

In setting up the battlefield we placed La Hay Sainte on one short edge of the table garrisoned by the KGL and the right edge was the 2 villages of Papelotte and Smohain each garrisoned by a brigade of Dutch-Belgians. The gap between using the ground scale from the rules was about 24”, which worked well when we deployed the infantry assault columns each consisting of 2 small units one behind each other in tactical formation.

We knew that the French grand battery had to be able to hit the crest of the allied ridge, so it was within 16” of the French grand Battery of 2 large and 2 small artillery units. Behind the guns were the 4 divisions of D’Erlons infantry and behind these the 4 brigades of Milhaud’s heavy cavalry, (the Guard cavalry were omitted from the game).

The British had 2 small artillery units and 2 infantry brigades forward of their ridge crest with the remaining infantry brigades on the reverse slope and behind them were the 2 heavy cavalry brigades, the 2 light being deployed on the left of the allied line. Overall this meant our battlefield was a surprisingly small area, about 3 feet in width and a similar depth!

We agreed to constrain our ability to manoeuvre units to their historical roles, for the French the grand battery was considered a separate artillery division within D’Erlons corps and was not allow to advance. The allied infantry could not advance from the ridge except to pursue the French and the allied cavalry would not be released until the French occupied at least part of the ridge crest. The French cavalry was not allowed to advance unit allied cavalry was seen.

And how did it play? Very well indeed. The French grand battery was allowed 2 moves of bombardment before their infantry advanced, causing some disorder to the infantry and allied artillery on the ridge. The French columns advanced masking their guns, which allowed the allies to recover some cohesion and their artillery was soon causing cohesion losses to the columns. Both Papelotte and La Hay Sainte were assaulted and the attacks repulsed. The second French division (from La Hay Sainte) was repulsed and thrown back by Byjlands brigade who had not been badly affected by the bombardment. The third column was halted and repulsed by the British artillery. So by the end of the 4th move the French had been repulsed all along the line. Huzzah!

The French spent a couple of turns of reorganising their wavering and disordered infantry during which their arty resumed firing, this time concentrating on Byjlands brigade. This concentrated fire immediately had effect driving the now wavering brigade backwards. The first French division was now trying and failing to storm La Hay Sainte. The second Division was halted in front of the British artillery as was the Third. Papelotte however, fell to assault by part of the 4th infantry division supported by the arty attachment to Pire’s Light Cavalry.

The 2nd brigades of the 3rd and 4th Divisions now pressed for the centre of the ridge. The British artillery unit in the way although suppressed by French counter battery fire was able to stop the French brigade trying to charge it. A Hanoverian Brigade in extended line came forwards to support the guns and in the resultant fire fight it was broken, but not before it driven back one French brigades. The remaining French brigade pushed into the gap over the crest of the ridge….. releasing the British cavalry.

At this point we called halt, in 3 hours of game, we managed 9 turns or 3 hrs of “real” time played. We had achieved our aims and were very pleased with the game and the rules. Rules worked well and seem to give a very good feel for the Battle and problems faced by the commanders. Fantastic!

( My apologies I didn't have a camera, another lesson identified for next time)

Russ

[Blathergut]

Sounds great!

[hazelbark]

very nice

[bahdahbum]

We knew that the French grand battery had to be able to hit the crest of the allied ridge,

What most people ignore is that they reached BEHIND the crest and inflicted huge damage to the british , hanovrian, DB units that were waiting there . Even the 6 pounders did it .

Now, for most part of the advance, the french artillery could fire overhead towards the allied line . Something you cannot do in the rules .

From memory, some horse batteries did follow the fench infantry .

The fench were not repulsed as easely as in the film ( Waterloo ) . The thin red line ( even the british ) was near breaking when Picton ordered a counterattack and when the union brigade decided to go in for the melee ...

[deadtorius]

Great report even if we didn't get pictures, congratulations on a great sounding game.