Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

The veteran officer stood up from his spot at the fire, thinking on the old days and the units he had commanded across many fields. The friends and brothers in arms he had the privilege of serving with. Together they had kept the forces of the ancien regimes at bay. Time and again taking the field and in the service of l'Empereur.

The fire was back in the Armée, the old élan that had always allowed the eagles to triumph. It had never truly left as there was always a cadre of officers to carry the fight to the enemy. But it had been principally the Garde, and now tirailleurs, artillery and dragons filling the line, facing the foes.

Encouraged by their resolve, the old grognard called upon his unit to take the field. The light cavalry, his first posting and fittingly, it would be the light cavalry division taking to the field to seek out the enemy once more. The eyes of the army, the tip of the spear, fearing nothing that the coalition could field.



Gentlemen, the cavalry has arrived!

We , that is Colonel Moore, Lt. Breckenridge and myself, can only but stay a while. The fields of Belgium call to us, where we hear that a gaggle of allied forces hopes to stop our drive north through the towns of Ligny and Quatre Bras. May it be the first stop of a tour of victory that takes us around Europe.

Cheers!

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Marechal Jeff Bardon
Duc de Castiglione et Prince de Wagram
Commandant de la Garde Imperiale

My dear Marechal Bardon, I must admit that I do not often visit the websites of La Grande Armee, but your post prompted me to take a brief look at the officers of IV Corps. I must say, your corps contains some very formidable and talented officers. My compliments, sir.

I can easily see the forces you propose being divided among two officers, as there are really two seperate battles to be conducted. What role do you see for the third, assuming that is the commanding, officer in this engagement?

My dear sir, that is the beauty of the arrangement of the AdN- two wings and a reserve, perfect for 3 officers!

Cheers!

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Marechal Jeff Bardon
Duc de Castiglione et Prince de Wagram
Commandant de la Garde Imperiale

Marechal Bardon, if you are now leading the light cavalry should'nt you actually be riding some manner of horse? We are not sure what those things are your troopers have saddled? Those bleating noises are rather endearing however, are they edible?

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Field Marshal Sir Edward Blackburn, 1st Duke of Aberdeen K.G.
85th (Buck's Light Volunteers) Regiment of Foot
16th British Brigade
7th Division
III (Peninsular) Corps
2nd Battalion, Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards

Bravo Mon General I personally have never had the pleasure to meet you or cross swords but now I see that the light Cav has also taken up the Banner bravo . They say you are a master of battle one to be feared so on ward the way is forward Monsieur ways forward!

Dang, someone could have at least warned me!

Marshal Blackburn, I think I must agree with you sir. The trading of Marechal Bardon's Garde mount for this smaller version is a questionable decision. Whereas the horns are a novel addition, I am not certain that the added 'armor protection' offsets the corresponding loss in size and speed.

I would wager that he may now be able to ascend a steeper slope though.

Quite right BG Jones, add in some moutain guns and the French now do have a well equipped Alpine Corps.

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Field Marshal Sir Edward Blackburn, 1st Duke of Aberdeen K.G.
85th (Buck's Light Volunteers) Regiment of Foot
16th British Brigade
7th Division
III (Peninsular) Corps
2nd Battalion, Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards

Given your rather addled mental states (Jagermeister anyone?), and understanding that you have rarely seen an actual horse, I'll pardon the confusion.

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Marechal Jeff Bardon
Duc de Castiglione et Prince de Wagram
Commandant de la Garde Imperiale

All kidding aside, my sincere compliments to Marechal Bardon for the formation of his combat team. That is exactly the type of leadership which we have been discussing. I also see that no Coalition team has yet answered his challenge.

I must confess my relative ignorance of the HPS version of Twin Battles. I have played HPS Quatre Bras twice, but I have no concept of how the Ligny side of the battle plays. I do know how the BG Twin Battles scenario plays and wonder if the scenario may be the reason for the Coalition's seeming reluctance to respond. The BG Twin Battles scenario is a French romp, primarily due to the fact that D'Erlon never gets lost and confused. I am just wondering if the HPS version is much the same. I also respect Jeff's prowess on the field, so that may be another reason, or perhaps a combination of both.

Comments anyone???

Mon President, it could be that your Allied teams since the departure of the bone heads Prussi Leader there are no Allied teams able to field any units.Or they all battling in 1813 or the Dragons have the whole allied units tie up in 1812. But I think that the Allies just don't have no combat teams! Maybe a reorganization is need in the Allied Army

I thought about answering and declined exactly for the reason you just stated and also noticed they were not going to use routing limiting on. This will be a quick defeat for the allies.

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Field Marshal Sir Edward Blackburn, 1st Duke of Aberdeen K.G.
85th (Buck's Light Volunteers) Regiment of Foot
16th British Brigade
7th Division
III (Peninsular) Corps
2nd Battalion, Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards

That no reason to decline a fight a many a time we French had to put up with overwhelming odds and unrealistic points just to get a game ! Am sure for you Sir Blackburn the bon General will turn it on if you can find a team of Brits to play but I doubt that you can put up a team of Brits maybe Sir Jones will join you(he about the only Allied player who plays). By the by were are all the Brits anyway How about them that wear them skirts they might have a team (dance team)

The scenario #3 seems to be fair... No allies unit fixed and D'Erlon's corps possibly delayed.

In addition, there is no line restriction which is a positive point for the defense in addition to the Prussian army ready to move and concentrate its defense...

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Général David Guegan

3ème Régiment de Grenadiers - Bataillon d'élite du 3ème Légère
2ème Brigade
Grenadiers de la Réserve
Réserve
La Grande Armée
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"From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step."
Napoléon Bonaparte

Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
Groucho Marx

I realize the French doctrine generally claims that having the Line Movement Restriction turned OFF is considered to be an advantage for the Defender. I actually have a different view as I think having it turned OFF is more of an advantage for the Attacker. The reason I say this is that the Defender's line units generally occupy a specific defensive location. When they move, it is normally because they are forced backward due to melee. In this case, they are automatically disordered and, if the Attacker knows his business, they will remain as such. Having LMP OFF, therefore really has little effect on the Defender's line formations.

What this option does for the Attacker is much more beneficial as it allows the attacking units to deploy in line, advance in good order in the face of heavy defensive artillery fire, and screen the units following hidden immediately in their wake. Having LMR OFF is a huge advantage for an Attacker. It also allows line units to unerringly move forward and adjacent to enemy squares and cavalry units. Having this option OFF is a larger advantage for the side that needs to move the most, and that side is invariably the Attacker, which is in most scenarios, the French. Just my perspective, but I have personally seen Marechal Bardon use LMR OFF to his great advantage in the advance to contact.

Rout Limiting OFF is an advantage for the side having the superior morale. Invariably this is La Grande Armee. It is an absolute disaster if you have significant numbers of E Morale grade units, which the Allied armies have in abundance in the Waterloo title. Morale E troops are utterly heinous. They are generally, in my opinion, more of a liability than an asset. The Allied commander almost has a better chance of survival by sending all of his E Morale units to the rear and exiting them from the map. An Allied E Morale unit casualty grants the same amount of Victory Points as a French A++ Old Guard casualty. There is something very, very wrong with this.

Now, I would agree that Marechal Bardon would probably be willing to amend the Optional Rules under which this battle would be conducted. He is a fearsome, but very honorable opponent.

My favourite optional rule is 'no whinging for allied players' I always prefer it ticked.

As regards Ligny / QB this does favour the French but also requires the allied player to formulate an effective plan which I believe is possible.

Pick the right scenario in the list (the one with Derlon fixed until 7ish) with a very good allied combination and say an above average French officer combo and it should be good fun. Its advantage French though. I suspect Marechal Bardon will be a real handful in this one. A great challenge for an aspiring Allied General though.

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Marechal Knox

Prince d'Austerlitz et Comte d'Argentan
Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur

"What is history but a fable agreed upon"