Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Continue to be befuddled by the timing of the Waterloo scenarios. In a current battle against Sir Muddy, the night turns began after midnight and ended 2 turns later.

With nighttime operations so rare during the period, doesn't it make sense to have longer night turns even if that does not correspond to the long daylight hours at that time of year ?

I'd like to hear other's thoughts too, but I think that, at the latest, 9:00pm should signal the beginning the night turns, with dawn at 4:00 or 5:00am and dusk at 7:00 or 8:00pm.

That gives you a full days worth of fighting with some real rest time for those battle weary troops. Not much fatigue is regained after two night turns.

Maréchal John Mitchell
Grande Duc de Rivoli et Comte de Bordeaux
Commandant Division Infanterie; La Veille Garde
105e Regiment d' Infantrie Ligne,
2e Brigade, 1er Division Infanterie,
I Corp, AdN

This is an issue of historical timing, vs practical timing. Remember that June 21 is the longest day of the year. Considering that Waterloo took place 3 days before that, for all intents and purposes, it is the longest daylight week of the year. Having been in northern Europe that time of year, I can attest that they do have a LOT of light hours. 9:00 P.M. is still plenty light to fight, as is 4:00 A.M. HOWEVER, generals did understand the need for resting their troops, and to my knowledge very few battles took place before 7:00 or 8:00 or even 9:00 in the morning, so for game purposes adjusting the "dawn" time to something later would be more accurate from the practical point of view. As for the other end of the day... Historically, Gneisenau pursued the French all the way to Geneppe, which is where Blucher met Wellington around 10:00 P.M. and the last cavalry attacks continued even further south, until around 11:00 P.M.. I wouldn't change that end of the game time.

Ensign William Davis
23rd (Royal Welsh) Fusiliers