Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

I have played the large Waterloo campaign with no fixed units three times now. Twice I selected the historical path which massed the French in the east against the Prussians. Both times I found it almost impossible to get across the Sambre River. The Prussians can reinforce their positions at the crossing almost at fast as the French can get there. I tried stroming infantry across but my one battalion that would melee across would then be thrown back by Prussian counter attacks. I brought up guns and would blast the counterattacker but there were always more enemy battalions to replace them. I then sent cavalry across. They could not be meleed out to the position but they also could not advance any further. In one I was able to force my way across at Charloi but I destroyed the Jeune Garde in the process. In the other I never got across any where. After I surrendered that one I looked at the enemy dispositions and almost the entire Prussian army was within a few turns of reaching the river and the Anglo-Allies also had forces close.

In my other game I chose to advance on Mons and much of my army has moved well north and at this point I am not too sure the Allies will be able to even confront me and I may have an open path to the map edge. That will be real fun, spend two weeks moving long columns of troops from the south to the north of the map.

My understanding of the actual crossing was that the Prussians defense consisted of a few Landwehr battalions that fled at the first appearance of the French. I would like to see a scenario where the Prussians are fixed to allow the French across the river. To me the fun of this scenaio is all the manouvering that would take place after a French crossing.

Marechal Jonathan Thayer
Commandante Moyenne Garde
Duc de Saalfeld et Prince de Friedland
1/10/III
Armee du Nord




jonathanthayer@bellsouth.net

Get your opponent to play with fixed units. It's fairer on the French. Not sure about the Allies, Colin Knox has done a real number on me in 20 turns. I've never played as French so again can't comment but it strikes me that if you go for Charleroi in due course you get reinforcements to the west on the far bank of the river, thus outflanking thae hapless Prussians.

Yes, I remember the Mons option well. It was just bad luck we went against 2 of the best opponents in the club really.

Generaal
2de Brigade
2de Nederlandsche Div
I Corps
Anglo Allied Army

Do not despair, mon Marechal. The French can cross the river as soon as Reille's division clears the bridgehead. Don't waste the Jeune Guarde trying to forced the bridge. Set up a grande battery to keep the Prussians from destroying the bridge before Reille arrives.

The Mon option is not so easy. The Anglo-Allied can muster a large force to block the French advance. It is the Prussians that will have to march far. Again, there is a major river that must be crossed before the French can reach the edge of the board.

Bon chance.



FM Sir 'Muddy' Jones, KG
2nd Life Guards, Household Cavalry

In both of the large map scenarios I have played as the French I crossed the river in decent time, and in one beat my opponent into submission by the end of the first day. The second game is still going, and my forces are well advanced on the second day, after a full nights rest. So it is certainly possible.

The Mons path depends totally upon which choices the two players make. If you choose Mons and the Allies elected to concentrate to the West then there won't be much in front of you...but you better watch your flank as I'm sure you'll eventually get company. And realistically, Napoleon would have looked for the Allies, not just marched on through...territory is pretty much useless unless the opposing army is defeated.

Maréchal Hamilton,
Duc de Barbancon
21st Division
VII Corps, ADR

1er Regiment Garde
Fusiler-Grenadiers

I just realized that I am an idiot. The two I played were where i selected the "Napoleon takes on Blucher" in which all the French come on the map from the south edge, east of the river. With the middle option, Napoleon pushes through Charleroi french unit come in north of the river.

I wondered what Sir Muddy was talking about regarding the II Corps.

Marechal Jonathan Thayer
Commandante Moyenne Garde
Duc de Saalfeld et Prince de Friedland
1/10/III
Armee du Nord




jonathanthayer@bellsouth.net

When you play the campaign format, all in one scenario, each side has 3 choices. This can yield 9 differnt situations. Well to make that a little more variable, and to add some replayability options there's a feature called a "wildcard" you can use so that the engine selects from a group of scenarios based on the choice. So for each of those 9 scenario I made three variants with slightly different placements for the French arrivals so you actually end up with 27 different situations you could start with.

So, in most cases, no two playings of the campaign will yield the exact same results.

Maréchal Hamilton,
Duc de Barbancon
21st Division
VII Corps, ADR

1er Regiment Garde
Fusiler-Grenadiers

Another option would be to have the French already holding the bridge at the beginning of the scenario. Advance the timeline a bit so to speak. Then fixed units wont be an issue.

Bill Peters
Armee du Rhin - V Corps, 5ème Division, 20ème légère Brigade de Cavalerie, 13ème Hussar Regiment
HPS Napoleonic Scenario Designer (Eckmuhl, Wagram, Jena-Auerstaedt and ... more to come)

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