OK, here's the solo NLB Waterloo replay with my rules. (This time I forgot about taking the "average" column and automatically picked up the dice at game's start.) Markus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Initial orders: All British troops have Defend orders. Buelow, once he arrives, has March and Attack orders towards Plancenoit. (Ziethen would have March and Attack orders towards Smohain and then La Belle Alliance, but is not in the originally published scenario although his troops atacked before the French collapse.) D'Erlon has attack orders towards Papelotte/La Haye Sainte and on into Mont St Jean, Reille has attack orders towards Hougoumont and on into Merbe Braine and Waterloo, all other French formations have Reserve orders. 1200 The game starts with d'Erlon getting the Initial Chit. He attacks, with some good dierolls smashes Vincke's weakened brigade, and sends Best and Pack reeling, although at the cost of losses to Nogues and Bourgeouis (the latter covering the flank towards La Haye Sainte). No French cross the crest because that would leave them too exposed, but given the apparent effortlessness of the advance, I thought, oops, are the French through already?? At that moment, Ponsonby charged, rolled a 12, and though with some losses of his own, basically killed the 2nd Division - Schmitz's and Aulard's brigades chased off the field. Ponsonby pursued and attacked the 3rd division but this time at little effect and retired behind the line. Next to activate is the 5th Division, Pack rejoins the line and counterattacks, no losses on either side (lucky for Pack actually, as he's facing Nogues and I Corps artillery). Now it's II Corps' turn. The 6th division attacks Mitchell, west of Hougoumont, as yet not to much effect. Byng is attacked by no less than 15 strength points. Though the Chateau softens this to 8 he still suffers a loss, but (DR10) dishes out 2 of his own. Reille decides to retreat, but still loses the remains of Husson's brigade (which started the battle on the reverse side due to losses at Quatre Bras). On Wellington's left, Fraser's horse artillery fills the gap. The rest of Cole's division comes up. 1300 Napoleon has a sense of foreboding and sends an order to Lobau to march and delay in the direction of the Bois de Clocq. Lobau accepts immediately and will start moving. Napoleon also gets the Initial Action chit again, which again goes to d'Erlon. Grenier pushes Bijlandt back behind the crest, Nogues, supported by I Corps artillery, vaporizes Best's brigade, and Brue and Pegot's men eliminate Weimar's brigade (DR 11) and take Papelotte. Ompteda's men suffer some losses in La Haye Sainte. A turn after d'Erlon's taste. VI Corps gets underway. Now Cole sends in Lambert and his artillery to counterattack against Papelotte, and rather than see both Brue and Pegot's brigade mauled, d'Erlon falls back. Brue still takes losses in the confused street fighting. Meanwhile, on the horizon, Buelow's cavalry vanguard appears. (Actually, they're not in LOS yet for a long time, so strictly speaking they're not in sight. :-) On the French left, Reille attacks again, his corps artillery mauls Mitchell's men and the 6th Division tramples them into the mud. A second assault against Hougoumont means Campi's brigade is hors de combat, but Byng's men start to suffer. Might be time to reinforce or replace them, but unfortunately Maitland is looking the other way. (His chit was pulled just before.) Ponsonby charges Grenier on the left Allied wing but with little effect this time. 1400 The attacks continue. No Initial Action Chit this time (Wellington rolls 3, Napoleon 4). And the turn starts with Buelow's Corps swinging into view, still at least 3 hours' march away. Cole would love to start a spirited counterattack from Papelotte, but is not permitted to as per the Defend orders handed out by Wellington. Reille continues his attacks on Hougoumont and finally manages to break and take it. A major success! The main problem is that apart from the Guard, there are virtually no reserves on the left wing to exploit it. Reille's strength is 22, Kellermann's 11. Together they face 42 strength points west of Mont St Jean. Of course that is if Wellington does not move additional troops from here to the left wing to stop d'Erlon. Is it already time to commit the Guard?? Meanwhile the battle continues. VI Corps takes up a strong blocking position behind the Bois de Clocq. The attacks on La Haye Sainte continue with little vigor, but the Cole's troops defending Papelotte take severe losses (2 steps) while Pegot's Brigade is eliminated. d'Erlon now is one strength point below the demoralization limit, with 25 strength remaining. Directly facing him are 20 points of Allied troops, but another 20 are arrayed in the center behind La Haye Sainte. 1500. Napoleon decides not to commit the Guard yet. Neither side gets an Initial Action, but both get a Coordinated Action chit. Napoleon can't do much with it, gives it to I and II Corps, but Wellington uses it for the Nassauers (N2) and 5th division for a coordinated counterattack. Wellington brings the Dutch cavalry in position behind the crest on his left wing. Far away to the east, the rest of Buelow's corps appears, and the vanguard of the infantry is marching through Chapelle St Lambert, with the church spire of Lasne coming in sight. Reille brings Pelletier's artillery in position to the west of Hougoumont. d'Erlon continues the attack, and while La Haye Sainte continues to occupy the attention of Bourgeouis and Quiot, Grenier's brigade manages to push Pack and Bijlandt back and get across the crest. This was probably an error, only the Allies suffered a loss and could have weathered Bijlandt's elimination, but I decided not to do it and to retreat instead, since I had the Dutch cavalry and Vandeleur's brigade arranged for a massive counterattack. Unfortunately they all miss their morale roll (6,6,5) and so will have to charge piecemeal. Four other brigades of d'Erlon's corps supported by the corps artillery attack Papelotte again. They gain two losses (strength of 10 reduced to 7, DR 8) while suffering one (strength of 4, DR 7). Now it's d'Erlon's decision. Should he ease the pressure, retreat and avoid the demoralization of his corps (which would see him stop the attack with a 2/3 probability on the next turn)? This would still weaken the defenders, but leave some alive in the town. If he presses the attack, it's decision time for Cole. If Cole does not retreat, his troops in Papelotte will be annihilated and the town will fall *unless* d'Erlon's troops retreat unvoluntarily (a 1/3 chance). It does seem advantageous to press the attack (as it should be with a 2:1 loss ratio), and that is what d'Erlon does. Cole decides to retreat rather than be destroyed, and the town falls. A joint counterattack (the Coordinated Action chit) by Pack's and Bijlandt's brigade on Grenier does not bring any advantage. With Buelow now providing a kind of flank guard, Wellington moves Vivian's brigade close in to support a possible larger cavalry attack next turn. Despite the heavy activity, few losses due to the defenders' decisions to fall back. 1600. Cole should have tried to stand, as d'Erlon continues to attack. Napoleon decides the time has come to attempt the decisive stroke on the British right. He assigns the Young Guard and artillery to defend Plancenoit. Guyot's division and the Guard horse batteries are left as a reserve with Kellermann. The rest of the Guard, together with Milhaud's cavalry, are ordered to attack from Frischermont towards La Vieux Amis. The move will begin on the next turn (1T result on a roll of 7 for the Guard, and a roll of 4 for Milhaud, who was lucky that he had the Cavalry corps shift or he'd have ended up with an R4 result. Most commanders are pretty good in this campaign so one rarely descends into the nether regions of the Order Compliance Table, but Leipzig should be interesting). Some bombardments by the Allies on both wings disrupt Grenier's brigade and the advance guard of II Corps. An abortive charge by de Collaert's cavalry brings nothing. d'Erlon attacks again and Grenier, despite being disrupted, pushed Bijlandt back. d'Erlon pushes out of Papelotte and eliminates the remainder of Cole's division under losses to Brue's brigade. It doesn't matter because on the other side of his area, Bourgeois' brigade is finally wiped out by the strain of attacking La Haye Sainte, although Ompteda's men now are taking losses as well so that resistance begins to slacken slightly. However, more important is the gap that is opening between La Haye Sainte and Frischermont. If only the Guard were already in place! 1700. To everyone's amazement, d'Erlon keeps going (a Confidence check DR of 1). Napoleon gets an Initial Action chit. Not surprisingly, d'Erlon is it! This has the added advantage of preempting reinforcement of La Haye Sainte. Indeed, Quiot's men finally manage to clear the chateau. However, the other attacks fizzle out. On the other hand, the Guard starts moving. Wellington starts shifting reserves to the left flank, in particular Uxbridge and the Brunswickers. Reille decides the time has come to attack Clinton's division, but he meets with little success. Buelow's men have made contact with VI Corps. The initial cavalry probe is repulsed. The next turn should be interesting. Pack's brigade attacks Grenier's but is repulsed. Likewise, on the right wing, Clinton's division engages in a massive counterattack against Soye's brigade of II Corps as it is advancing past Hougoumont. The hours of enforced inactivity are released in a terrible bloodbath as the two groups of troops hit each other squarely. The brigade virtually ceases to exist (strength 10, DR 9->3 hits, even a retreat won't save the brigade), but extracts a deadly toll from the attacker (strength 6, DR 12-> 4hits) even while Clinton is trying to call them back. II Corps, tough as nails, still is not demoralized. This was about the time that I first looked at the victory conditions. (Note that this was the first time I ever played the Waterloo scenario. This told me that unlike what I expected, the goal was not to break through and clear a path to Brussels (which was quite possible at this time), it was just to smash an Allied army. So all the retreats that were intended to leave the French in better shape were actually wasted. Oh well. 18:00. As expected, d'Erlon finally fails the Confidence Check and pulls back to reorganize his shattered corps (now down to a strength of 17). Given the new intelligence about victory conditions, Napoleon orders Kellermann to charge (on the left wing, where a number of weakened British units are hanging around), and another one to d'Erlon (force 1) to get him to move his sad sacks into battle again! Unfortunately Kellermann just misses his cue (DR 7 instead of 8) and will only move next turn. And Wellington gets an Initial Action chit when he needs it most, he can use it to bring the Brunswickers in position behind the ridge that d'Erlon's troops just left. The Guard is actually charged by some Dutch cavalry during its advance but continues after brushing it aside. It pushes the Brunswickers back and overruns Fraser's horse artillery. This is the cue for Milhaud's cavalry which finally eliminates Bijlandt's weakened brigade which has been offering resistance for seven hours. Reille is now attacking Maitland's troops behind Hougoumont and handling them severely while his cuirassiers are boldly charging Halkett's brigade near Braine L'Alleud and forcing it to retire towards Merbe Braine. At the same time, Buelow's men draw first blood in a major attack against VI Corps. VI Corps falls back along the front but Bellair's brigade of the 19th division defending the track, one of the stronger units in VI Corps, is effectively wiped out (that 11-point corps artillery is a killer). The French demoralization level is 60 and they have taken 43 losses so far. The Allied demoralization is 55 (because the Prussians have come in) and they stand at 48. Wheee... that's close. However, since the French don't have the dream of a chance to demoralize the Prussians, they would have to go for Allied disintegration which is 65. I guess the French will have to attack harder the next time this is played. At this point I noticed that Reille's cavalry was actually placed so it could (with its 7MP movement allowance if Reille's corps were not already demoralized) pass through a 500m gap between Braine L'Alleud and Clinton's division and reach Waterloo and the British HQ. That would decrease the Allied disintegration level to 40 and end the game on the spot. :-) At the same time if Reille (who of course would not be aware of the golden opportunity espied by the cavalry commander who sees the "20VP" flag flying atop the Waterloo church spire) stops the attack now, it will be extremely hard for the French to actually gain the limit. Indeed, at 1900, not surprisingly, Reille finally fails his Confidence Check and pulls back to reorganize except for Jamin who remains in Hougoumont (a failed confidence check results in a retreat and you don't need to retreat from a chateau). Napoleon sends d'Erlon forward again but even with a DR of 12 his demoralized corps will need a turn to pull itself together. Most activity will still happen on the right wing. Milhaud's horse artillery disrupts a Brunswick stack (unfortunately it's the weaker one), and Delort's division (strength 4) charges Kempt's brigade (stacked with Heisse's artillery), a major prize if the charge is pulled off. Indeed Kempt's brigade (strength 5) is scattered to the winds in a confused assault, but as the dust clears there actually remain too few cavalry troopers to do damage to the artillery, a coup de deux weuves so to speak. A charge by St Alphonse on the second Brunswick stack is intercepted by the 1st light brigade (the others miss their reaction dieroll), which is brushed aside, but then no damage is done to the Brunswickers and St Alphonse retires back to his start hex. Now this would be a good moment for Picton to pull Heisse's artillery back into Mont St Jean to join Pack's brigade. Unfortunately that hex is the only one that keeps the Guard from crashing through to Wellington (who's alone in his hex with Picton, oops). So instead Pack comes out into the open to support Heisse. And then it's the Guard's turn again. As they crash into the the Brunswickers on the road towards La Vieux Amis and into Pack's brigade before Mont St Jean, no one can doubt this is the climax of the battle. If the two Guard stacks (total attack strength 24) smash through both defending stacks (total strength 13), the Allied army will disintegrate. If they don't quite make it... well, there's still Kellermann. The attack by the Chasseurs on the Brunswickers is a fiasco. Specht and Buttler (DR 11) deliver 3 hits, and the return fire (DR 6) only one, and the Guard retreats to recover. Ironically, two of the nearby British and KGL cavalry brigades charge the Guard while falling back, but the grognards solemnly form square and send withering fire into the approaching cavalry. The same happens in the attack on Pack who rolls an 11 while the Guard rolls a 6. The Prussians on the right wing push VI corps back within two hexes of Plancenoit while eliminating another brigade. Now it's time for Kellermann's attack on the Allied right. Reinforced by Guard cavalry and horse artillery, he goes over to the assault. Victory is still achievable there as well, with each of the front hexes containing an artillery battery solely protected by a seriously hurt infantry brigade (Ompteda's, Halkett's, and Maitland's for a total of 15 points). All that is needed would be a '2 hits' result in three combats to kill each of these infantry units. However, with dierolls of 3,4, and 9, two of the attacks fizzle out with only Maitland's brigade being eliminated due to lack of a retreat hex. As a result, the French end the turn at 63 with Milhaud's division demoralized, and the Allies at 62 (3 missing to achieve disintegration). However, since Wellington's army is demoralized, the French gain 10 points and their demoralization now stands at 70. The Allies (by denying the French their victory conditions) have achieved a hard won victory that would have gone the other way if a single additional dieroll on the last turn had favored the French. Conclusion: so far the victory system seems to work. In historical terms it seems as if the Prussians arrive a turn too late. In reality, Buelow had taken, lost, and retaken Plancenoit by the end of the battle (2000), and it was Ziethen's attack at the angle between French frontline (towards Wellington) and flank (towards Buelow) that precipitated the collapse. Yet in the game, by 1900 Buelow can hardly even reach Plancenoit, and Ziethen is not in the scenario at all. So to get the historical battle, I suspect the 2000 turn should be added, Buelow's arrival times should be moved up one hour, and Ziethen and several brigades should be added on the 1500 turn. The problem is that of course the demoralization and disintegration levels would have been chosen to fit the given arrival times, so it is possible that both French and Allies have to have their limits slightly increased. French losses: 14(5+5+4),5,10(6+4),0,4,6,4,20(4+4+6+6) Allied losses: 3,13(5+4+4),10(6+4),2,5,5(4+1),10(4+4+1+1),14(6+5+2+1) Last games played: Napoleon's Last Campaign, Dune, Napoleon at Leipzig ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Was it not bully the way the Japs begun the fight?" -- Elihu Root, US Secretary of State, commenting on the Japanese surprise attack on Port Arthur