Napoleon's last victory
Today we are reenacting Napoleon had his last victory at Ligny on the tabletop. This last week has seen the 200th anniversary of the battles which saw the end of the Napoleonic wars. We’ve mentioned Ligny, but of course there was Quatre Bras, Mont St Jean (Waterloo) and Wavre - plus several smaller engagements. Our game will start at 12pm (delayed by ballet dancers!) and will continue on until late Sunday. The refight will be at Kingskerwell Village Hall, Devon, UK and we’ll be using the Black Powder rules (with the ‘Hail Napoleon’ amendments published in WSS 73).
Regular readers may recall Barry Hilton’s article in WSS 37 (available free as part of our 200th Waterloo celebration) and the preparations for the battle James Oram discussed in WSS 70. We’ll be doing the two main assaults on the day - namely the attacks against Ligny itself and St Armand La Haye - using the orders of battle from the day. In our game, one brigade will represent one unit and one artillery a battery. The tables will be 18ft x 6ft. The link to the Facebook event is here. I will do a live report to facebook on our progress throughout the day.
This project has been over two years in the making and now the big day is here. I’ve certainly learnt a few lessons abouut organising big events from this experience, delegation being one of them. I’m providing over two thirds of the terrain and a sizeable contingent of troops (probably only a 1/10th of the total troop strength). I expect there to be something like 2000 models between the two tables, although some of these will be reserves (like the Guarde Imperial). To be honest I’ve probably bitten off more than I can chew, there was so many grand ideas I had for scenery and extras which time ran out on. Next time I’ll delegate more or write down my ideas and then halve them, working on the most practical first.
If this day is successful, then we may consider doing the smaller battle of Quatre Bras (the British and Dutch verus Marshal Ney). We have plenty of British and a few Brunswickers, with a ton of scenery, so most of the hard work is done. However if we’re doing Quatre Bras we’ll of course need Dutch. Hmm time to do a few regiments!
