A SALUTE TO WATERLOO.

A SALUTE TO WATERLOO.

 Napoleon is reputed to have commented: 
“That regiment with castles on their caps composes of the most obstinate mules I ever saw; they don’t know when they are beaten.”

The Duke of Wellington paid tribute to the ‘Skins’ saying: 
“They saved the centre of my line at Waterloo.”

I recorded the short video above of the "27th Regiment of Foot" an Irish Arms re-enactment group.The video was taken at Enniskillen Castle Museum while attending "A Salute to Waterloo - Honouring the Inniskillings". The occasion was the flagship commemorative event by the Inniskillings Museum for the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo and honoured the pivotal role of both the 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot and the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoon Guards at this epic battle which marked a turning point in European history.

27th Regiment of Foot.

While there I was also lucky enough to attend a short lecture by the excellent Peter Molloy entitled "Two Enniskillen Regiments at Waterloo". Peter detailed the role played by the 7th Regiment of Foot and the 6th Dragoon Guards at the famous battle. He brought to life the events and the horrors faced by these fellow Irishmen almost two hundred years ago.

Private McMullen being helped from the field.

The scene above shows Private McMullen who came from a weaving background in Downpatrick. He was seriously wounded after coming under French cannon fire at Waterloo. His heavily pregnant wife Elizabeth was with other wives nearby and fearing her husband dead she dashed into the midst of the bodies. She was hit on the leg with a musket ball but discovered her husband still alive and managed to drag him to the edge of the battlefield. Private McMullen lost both arms because of his injuries.The then Duke of York was told of their bravery and in a personal visit to them in hospital in Chelsea he agreed to be godfather to the infant, who was christened Frederica McMullen of Waterloo.

        

Elizabeth goes to the aid of her husband.

9 Pounder cannon.

The Allies had 127 cannon at Waterloo.

It was a wonderful Saturday afternoon spent wandering the various galleries and castle grounds with my son and his friend. Well worth a visit if you ever find yourself in the Erne county and Enniskillen.

WATERLOO 200th YEAR ANNIVERSARY.

Waterloo.

What are you doing to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, 18 June 1815. A friend who is a keen miniature tabletop wargamer plans to put on a large Waterloo battle on a 18 ft by 5ft table. My plan is much less ambitious, requires a lot less setting up and will only involve taking a day of work and hooking up with one \ two of the regular crew and playing games related to the event. 

On the play list are:

Napoleon the Waterloo Campaign.

Commands and Colors Napoleonics- Waterloo scenario

Manoeuvre- Fan created Waterloo scenario.

Napoleons War- The 100 Days.

I stumbled on a fantastic animated map of the battle, click here. It gives a wonderful feel for the famous clash. Kudos to the creator, great job.

SPAINISH NAPPY.

I stumbled across a few photos from the start of the year and decided to stick them on the blog. They are taken during a C&C Napoleonic Spanish game between Arthur, a self declared Spanish Nappy nut, and my good self.  All I can remember about the clash is that Arthur held the highs and my French troops paid a high price in trying to take them. Also remember that the Spanish guerilla rule was great fun and quite annoying to play against.

 Must get another game of this in soon.

IN THE BEGINING.

The "War Room's" inaugural opening day kicked off on Saturday with a range of table top games being played.  Arthur and Dave played a Commands and Colors Napoleonic break through battle -Vimiero. As always the game looks great when played on the double sized hex terrain.

My self and Al played the Ancient version of Commands and Colors and the battle of Panion. Sadly I got a spanking and the now familiar bitter taste in the mouth feeling. The scenario was great fun and had plenty of decisions and choices, making it an  interesting and exciting experience. I have included a few snaps of the game, see below. The pictures are not great as my kids have been toying with the settings on the camera. Hope they don't hurt the eyes to much.

Ross, Steve, Daniel, Glynn and the rest of the guys played Necromunda, X-Wing, Wings of War and Warhammer 40K. All in all the day was a good start to "The War Room" club.

THE THIN RED LINE

 

The Thin Red line. A few snaps of some British Line troops based for Commands and Colors Napoleonic's. I am still deciding if I should go with the basic label version above. Or the version below where the label includes the number for the unit at full strength and nationality colour code. Which do you think works best.

 

 

 

6MM NAPS - THE RIFLES.

 

I have completed the basing for all of the 6mm British infantry troops for my Napoleonic project. I hope to have a French and British 6mm army ready for Qcon the annual Gaming & Anime Convention hosted by QUB Dragonslayers, the Queen’s University Belfast Gaming and Anime Society. This year the event takes place on the 28th June 2013. I shall be employing these little blighters in a Commands and Colors Napoleonic battle, as yet undecided.

 

One stand will represent a unit. As the unit degenerates I shall use a die to record the units new strength. I shall be posting additional photographs over the coming weeks. Their are a number of photos below of rifle infantry, the larger figures are Baccus. The others I'm not quite sure of. If you know drop me a comment. Double click the image for a close up.

 



QUATRE BRAS

"Napoleon has humbugged me, by God; he has gained twenty-four hours march on me." The Duke of Wellington   My first game of 2013 and once again I clashed with my old foe General Bray. We picked the Commands and Colors Napoleonic system and the battle of Quatre Bras.  It was to be an entertaining and nail biting days indulgence.   The cross roads of Quatre-Bras in central Belgium, near Brussels was of strategic importance because the side which controlled it could move south-eastward along the Nivelles-Namur road towards the French and Prussian armies at the Battle of Ligny. If Wellington's Anglo-allied army could combine with the Prussians, the combined force would be larger than Napoleon's. Napoleon's strategy had been to cross the border into the Netherlands without alerting the Coalition and drive a wedge between their forces and subsequently to defeat the Prussians before turning on the Anglo-allied army.     Using 1\72 plastic miniatures and Kallistra Hexon gaming tiles we recreated this famous Napoleonic battle. In the first game I took command of the English and Dutch troops. With a powerful set of initial cards I ground down my increasingly frustrated opponent who capitulated after three hours. With a shake of his fist and a few choice words he swore revenge.     So swapping sides we once again tore into each other. Initial pressure by my French line and light troops on the left flank force back the Dutch artillery and infantry from the trees. In the centre General Bray under bombardment fell back from the hills opposite my artillery. Sensing that initiative was slipping away he launch an all out attack on my right and centre. A fail massed cavalry assault on my part and all was to play for. The battle ebbed and flowed with victory teasing us both. Either side could have claimed the wining banner. Finally I managed to deliver the death blow to a weakened light cavalry unit with my Cuirassier A very tense finish to a great days fun.    A short post battle analysis (what ifs and if only) then Mr Bray and I shook hands and called it a day. 

NEW YEAR NEW PROJECT.

New year new project, well I am a wargamer after all. I have been inspired by Lee and his napoleonic therapy project blog. It has imbued me with the spirit to do something Nappy. With the Russian and Austrian expansions coming for Commands and Colors Napoleonic's I thought I would dust down the 6mm French , English and Austrian figures. I obtain these little miniatures in the summer from Mr Clarke a kindly Scot on TMP exchange.

 

I have started the process of basing the English figures. One stand will represent a unit, with either a die or casualty maker being used to represent the step losses to the unit. I will update the blog as the project develops. More to follow.

 

 



BREAK THROUGH VIMIERO

Overview of the battle of Vimiero.

I spent a wonderful few hours, six all told, across the border with Arthur. It began with me being hustled up stairs and into a large room. In that room the above vista greeted me, the battle of Vimiero.

http://www.ccnapoleonics.net/Maps/Peninsular-War-1808-1814/md02-vimiero-bt-21-august-1808.html

I forgot my camera and had to resort to my mobile phone to take pictures so I hope these are not to sore on the eye. The battle is a Commands & Colors breakthrough scenario, it really does give one the feel of the massed armies spread across the terrain waiting to be unleashed. When I first sat opposite Arthur it was a tad daunting, where to attack, where to defend.

General Bray reviews  his orders, seen from behind the French lines.

As usual we played with Mr Brays plastic 1/72 scale French, British and Portuguese figures. The landscape consisted of Kallistra Hexon terrain tiles, river sections and hills. While expensive initially the kallistra hex tiles is money well spend when you consider the use one gets out of them. The battlefield is 17 hexes deep by 14 wide resulting in a beautiful expanse of rolling hills, meandering water features and woodland thickets.

The English advance.

Both games ended in the same result, a French victory. In game one I played the French and after an initial probe decided to play it defensive and let the English come to me. Mr Bray obliged and a massed cavalry attack destroyed his centre. Game two and Arthur playing the French turned the tables and served the same Cavalry charge to my good self, blitzing all before him.

French foot artillery, with French cavalry in the background.

English right flank.

Lessons learnt.

1. Avoid close quarter's fighting with the French as they take no prisoners.

2. Avoid lingering in front of British troops , especially light and rifle units unless you want your troops filled full of holes.

3. Cavalry are deadly, avoid at all times.(anyone got ideas for stopping the horsies)

4. Set aside plenty of time for gaming as you will be left wanting more C&C Naps.

GAME NIGHT

Rolica 1 

The regular crew got together for another game night. Myself and Napoleon of the West aka Mr Bray went head to head with C&C Naps, Rolica part 1. We played this scenario twice using plastic 1/72 scale figs. With the blues victorious on each occasion,  it was agreed that we have a little work to do on our tactics.

 The Brits starting positions.

 The French starting position.

The rest of the boys, no girls yet (although some of us men may on occasion carry on like big girls blouses after a particularly bad dice roll), played Dust. Dust is basically a souped up version of the board game risk. The guys called the game a draw after four hours,

The Dust Game Board

The night ended with Steve giving us an introduction to poker "Texas Hold Em". All in all another great evening  fun with all the regulars.