Napoleonic Campaign Games

 Last night we played three battles in a Napoleonic campaign that my friend Charlie ran. The campaign was centered around the peninsular / Waterloo campaign with a French force trying to eliminate a Prussian and a British force each about 2/3rs of its size. The photo of the left is the first battle to make it to nightfall on the first day. Since it started late in the afternoon the British (lower army) and French (upper army) both established their lines right as darkness fell on the battlefield. Off screen towards the bottom of the picture is Waterloo.

The next battle was the battle of Ohain which started mid-day with a smaller French corps (top army) against a larger Prussian armeekorps. A few hours later the French received reinforcements in the form of a cavalry corps. The photo on the left is a few turns into the game after both armies had settled into their engagement deployment. On the right their locations at the conclusion of the night turn. 

The last battle to start was the Wavre battle. This was the largest battle which started with a French Corps facing off against a larger Prussian armeekorps. During the battle which started at 07:00 and ended at 19:00, both sides received steady reinforcements. The French in the form of an additional corps each of infantry and cavalry. The Prussians received an additional Prussian armeekorps and just before nightfall a British infantry corps with some attached cavalry arrived. The photo to the left shows the early action with the French pressing to gain the Prussian side of the stream with both sides doing a bit of  'pinwheel of death' maneuvering. The photos below show action late in the day just before the British reinforcements arrived.

The campaign produced a good evening of gaming but at the conclusion the French decided that the uneven odds were too much to overcome so we called the campaign at this point with hopes to take another swing at it at a later time.