Inspired by the ‘Waterloo sieges’ on several farms such as Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte and Papelotte, the availability of such a 54mm building and the starting of Christmas holydays collided into this gaming scenario for both my steady opponent Stan, and myself.
The grass-matted tabletennis table was again the main platform where it all was situated on. Figures from most known firms make up the corebody for this game. Playmobil props add atmophere. The modelfarm is calculated 1/32 scale. It has moveable gates, removeable rooftops (absent in these pictures), loopholes, windows and multiple attic floors to situate courageous defenders behind and on it.
British and their allies are in the building, French forces try to kick them out.
French strength was double that of the defenders.
British forces:
Foot guards,1 unit, elite (8+1)
Grenadiers, 1 unit, veteran (8+1)
Line inf., 4 units, regular (8+1)
Light inf. ‘Rifles’, 1 unit, green (8+1)
Light inf. Dutch Jagers, 1 unit, green (8+1)
French forces:
Supreme commander
Chasseur a Pied, 2 units, elite (8+1)
Grenadiers de ligne a Pied, 2 units, veteran (8+1)
Infanterie de Ligne, 8 units, regular (8+1)
Comp. Franches de la Marine ( 🤨 ) 2 units, green (8+1)
Tirailleur de ligne, 2 units, green (8+1)
The British player (Stan) first got a chance to fix his defenses to his statisfaction with the available ‘Brown Bess’s’. The attacking party (me) deployed the units decided by die rolls, having twelve sectors along the edge of the table. Surprisingly the majority of the soldiers entered their adventure predominantly in two adjacent table sides. This immediately effected the initial defenses, making at least a third of it’s musket barrels, pretty useless. So, although they had a naughty tavern wench amongst their midst, they should have brought a clever officer of the Royal Engineers like Colonel John Chard. A free bonus for the little Emperor.
Tirailleur units skirmish in the woods on both sides of the road to the South gate. Supplying cover fire for advancing units carrying scaling ladders.
The Rifle unit at the exterior hog-pen on the South-East corner, is driven off by massed French presence on the East wall, amongst them, an elite Chasseurs company, resembled by Timpo actionpack grognards.
Knock, knock..... first contact with the South gate. This first attemp is valliantly denied by the guardsmen on both sides of the huge doors. Fierce firing thrue every possible loophole thows back the initial French assault by two flags.
We treated obstacles like doors and gates as un-opposed close-combat features. Giving an obstacle a suitable amount of thrown ‘A’ dice credits. Attackers must be in base contact with the hindrance and the ‘A’ hits are cummulative over as much close-combat turns as needed. A regular front door was worth 3-, and a gate door 5 A’s. Hindsight tought us these numbers could be higher.
As the defenders inside have not much choice but to sit and wait where the shit hits the fan, the first ladders are put up against the South-East corner walls. French light troops start their ascent. Each surplus flag thrown by the attacker in comparison to the defender puts a stand on top of the wall, wich was an attic in this situation. We played as NO support could be given from defending units in adjacent attics (or room for that matter).
French troops formely attacking the East wall, move up to the North gate. They are no longer harrased by musket balls, because the sons of Albion have been summoned to install their Alamo in the court-yard.
Having arrived at the North side, Engineers (sappers) of the Chasseurs grab the opportunity to first demolish the regular entrance door of the homestead, left of the main gate. It cracks and it moans and gives up after 3 ‘A’ rolls. A volley of Dutch jagers directly behind the invalidated doorway, pushes the grognards back, once, and only 20 cm’s. But everybody knows; these guys won’t take no for an answer.
The following turn is the final one. The intruders from the Northside soon regain the upper hand. They end up in the court-yard, flanking the defenders behind the still closed North gate. Simultaniously the South gate falls. The British garrison and their allies are sandwiched. They surrender and safe quarters are given.
Wonderful stuff! I've always wanted to do a Napoleonic siege game. Thank you for posting!
ReplyDeleteEven better with the captions. Thanks for the Order of Battle!
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you Marcel. And what a great battle. Happy to see the theoretival mechanisms put into practice. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteThank you Dirk and Nick. We’ve enjoyed it as well. We have aquired three marvelous 54mm farmhouses. All three specific for the interests we have in Dutch warfare history. A so called “ Stulpboerderij” from Province Noord-Holland for our British-Russian invasion in 1799, games. This “walled farm” typical for the Southern regions of the Netherlands including the Zuidelijke Nederlanden as Belgium was named before 1830 (Waterloo 1815!) and a so-called “Old-Ambt boerderij”, originating from Lower-Saxony, that can still be found in places in the North-East of the Nederlands. A region battle hardened from the late15 hundreds up until the Napoleonic wars. They are build by a retired man, I came to talk with, during schoolbreak when the kids were playing. All farms are still existing in real too and fully restored as monuments.
ReplyDeleteThat's a marvellous looking game and a magnificent chateau!
ReplyDeleteRegards, James
Very nice James, thank you. I hope to show more of this stuff. Merry Christmas, all!
ReplyDelete