15mm Napoleonic "The Battle of Hal" 19th June 1815 .....or What if Napoleon had won Waterloo game?

Wellington is retreating, Grouchy had managed to do what he failed to do on the actual day which was to stop the Prussian Army under Blucher from linking up with the British at Waterloo......

The Rejects (Ray, John, Smiffy, Lee and myself) met up on Saturday for a what if? encounter the day after the Battle of Waterloo, the British have failed to hold at Waterloo, Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte fell within a few hours, the order to withdraw was given but Wellington had planned for this eventuality and as he fell back he headed North-west between the town of Hal only about 8 miles from the battlefield and Brussels which was about ten miles behind the British.

Wellington had left an army at Hal to guard the road leading to Brussels but it was also acting as a rearguard in case of defeat at Waterloo, Now all eyes are on Prince Frederick of the Netherlands command and his ability to hold the French advance.

Due to the fading light and exhaustion the French camped for the night at Waterloo with their enemy not far away, early next morning Napoleons scouts have informed of the army at Hal and he has dispatched part of Reilles corps to attack Frederick's army which is covering the retreat of the main army at Hal.

The British/Hanoverian and Dutch/Belgium forces have to defeat the French forces for the war to end a day later.....

If the French defeat this allied alliance then the way is open to Brussels, forcing the allies to sue for peace, the British evacuate their army from Antwerp, the Dutch and Belgians become vassals of the French again and victory bells are heard all over France.

Could this have happened, maybe......but it would have only delayed the inevitable as the Prussians, Russians and Austrians would have had something to say about it.......

Ray and John were the allies, myself (2nd in command), Lee (3rd in command), Smiffy (Commander), my pictures were of my position on the French left flank but the main story is of a tough battle and the urine poor dice throwing of one player (Lee), I have never seen the likes of it before or hope never to see it again!

The best picture of the initial table layout I could sort of get due to being stuck in the corner like a demented baboon (sorry but I was hemmed in all day by Lee), spent my day up and down off the fecking table end trying to move figures to the great amusement of others....

I was presented with these handy adhesive markers for my spraying needs.....

I love lancers, these I believe are the French 5th Lancers...... 

Contractual Postie picture as he lectures us in the shenanigans to come...

Prince Jerome Bonaparte leads his forces out (he had 7 battalions of elite Legere, 6 battalions of line and a 6pdr battery), Jerome was actually wounded at Waterloo.........

The white markers denote first fire (a one off extra dice to firing)......

A slightly better view of my command (I was the Comte Maximilien Foy) also wounded at Waterloo, 7 regiments of line, 3 regiments of elite Legere and a 6pdr light battery.....

The allies await us.......

...and then there's Ray's lot!

These number markers were all over the place (rolled for reinforcements)......

Dutch conscripts hide.......

Ray points out his good Hanoverian allies......

This is when the trouble started, Hanoverian Prince Regents and Bremen & Verden Hussar regiments appear, just line class.....

Contractual blog whore picture......

You may have noticed that all French units have been reduced by about a quarter (from 16 figures to 12 figures in infantry and by 2 figures to 10 in the cavalry), this had a bad effect on the firing and staying power of the French infantry ( it was to reflect the constant fighting of the French forces), reasonable but tough.......

1st and 2nd Carabiniers (elite) and 2nd and 3rd Cuirassiers arrive with a 6pdr horse artillery battery but in a really bad place..........

This was the view of Lee (Comte Hippolyte Marie Guillame Pire) I had all day, he commanded all cavalry and including the above arrivals he also had the 1st and 6th Chasseurs a cheval and the 5th and 6th lancers with another 6pdr horse artillery battery........

Nothing too bad so far, the Hanoverians Hussars charge the French Chasseurs who counter charged and the story unfolds......

In the background 2 regiments of French lancers await while the heavy boys head to the centre to stop the British coming out to flank my infantry attack.....everything seems fine!

Instead of tweeting maybe we maybe should have been practising our dice rolling!

I approach the allied lines, in particular I am targeting the Hanoverian conscripts (the red flags denote these conscript regiments, allied brigades were a mixture of conscript and line quality)......

The Hanoverians win both cavalry combats and pursue straight into the lancers (yellow marker denotes disordered), I feel a little uneasy but Lee is still confident........

Both lancer regiments lose and the Hanoverians ready themselves again (the blue markers represent captured flags, the black represent lost flags, the red denotes routing), WTF??????

Another round and they're fecking charging again.............

I'm in and going toe to toe with musketry to weaken and break the allied line and get my elite Legere who are following behind a gap to exploit but my size of units is telling against me and where's that bleeding cavalry?

.....they they are getting there arses kicked, in three rounds of combat Lee hasn't rolled a hit (I'm thinking of shooting him between the eyes)......

3 regiments of cavalry running for their lives, Lee has failed a brigade check but pass a division check, units have dispersed........these two Hussar units would finish the game still on the table...after 7 turns!

Hit in the rear again, this loss (yet another, Lee never won a round of combat, lost 9, drew 2, failed one brigade check, passed one brigade check and failed another division check at the end again), I passed my last brigade check and unfortunately the allies passed their 2 brigade tests (caused by losing entire regiments or regiments routing in their brigades, 2D6 and roll high) and with that we lost the game by a whopping 20 points to 10 points but really Lee lost us the game......

Towards the end with cavalry in the rear I dressed my lines with British regulars on my flank..........and my camera died so I didn't get any pictures of Ray's smug laughing face!

A good game but Smiffy (Bonaparte but Reille was on the table) stood still too long and then his flank was threatened and he never advanced, the cavalry were torn to shreds and my attack was unsupported and was blunted by the allies, artillery ammunition was rolled for ( some people had more than others) but.......

.....the best plans of mice and men mean nothing to the Dice gods!

The rules are Posties home brewed General De Brigade bastardised version!

On a side note between the shenanigans of the game table climbing (some really unnessecary pictures taken by other Rejects) and some new underwear which has caused me to sit and pinch my crackers twice at work (work trousers and work seating is shocking quality) I am now walking with a limp and a pained expression.