This weekend was, of course, the 207th anniversary of Waterloo, so I hauled out my copy of the classic little block-game W1815.
Here it is, set up and ready to go.
It is rather elegant in its simplicity, and looks lovely. The game is really driven by the cards - the blocks are simply used to show casualties and the status of objectives.
The French won the first game fairly swiftly when the allies failed their first morale test. Orange had been assaulted by D'Erlon's Corp which just couldn't roll low, and smashed them up without really offering a viable counter-attack for Uxbridge's cavalry. Lobau and Grouchy saw the Prussians off.
The second game went much the same way; the Allies failed their first morale roll again.
The second game went much the same way; the Allies failed their first morale roll again.
In this game they had stopped D'Erlon, but it wasn't enough; Uxbridge took one casualty too many counter-attacking the final French assault, and the losses broke the Allied morale.
The third game was a bloodbath, and the result was a lot closer. This was due to the French cavalry going impetuous and almost destroying itself on Hill's squares. But an earlier attack by D'Erlon (again) had sapped the Allied will to fight, and whilst both sides had to test morale on the first turn, the Allies had to test first. And failed again.
The final game saw an allied victory! The French stopped rolling so insanely well, and couldn't get a break. D'Erlon failed to break Orange, and Rielle broke against Hill's troops bolstered by the allied reserve. In desperation Napoleon committed the Guard, but it was a fruitless gesture, and the French were utterly routed.
It took less than an hour to play all four games.
Update - Apologies to the individual who posted a comment on this which I accidentally deleted instead of hitting publish. I shouldn't manage blog comments on my phone before I put my glasses on ...
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