Quatre Bras redux

We tested my Quatre Bras scenario for Bloody Big Battles again, with 4 Fencibles present, the first time we’ve had that many since early 2020. Bill and Carl handled Wellington’s polyglot forces. Andrew channeled Marshal Ney. I assisted with the rules, knowing when Andrew left before the game was over, I would take the French. The scenario needs some more work but is closer to done than last time. I do need to give the victory condition more thought. And tidy up the scenario.

 

I rated the French as veterans. This was the best French army Napoleon had led in years. They kept fighting against heavy odds here and at Waterloo where they finally broke, called upon to do more than was possible. The Anglo-Dutch were a mix of some very good troops, some OK and some not so good. The opening deployment is below.

Andrew, an aggressive player, was a good choice for Marshall Ney. He had the Allied players worried for a while. Yellow discs = disrupted units, casualty figures show where a base was lost.

The third turn saw astounding French attacks, and a bloody counter-attack by Brunswick. When it ended both Brunswick and Bachelu’s veteran units were wrecked. 

Somewhere during the brawl, Kellermann’s cuirassiers got into the fight. One division was shot up by artillery. The other got into a fight with Merlen’s larger but lesser Dutch-Belgian cavalry and was dispersed in a tie. Merlen did the same to another French cavalry unit last game. Hmm. Merlen was then sent to the showers by musket fire from Bachelu. I can’t quite place it in the photos.

We played the game Saturday. I didn’t get around to doing the report until today, Tuesday. I can’t quite reconstruct all that went down. The Allied losses were substantially higher until late in the game when all their reinforcements got into the fray. Andrew left with the Allies in a pickle. I took over as the tables turned. 

Jerome’s largest brigade was destroyed. An amazing firing squad was arranged for Foy, 20+ fire factors. Their powder must have been wet. Carl rolled a 3 on 2D6 and Foy lived to tell the tale to his children.

We played slowly. There was a lot of talking because we hadn’t been together in a while and some of the guys were rusty with the BBB rules. And the Allies displayed some indecision early on. We played 7 turns in almost 4 hours, around 30 minutes per turn. The third turn was an amazing one, with multiple combats and exploitation by the French, followed by a three-round assault by the Brunswickers. We’ve played a lot of BBB over the years but haven’t seen the like of that turn before.

 

French losses: 8 infantry, 1 ran away, cavalry, 3 cavalry, 3 ran away and Reille hors de combat for a total of 16. They held Gemioncourt.

The Anglo-Dutch lost 8 infantry, 1 ran away, 3 cavalry, 2 ran away for a total of 14. They held Quatre Bras and the Bois de Bossu objective.

The French score: 14 losses inflicted +1 objective = 15.

Anglo-Dutch score: 16 losses inflicted +2 objectives for a total of 18.

Wellington won. A check of the rules later showed that artillery cannot seize objectives, just infantry or cavalry. That would have made made the score close, but still Wellington’s game.

I noted that good cavalry did quite well when supporting infantry. When operating on their own, everything in the area tended to shoot at them.

About the losses: in this period I tend to think that half of game losses are dead, wounded or missing and the other half are people helping their friends to the rear or just headed that way on principle. Those who ran away would likely turn up around the camp fire at dinner time. Assuming that is true, French losses are about 4,000 infantry, 750 cavalry and a corps commander, slightly higher than the actual losses in the battle. The Anglo-Dutch losses were 4,500 infantry and 750 cavalry, slightly higher than the real thing. If it's not true, then we had an astounding bloodbath. Take your choice.

Edit: further thoughts: the French need to strike early and hard, while the iron is hot. But then they need to think about falling back slowly without flanks hanging out for the numerous Allies to envelop. If this doesn't get tested again before January, it will be March or later before the next test. Based on this scenario, Ney did a good job in the real thing.