An ‘Epic’ action outside Plancenoit 1815

It is 3 PM and Prussian forces press on towards the Waterloo battlefield intending to combine with the Anglo-Allied army, which is presently under great pressure from the French army. Napoleon has noted the build up of Prussian forces on his right flank and started to post increasing numbers of his force to hold up the Prussian advance, while he fights on against Wellington, desperately determined to crush Wellington’s army before the Prussians can arrive to intervene.

The village of Plancenoit is on the path of the Prussian advance and it is here that a major clash between Prussian and French forces is about to develop. Our action today occurs in the opening stages of the attack against the Plancenoit positions, we are taking a slice of action that was generated a few weeks ago when playing a boardgame, called Plancenoit, Crisis on the Right, published by White Dog Games (see link below to that game).

The rest of this post will just give a gentle overview of the battle with some notes about converting from boardgame to table and then just offering some highlights reported upon from the fighting itself. 

I will be giving another outing to the free Valour & Fortitude rules available from the Perry Miniatures website, using half measurements with Warlord Games Epic scale (13.5mm) Napoleonic figures. Please use the ‘read more’ tab for the rest of this post.

Above - in the boardgame, we are at the end of turn 6, which is roughly halfway through the game. Prussian forces are pushing onto Plancenoit and have become engaged with Jeanin’s 20th Infantry Division. If we look at the boardgame map, the area that we will fight over is generally open undulating ground with some woods.

The area that we are interested in.

I will generate a tabletop for figures that reflects the characteristics of this area. In the boardgame, the unit counters represent brigade sized formations, a bit of research will give us the component elements of each brigade engaged in this area, so that we can drop our game to a level, so that units of battalions and regiments are represented on the table.

Despite the numbers involved, I am keeping this to a 4’ x 3½’ table, as the boardgame has very strict stacking limits that does result in a little crowding and we can reflect that here. 

We should also note some of the presently unengaged troops that sit just outside our immediate area of interest and give them the possibility of bringing their support to the battlefield as reinforcements …… if they remain unengaged!

If we take a closer look at the Plancenoit boardgame, the part of the map that we are using shows higher ground as being pretty dominant. One could easily represent this ‘lump’ of high area by putting fabrics under the game mat, however, the boardgame rules at just four pages take a simplistic view of terrain and the associated lines of sight and so there are no nuances shown within this block of terrain.

Above - to replicate the notion of having more clearly defined undulations in the topography, I instead chose to use three separate hill features as shown on my home drawn map, so that we get some dips and higher points.

In the boardgame, the town of Plancenoit is represented by 12 hexes. On our table we are just showing the lower tip of the town, so our group of buildings will count as a single built up area (BUA) and be able to hold just one unit at a time, behaving a bit like a single hex.

The numbered letters around the map edge show potential entry points for those French and Prussian forces that sit just outside of the immediate battlefield and are presently unengaged. Reinforcement rules are used to bring them in.

If you look at the bottom of the map, we see the locations of P2, P3 and P4. These are potential entry points for Tippleskirch’s lead regiment, which is an unopposed reinforcement marching to the sound of guns. 

It begins our battle some way off to the right on road march, intending to arrive on the French right flank. They will generally have to negotiate the woods at some point and their earliest arrival time will bring them on at P4. To deepen their envelopment of the French flank, they will likely have to continue their march to P3 and perhaps if they have enough time, arriving at P2 offers their best chance of taking the objective …. the lower end of Plancenoit itself. It will be a choice that the Prussian player must make based upon circumstances at the time. 

Reinforcements / flank marches etc may or may not arrive during the game and this is determined by die roll starting from turn 2 onwards.

Above - While digging into the historical orders-of-battle of each brigade, I used this schematic diagram to plot out troop deployments and compositions both on and off the table.

The black plastic Prussians look rather dapper
when painted up.

Oh - a word of warning, only a few of my Epic scale figures are painted to date, please don’t despair at the sight of so much unpainted plastic, this is a game that has reached the table, not a beauty contest :-). 

The terrain, three bits of high ground, woods and
part of Plancenoit.

Overall, our scenario has the Prussians on the attack, with the French defending Plancenoit and their base line. One of Hacke’s regiments was ‘Disrupted’ in the boardgame and under the game rules, would need to disengage to recover to good order, so to replicate that here, we will show all the battalions of this regiment (treated as a Brigade by the rules) as already starting the game with 2 casualties each, so that they are just outside shaken status. They will be wise to make rally attempts before being used offensively.

Initial deployment. Prussian (black) right, French
(Blue) left.

Winning - The player with the most Victory Points at the end of play wins. Points are calculated at the end of play as follows;

Prussian Only

1 VP per Prussian unit that leaves the table via the French base line.

2 VP’s per French Young Guard unit removed from play due to retreat or rout.

Both Prussian and French

3 VP’s for the side that controls the group of Plancenoit buildings (a single BUA).

1 VP per enemy unit (not Young Guard) removed from play due to retreat or rout

Reinforcements - Starting at turn 2, a player at the outset of their part of the turn rolls a D20 and if the score is equal to or less than the current turn number, one friendly reinforcing group of choice can arrive that turn. The groups are as follows;

FRENCH.

Simmer’s 2nd Brigade - 2 Line Infantry at F2

Simmer’s 2nd Brigade - 2 Line Infantry at F2

Young Guard 1st Brigade - 2 Tirailler units at F1

Young Guard 1st Brigade - 2 Voltiguer units at F1

Note - the first Simmer and Young Guard reinforcement brought on will also each get their respective brigade commander.

PRUSSIAN.

Cavalry Brigade - 2 Hussar Regiments and 1 Horse artillery Battery and Commander at P1

Hacke’s artillery - 1 battery (attach to Hacke’s brigade commander) at P1

Tippleskirch’s 2nd Regiment - 2 Fusilier units and commander arriving as noted below

Note 1 - if chosen, Tippleskirch can enter at P4 from turn 3 onwards, P3 from turn 4 onwards or P2 from turn 5 onwards.

Note 2 - of all the reinforcements, Tippleskirch is the only formation that is not opposed by an enemy, so is free to move without interference, therefore the Prussian player can reduce the D20 die roll score by -2 if it helps bring Tippleskirch into play.  

Ending the game - Valour & Fortune advise that the gamers should set a ‘real time’ when the game should stop. I decided that I would play through until I lost the daylight (I am playing under a glass roof) and photography started to become difficult.

So after all of that talk and deliberation, let’s look at the action!

The opening attack

Marschall Vorwarts - After carefully setting up the Prussians so that they were outside assault distance from the French units covering Plancenoit for turn 1, the Prussians drew the Marschall Vowarts card from their Fate Deck, giving them extra charge range! The attack went in and both sides engaged, both suffering heavily, with the French just about hanging on - high drama indeed.

Behind this assault, Hillier’s 2nd Regiment moved up on the left with 5 battalions and it was clear to the French that their right wing would eventually be overwhelmed. To counter this, they moved Jeanin’s second brigade from the centre, to the right to interfere with Hillier and then tried to bring up the Young Guard to cover the centre. It was all very stretching for the French forces.

The French move onto the high ground (right) to
intercept Hillier.

All focus is on the French right - outside Plancenoit, the French become shaken, but the Prussian Landwehr units attacking, lose a unit and their brigade starts to ‘waver. The fighting is intense and could go either way. In a last ditch attempt to break into Plancenoit, the Prussians attack and their brigade shatters (is removed from play) …… but the two French battalions (Jeanin’s 1st Brigade) also rout due to their losses! The way to Plancenoit is open.

Jeanin’s 2nd Brigade faced by a much larger Hillier.

The hill above Plancenoit - it is here that the French must stop Hillier’s advance on Plancenoit. Jeanin’s 2nd Brigade boldly push into Hillier, but against much larger numbers, they are badly mauled and forced to retire.

Prussians attack the French guns in the centre.

The French centre under pressure - the French have been feeding troops across to their right at the expense of their centre and now their guns are under direct assault.

The Young Guard form a new defensive line and
secure Plancenoit

Everything is on the Young Guard’s shoulders - As Jeanin retires, the Young Guard re-establishes a new defensive line, which includes sending a battalion of voltiguers to Plancenoit. They are stretched and as Hillier swings towards them and attacks, the Young Guard start to waver.

Crisis on the French left - Suddenly it is the left that grabs te French Commanders attentions. With nine Prussian battalions from Hacke’s Brigade attacking, Simmer’s 1st Brigade spectacularly collapses, the entire French left is wide open for Hacke to exploit. As his brigade prepares to advance, light cavalry scouts come rushing to his headquarters.

French reinforcements arrive (left) and restore
the front.

The first reinforcements arrive - They have noted that fresh enemy troops are marching to intercept Hacke. The advanced elements of Simmer’s 2nd Brigade are arriving at the battlefield (at F2) and are able to block Hacke’s advance.

I have been using themed Napoleonic playing
card to form the two fate Decks.

Darkness descends - well at least it does on my wargame room that is! Marking the end of play. The French at great cost have managed to keep hold of Plancenoit and keep their front intact ….. but have they won?

Conclusion.

This game with 39 Infantry regiments (plus cavalry and artillery) potentially in play is larger than I normally play and with 13 local commanders there are plenty of moving parts, but I was unable to make the FIASCO wargame show held today in Leeds, so this was my consolation prize - a wargame fest day at home, minus the chips and pie :-)

Packed into the 4’ x 3½’ space, the Valour & Fortitude rules, designed for fast paced, large demo games at shows, worked well to keep things moving, tense and decisive. 

It just so happened that in this sector of the boardgame, there was a concentration of Prussian Landwehr, seemingly disadvantaging the Prussian force, who have the responsibility of attack against better trained French troops. However, they performed well and frequently put the French to test.

Both sides were starting to tire, though with the game reaching the end of turn 5, there were now increasing chances that reinforcements from other parts of the field might arrive. Admittedly only a 25% chance at the moment on that D20, but as can be seen with Simmer’s ‘march to the rescue’, it can be enough to swing things at the most critical moment and help tell a story.

When the victory points are added up, the French get +3 for possession of Plancenoit, but the casualty losses stack up against them and the final score is 10 VP’s to 8 VP’s in favour of the Prussians. Certainly not decisive and the Young Guard remain largely intact, but a win is a win.

10mm buildings. left a German Church by TimeCast and
Right a townhouse by Battlescale.

Overall the rules worked well to keep this game moving and a little unpredictable. The scenario mechanism for reinforcements seemed to work in keeping the chances of arrival small (as they would likely be engaged against other troops), but possible and certainly there is eager anticipation each time the D20 is rolled.

I would be happy to re-run the scenario again without tweaks, which isn’t a bad state of affairs and vindicates the view that this piece of action from the boardgame was worth fighting out on the table.

Resource Section.

An account of the Plancenoit battle as played in a recent boardgame that inspired todays scenario. Link

http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2022/09/fighting-at-plancenoit-1815.html

My sister webspace COMMANDERS is being re-configured to showcase various figure and boardgame systems that I am enjoying and give a flavour of where current ongoing projects are up to. Link.

https://commanders.simdif.com