The three days of fighting across Belgian battlefields that we tend to collectively think of as the ‘Battles of Waterloo’, began on 16th June 1815 and so of course today is the 210th anniversary of the first pair of battles - Quatre Bras and Ligny, battlefields that were situated just over 6 miles apart.
Using the boardgame ‘Napoleon’s Last Gamble’ designed by Kevin Zucher and published by Operational Studies Group, I am marking that anniversary with a post covering the action of those two battles by way of an AAR.
Background.
Napoleon was facing two enemy armies. The Anglo-Allies commanded by Wellington and the Prussians commanded by Blücher. His intention was that the two enemy armies should be kept apart so that he could defeat each in detail before they could unite.
He expected to find Blücher’s Prussians in the area of Ligny / Sombref and elements of Wellington’s Anglo-Allied army in the area of Quatre Bras. Those two locations being situated just 6 miles apart were connected by a road. It was important for Napoleon to control that road and also to block Quatre Bras, preventing Wellington concentrating and moving to assist the Prussians.
Napoleon’s army was formed in two wings. The left, under Ney, was formed from I and II Corps. He was advancing along the Brussels Road, past Fleurus and onto Quatre Bras. The right, with Vandamme, Gérard, the Guard, plus the three cavalry divisions were aimed at destroying the Prussians and pushing them back along their line of communication.
Napoleon saw his action at Ligny as the main event and by 2.30 pm, he was telling Ney that once he had dealt with Wellington, he should bring his force across to him at Ligny to arrive on the Prussian flank for around 1800 hours. However, Wellington was concentrating his army at Quatre Bras and Ney had become drawn into a major battle there.
And so it was that two major battles developed just six miles apart and that each reached a crisis point, causing each if them to need additional troops. To that end, Napoleon ordered d’Erlon to divert his corps from Ney and march to his battlefield instead. When Ney, who was equally desperate for the support of d’Erlon’s Corps, discovered this, he sent off an order to d’Erlon requesting the recall of his corps.
This created an interesting dynamic to this battle as d’Erlon and his French I Corps ended up marching between these two battlefields, without actually arriving at either in time to make a difference. d’Erlon would end up reaching Ney’s position at the close of battle, leaving us with the obvious question of what a more timely arrival at either location would have made to the course of that battle and the rest of the campaign.
In our board game, d’Erlon might arrive at one of the battlefields, so we may get a feel of how unleashing a fresh corps might swing things - or perhaps history will repeat itself and d’Erlon will remain elusive and frustrate both Napoleon and Ney.
In the real battle, Napoleon defeated the Prussians at Ligny, but Blücher was not destroyed and was therefore able to break contact and withdraw. Ney did successfully pin Wellington in place, preventing him from helping Blücher, but Wellington’s army was likewise left cohesive and able to break contact and retire.
Napoleon pursued both armies, with the main emphasis against Wellington and he would again meet them two days later at Waterloo, where after a days fighting, he would suffer the famous defeat that would remove him permanently from power.
We start our game at 2 PM in the historical battle positions at both Quatre Bras and Ligny. Can Napoleon defeat the coalition today?
2 PM 16th June 1815.
At Quatre Bras, Campi and Husson’s brigades assault the Gémioncout farmhouse complex, clearing it of the Dutch-Belgians. Reille (commands II Corps) is pleased with this early success of gaining an important anchor point in his line and sets about consolidating the position before advancing further.
Reille still has 7th Division missing. They are moving up slowly and are still some miles away from Frasnes.
At Ligny, the French right is loosely held by cavalry, leaving Napoleon to engage head on in the centre with Gérard’s IV Corps, towards the town of Ligny, while having Vandamme’s III Corps on the left, pressing to take the complex of villages between St. Amand and Wagnelee.
Still waiting for Labou’s VI Corps to arrive from behind him on the Fleurus road, Napoleon is conscious of his shortage of troops. As a precaution, he moves the Guard further over onto the French Left, in case they are needed to assist in rolling up the enemy line … though this leaves his left heavily weighted at the expense of the centre and right.
Historical notes. [Ney opens the battle at Quatre Bras with a 34 gun bombardment. Jamin takes Gémioncourt by ejecting the militia. At Ligny, a cannonade from the Guards artillery signals the opening of battle with Vandamme attacking St. Amand].
Game notes. [Rolling for ‘Alternative Reinforcements’ is successful and the lead elements, a cavalry division, from Bulow’s IV Corps (Prussian) enter the map. They have been given march orders to advance behind the Prussian army and take up position near Marbais on the Ligny to Quatre Bras lateral road - this location is worth victory points and it is essentially a blocking position to prevent easy movement between the two battlefields. Getting Alternative Reinforcements is not that easy, needing 4 or less on 2D6.]
3 PM
At Quatre Bras, things continue to go in favour of the French. Saxe-Weirmar’s infantry stand alone against the French, who are attempting to move around the Materne Pond, but the Netherlanders break and flee after a futile counter-attack they make results in heavy losses for them and French numbers start to tell.
Prince William manages to reorganise Van Opstal’s much needed artillery at Quatre Bras, following their serious mauling earlier at Gémioncourt. Wellington needs to build up his defences around Quatre Bras if he is to have any chance of holding Ney back. Picton arrives there with Kempt’s and Pack’s brigades, plus some artillery support - will it be enough, the next hour will tell!
Over at Ligny, things do not go well for the Prussians. Pirch, commanding Prussian II Corps has carelessly removed himself from the crisis point at Ligny and following some intense fighting, the Prussians lose the village.
Zietan’s I Corps (red band on the counter), forming the Prussian right in the area of Wagnelee and St. Amand, lose more ground. Blücher clarifies the prime areas of responsibility for his corps commanders. Zeitan will concentrate on the right flank (Wagnelee), while Pirch will concentrate on Ligny in the centre. Thielmann on the Prussian left is at Tongrenelle. His forces are stretched over some distance, screening against the French cavalry. He is torn between defending in place to protect the flank against enemy envelopment or whether to go on a limited attack against that French weaker flank and cause Napoleon to be distracted by the threat. He dithers, waiting for instruction from Blücher.
Historical notes [Gérard attacks Ligny village with three columns. Napoleon sends orders to d’Erlon to re-direct his corps to arrive at St. Amand (Ligny) and fall on the Prussian flank. Brunswick is mortally wounded.]
Game notes. [Army Commanders are allowed to activate a number of formations each turn. In Blücher’s case, he can activate two corps, but he has three corps to manage, so one will always need to self activate. At the moment Zietan and Pirch are getting all of Blücher’s attention so Thielmann is reliant on attempting self activation ….. but the die rolls have not been his friend so far!].
4 PM.
At Quatre Bras, the French attack the crossroads and Soye takes Quatre Bras, but he is pushed back out by a sharp counter-attack.
At Ligny, Vandamme throws three divisions at Château de Lecaille, near St. Amand, without effect. Further to the right, Gérard pauses in front of Ligny and loses the initiative to the Prussians who re-occupy the town in force. On the very right, Grouchy makes his first contact with Thielmann’s III Corps, but the boggy terrain hinders the French cavalry.
Behind the Prussians, Sydow’s cavalry division, the advanced guard of IV Corps, have arrived at Marbais. Their presence means they control the Quatre Bras to Ligny road at that point.
Napoleon scribbles off an order, directing d’Erlon to change direction, to leave Ney and to march to the Ligny battlefield and fall on the Prussians at Wagnelee.
Historical notes [The French capture St. Amand.]
Game notes. [Gérard’s inactivity in front of Ligny is due to the fact that he is beyond Napoleon’s command range and he has failed his own activation roll - the pause gives the Prussians a lucky break, allowing them to throw extra units into all three hexes of the town to improve defences].
5 PM.
Wellington attacks the crossroads, but fails to budge the French and this allows Reille to counter and push the Anglo-Allies back beyond Quatre Brass. It is becoming increasingly apparent that Wellington’s forces are growing and that Reille may soon struggle to hold the ground he has fought so hard to take. One consolation, 7th Division is moving up behind him and is now just an hour away. Also, the sooner d’Erlon arrives with I Corps the better, but there is no sign of him yet.
At Ligny, as Vandamme presses ever harder into the Zieten’s I Corps, a gap is opening in the Prussian line, in the vicinity of Château de Lecaille, but the peril is that Vandamme’s left flank is exposed to those Prussian units above at Wagnelee. With no other troops on hand, Napoleon reluctantly orders the Guard to move up and attack the Wagnelee positions to pin those Prussian units and protect Vandamme.
As expected, the Guard do what is necessary and take the lower part of Wagnelee, but it is not without consequence. Guye’s infantry take heavy casualties and in a counter-attack by Prussian 1st Division, Roguet’s Old Guard are pushed out of Wagnelee!
The fighting here is becoming intricate, that gap must be exploited and importantly these assaults by Vandamme and the Guard are fully drawing Napoleon’s attention away from the fighting by Gérard at the village of Ligny.
Desperate for more troops to help roll up the Prussian right flank, Napoleon is vexed by having no news from d’Erlon. It seems that both Ney and Napoleon are desperately reliant on d’Erlons appearance!
Historical notes [d’Erlon approaches the Ligny battlefield. Ney hears of his diversion and sends out a rider to request his recall to the Quatre Bras battlefield. Alten’s 3rd British Division has arrived at Quatre Bras and tipped the balance of numbers in Wellington’s favour. The Prussians counter-attack at Ligny Village, they push the French out and into the open fields beyond and follow up …. but, French soldiers are waiting in the tall grass and fire, driving the Prussians back into Ligny and beyond!]
Game notes. [There are die rolls going on at the start of each turn to get d’Erlon moving, but those rolls have failed so far. Once he gets going, he will be given a destination, either Quatre Bras or Ligny and so one or other of Ney or Napoleon are going to be deeply disappointed! The Young Guard (Guye) took losses because of an ‘exchange’ result with a weak Prussian unit, so the Guard payed dearly for that attack].
6 PM
At Quatre Bras, Ney’s commitment to keeping hold of the crossroads keeps his forces in what is becoming an increasingly unequal fight. French 7th Division go straight into action from the march and assist in the encirclement of Brunswickers (see unit in the circle below), who despite fighting bravely, are overwhelmed and with their removal, Reille is better placed to concentrate against the threat from the arrival of Wellington’s reinforcements (British 3rd Division and Cooke’s Guards).
There is still no sign of d’Erlon. Ney sends out fast riders to try and locate him. With all of II Corps located up at Quatre Bras, Ney is compelled to direct Kellerman and the heavy cavalry to flank protection duty as news is received of Dutch Cavalry and Ompteda’s infantry brigade having reached Watinmay, which could threaten the supply line at Frasnes and d’Erlon’s march route.
At Ligny, Napoleon ensures that the Guard take the key village of Wagnelee, while Vandamme’s Corps continues to squeeze the Prussian flank, but Gérard again is inactive in front of Ligny Village. The village is so well defended now that Gérard doubts that he can take it without further support.
The under powered attack he does make is badly mauled and he has now lost roughly a divisions worth of men for no gain whatsoever. Mind you, on the French left, things are not as tamed as Napoleon would have wished as the Old Guard (Roguet) are once again, embarrassingly, ejected from lower Wagnelee! The difference here is that regardless of that local setback, Prussian I Corps remain in a serious situation with their forces divided.
Mouton-Labou’s VI Corps move up behind Napoleon’s positions, strung out along the road, his 19th Division leads, which has arrived at Fleurus. They are under orders to assist Gérard at Ligny, but Napoleon fears that they will arrive too late to be decisive.
On the far right, Grouchy has become frustrated as his three cavalry divisions have lost all of their advantages of mobility by being held in check by forward elements of Thielmann’s III Corps, set amongst the difficult terrain of streams, marsh and villages. Just to do something that will break the stalemate, he takes Milhaud’s heavy cavalry division towards Bois de Bouly, hoping that the Prussians will have to respond to what appears to be the beginning of an outflanking manoeuvre ….. they don’t!
Rather, they concentrate into positions that potentially threaten Ligny and even cause Exelman’s cavalry division to withdraw to safety.
The situation reports coming back to Napoleon indicate that the split in Prussian 1st Corps is widening, but that their II Corps (Pirch) and III Corps (Theilmann) are looking increasingly unassailable to the weaker forces in front of them.
Historical notes [Cooke’s Guard arrive at Quatre Bras and start to work their way into Bossu Woods. At Ligny, there is a massive Prussian artillery bombardment on the French left and they retake St. Amand ….. but the hamlet changes hands four times as increasing numbers of Prussians get drawn into this sector. French cavalry on the right fight for Balâtre and Tongrinne.]
Game notes. [Once again, Gérard fails his independent Command Roll. The town of Ligny is critically important (victory points), so Napoleon might well be best moving to a position that ensures he can support Gérard and direct Lobau’s fresh troops as they arrive. The uncharacteristic nervousness of Roguet’s Old Guard is simply the result of very bad die rolls ….. lady luck has so far abandoned The Old Grumblers. The Prussians on the other hand must have Lady Luck with them because their second set of ‘Alternate Reinforcements’ have just entered the game, Bülow’s 13th Division who have been ordered to march towards Wagnelee …. following up their cavalry who are already at Marbais].
7 PM
Ney’s patrols contact the head of d’Erlon’s column. He is on the Gosselies to Quatre Bras Road, with orders to make for Frasnes. Clearly, even with hard marching, their lead units will barely make Ney’s position by dark.
However, Ney is determined to hold the crossroads and he orders Reille to defend against the inevitable Anglo-Allied counter attacks with all vigour. With Brunswick’s forces out of the way, Reille re-orientates the French force to meet the Anglo-Allied reinforcements and also places units in Bossu Woods to absorb attacks from that direction.
Without waiting for the British Guards to arrive, Wellington puts in a Dutch - Belgian led counter-attack. Despite a masterly french defence, the French are pushed back from the crossroads.
Above - At Ligny, Napoleon has come to a moment of decision, which centres upon Vandammes Corps. Should Vandamme now turn his emphasis of attack towards Wagnelee and together with the Guard, destroy the separated part of Prussian I Corps or should Vandamme press on, pushing towards Ligny and work with Gérard together with whatever arrives from Lobau’s Corps to secure Ligny.
The attack towards Wagnelee would likely yield early results, but the truth is that the village of Ligny is the critical point of the battle where the Prussian defences are anchored - the village must be taken. Gérard naturally fears that the Prussians in front of him might go over onto the offensive, but with Napoleon’s reassurance that he will be supported by both Vandamme and Labou (as he arrives), Gérard prepares for an all out assault on the village.
As a precaution, Vandamme detaches 11th Division and has them move back towards Wagnelee to protect his rear / flank and assist the Guard. Here the attacks are successful and Prussian 1st Corps are badly mauled.
However, at Ligny, all does not go well and Gérard is thrown back - again! This presents a brief opportunity for the Prussians to counter-attack.
They make three localised attacks. Vandamme is an obvious target and on the other side of the battlefield, Thielmann crosses Ligny Brook and again pressures Exelman’s cavalry, but it is in the centre, at Ligny village, that the attack of most significance occurs. As predicted by Gérard the Prussians counter-attack from the village. 5th Division of II Corps make a pre-emptive attack on Bellair’s newly arrived Brigade (Lobau’s Corps), catching them while they are alone and still in march mode. They are forced back and the new positions now held by Prussian 5th Division in front of the village, make it harder for the French to make a concentrated attack at the western end of the village. With night approaching, Blücher affords himself a smile at the French discomfort.
Historical notes [The Prussians have been pushing fresh troops into Ligny village, the French Guard go into action with Gérard and Milhaud’s cavalry to counter that.]
Game notes. [Some nice nuances have showed up here. Vandamme’s retreat position now makes it impossible for him to bring his powerful stack back to attack Ligny village directly (with its 10 VP’s) because to return there, he would have to cross a brook, a marsh and a woods and he does not have enough movement points to do that. Also by the Prussians (5th Division) now putting themselves in front of Ligny, the next French attacks are going to have to included fighting outside the village, reducing the pressure that they can bring on the village itself ….. no matter how many times Napoleons stares grimly at the map, that is not going to change - he now needs a ‘Lucky General’!
8 PM
The light is fading and both sides know that this is their last chance today to make the sort of gains that will define victory. Ney, fuelled with anger and passion berates Reille for the too and fro possession of Quatre Bras over the past few hours and tells him that he will personally lead the attack to re-take the crossroads once and for all!
He does so, in spectacular style - but the Anglo-Allied response is swift and devastating. British 5th Division push back Ney’s flank protection (French 5th Division). Now, not only is Wellington’s counter-attack reinforced by the Guards, but also, Ney’s position at the crossroads is becoming increasingly isolated and he is in danger of being cut off by British 5th Division …… and that is exactly what happens!
Ney’s losses are huge, half of II Corps at a stroke are lost, though Ney and Reille themselves manage to escape. Thankfully, d’Erlon is now only a couple of miles behind Ney and it is only this and the coming darkness that will save the rest of II Corps.
At Ligny, Napoleon gives a ‘Men of France’ style Speech to Gérard’s weary 12th Infantry Division as the columns of Vandamme, Gérard and Lobau form up to launch their last assault of the day.
The attacks go in on a narrow frontage with no advantage in numbers, but Napoleon’s inspiring speech to 12th Division seems to have made all of the difference ….. and Napoleon has indeed got a lucky general (Gérard is the man of the moment). Even when isolated, Gérard holds against the Prussian counter-attack. Ligny at last, in the closing moments of light, is his!
Historical notes [The French control most of Ligny village, they put in a final assault to take the rest. The Prussians break, exposing a gap between Thielmann’s III Corps and the rest of the army. The French now threaten to exploit and split the Prussian army. A thunderstorm breaks out].
Game notes. [wow, that take down of Reille’s II Corps at Quatre Bras came out of the blue and was devastating with 19 combat factors lost. Gérard was very luck to both take and keep hold of Ligny this turn, his attack was low powered at 1:1 odds].
9 PM - NIGHT
Fighting dies down and the armies for the most part disengage. The main roads are still witness to the march of boots as d’Erlon’s long column finally reaches Frasnes and the rest of Lobau’s VI Corps moves up to encamp in front of Ligny.
The Prussian 1st Corps (Zieten) has been roughly handled up near Wagnelee, but advanced elements of Bülow’s IV Corps are moving along the Old Roman Road from Liege and they will reach Zieten by morning.
At Blücher’s Headquarters, his staff meet to discuss the strategic situation. With half of Bülow’s Corps already on the battlefield, there is a mood that the French have at least been matched and that the Prussians could defensively hold the area for at least the first half of 17th June, just until Wellington’s position becomes clearer with a view to their armies combining.
At Wellington’s Headquarters, the mood is buoyant, though their spectacular defeat of Ney is tempered by the question of what has become of the Prussians. They are not presently aware of how the fighting there went. Wellington’s view is that since the French only only pressed him with a single corps, that they must have concentrated their army against Blücher and that he may not have fared well. If Napoleon has routed the Prussians, then they will be moving against Quatre Bras in the morning with an intention of destroying his army and driving on Brussels and so the consensus of opinion, most loudly voiced by Uxbridge, who reminded the room that his cavalry were now fully present and could provide rearguard cover, settles on a slow and well organised withdrawal along the Brussels road at first light. Prince William agrees. Wellington needs no further urging and he gives the relative orders to make it happen.
Napoleon’s Headquarters. Napoleon has not yet received news of Ney’s devastating defeat. He is still expecting d’Erlon to join him in the night and is confident of continuing the assault against the Prussians in the morning, content that Ney will now likely keep Wellington pinned in position. His orders to the army at Ligny is to attack at first light and for Lobau’s Corps to break the Prussian centre. The Guard will remain in Wagnelee as a reserve.
Historical notes [ Ney breaks contact and falls back to Frasnes. The Prussians start to withdraw at 10 PM. Napoleon plans that in the morning part of his force under Grouchy will pursue the Prussians to keep them moving away from Wellington, while he will take the rest of the army and join Ney to deal with the Anglo-Allies.]
Game notes. [There is some recovery capability that can bring back removed units on their reduced side (flipped) that starts overnight and then at other points during play in the day, those recovered units can re-enter the map, so Reille will be able to recover some of his losses over the next day and it would be fair to assume that on the 17th, Ney will be pushing d’Erlon’s I Corps into Wellington’s positions with Reille being placed in reserve to more fully re-organise. However, d’Erlon recommends caution and suggests taking a defensive stance until further orders from the Emperor arrive, but the impulsive Ney tells him … he will be attacking in the morning!]
Conclusions - Well that was very enjoyable game and the immersion intensified in the last couple of turns as each attack really mattered and it really was possible that most of the local actions could have gone in different ways.
Before totting up victory points, I usually like to look at the situation on the map and estimate the victor. In this case , each side controls three victory locations and while losses throughout play were fairly low and even between the two forces, the sudden punishment of Reille at Quatre Bras does seem to push things in the direction of a Coalition-Win, though this is slightly offset by recent Prussian 1st Corps losses at Wagnelee. The only reservations I have are that the Prussians are only fit to fight a defensive action and Wellington’s forces are minded to withdraw - so I am going to say a stalemate draw or a marginal Coalition victory …… so time to tot up the victory points and see the truth!
The French lost units amounting to 29 combat points, the coalition lost 25, the difference between them does not create a victory point swing, neither are any corps demoralised. The only thing that does generate a VP differential relates to occupied objectives. The French have Gémioncourt (near Quatre Bras), Ligny and St. Amand together worth 20 Victory Points. The Coalition have Quatre Bras, Marbais road section and Sombref, likewise worth 20 Victory Points, so at the end of all of that the victory ratio is 20:20 or 1:1, which turns out to be a marginal coalition victory - that feels about right, especially as the system doesn’t produce a draw.
The situation with d’Erlon is interesting. In our game his arrival was as late as it could have been, having failed die rolls to bring him in earlier. He might have come in three turns earlier, needing a ‘1’ on a D6, but then of course, he might equally have gone to the Ligny battlefield rather than Ney’s Quatre Bras - the system allows for a good ‘who knows’ outcome, while showing respect to the history.
I could have served the French better by being more creative with the cavalry and by having Napoleon spend more time working towards an earlier success at Ligny village.
If you have stayed with this for this far … thank you, I salute your resilience :-)
I really wish that I had been able to play the full campaign game so that we could take this situation we have created into the 17th and 18th June, but a bad back has pushed me into going for the mini campaign only, rather than the delights of the full thing ….. perhaps I can do that for the 211th Anniversary :-)
If you enjoyed this post, please visit my COMMANDERS site, which is a bit more magaziney in approach and regularly updated with posts about both boardgames and figure games. LINK
https://commanders.simdif.com/dear_diary.html
