Quatre Bras Refight with FoG:N

ABOVE: The Battlefield at the commencement of the game.

This weekend myself and two friends decided to play a refight of Quatre Bras. With a FoG:N tournament approaching we decided that these rules would be an excellent set to use to fight the battle.

Arnaud (as usual) commanded the French Corps and would be Marshal Ney. Tyler would play the part of William, Prince of Orange and Wellington (on his arrived on the Battlefield).

The Orders of Battles I obtained from HERE.

To make the battle less predictable and more interesting I set up all of Ney's forces on the field with the exception of Jerome's Division arriving on the 2nd turn. The French heavy cavalry would arrive only on a roll of 4,5 or 6 on turn 3, on a roll of 3,4,5 or 6 on turn 4, and 2,3,4,5 or 6 any turn there after.

The Allies would start with only Perponcher two divisions on the field with all the other divisions of I Corps arriving over the next turns one division at a time

Viscount Hill's Corp, (II Corp) would arrive the next turn after the last of I Corps divisions with each division arriving as follows after rolling anything other than a 1 or a 2:

On a roll of 1 or 2 The Corps Cavalry

On a roll of 3 or 4: Sir Thomas Picton's Division

On a roll of 5 or 6: The Brunswick Infantry.

Simply put when the last of the 1st Corps arrived we roll a D6. As long as a 1 or 2 wasn't rolled the Corps commander would arrive with Wellington (Exceptional 'Charismatic') who would replace the Prince of Orange (Competent 'Charismatic').

Now another D6 was rolled. If a 1 or 2 was rolled then the following divisions from 2nd Corps would not arrived, assumed to be caught up in the traffic jam on the road leading to Quatre Bras. If a 3,4,5 or a 6 was rolled then another D6 was rolled to see WHICH division arrived.

Simple!

 ABOVE: The initial Allied deployment.
BELOW: The buildings of Quatre Bras.

 The battle opened with the two French infantry divisions advancing cautiously towards the Dutch Belgian lines. The French cavalry (a small brigade of lancers and a large brigade of Chasseurs) and their artillery support made a wide sweeping flanking move on the allies left flank.

Fortunately for the Allies just at that time the British Guards brigade arrived and quickly moved off the road to cover the allies' left flank.

This flanking movement from the French soon fizzled out to nothing. The French effort now switched to the Dutch Belgian brigades in the center to the west of the Charleroi - Brussels road.

BELOW: The French Lancers and Chasseurs a Cheval that attempted to envelope the Allies' left flank.

 BELOW: The French 5th Division

 BELOW: The French 9th Division commanded by Foy.

 As Prince Jerome's Division moved towards the French right flank in support of the now stalled cavalry movement another British division (LtGen Alten's 3rd Div) arrived consisting of the 5th Brigade of English battalions (the 33rd, 30th, 69th and 73rd Foot) and the Hanoverian Brigade consisting mainly of conscripts. The 5th Brigade moved off to support the English Guards on the allies left whilst the Hanoverians moved to support the Netherlanders and their German kin in the Nassau Brigades in reserve.

 ABOVE: The French 9th Division of Foy, Bachelu's 5th Division and in the distance the French 2nd cavalry Division of Comte Pire.
BELOW: French 2nd cavalry Division of Comte Pire. sweeping towards the allies left flank.

BELOW: The British Guards foil the French Cavalry sweep.

 ABOVE: Sporadic artillery fire in the center.
BELOW: The British Guards. Two Brigades block the French Cavalry.

 BELOW: The Hanoverian Brigade moves down the road. The British 5th Brigade moves up on the left of The Guards.

 ABOVE and BELOW: Action on the Allies' left flank.

 Impatient for a breakthrough and not willing to await the arrival of the Heavy Cavalry division that was a due to arrive Ney hurled the Guard Light Cavalry at the Netherlands Brigades and some Dutch artillery.

The Dutch Militia Brigade were in tactical formation and scrambled to form squares and the Dutch gunners ran to the British Guards for cover. 2000 Guard Chasseurs a Cheval, Mamalukes and Lancers descended upon the Dutch infantry. Their disordered squares were torn apart by the Guards just as the French heavies under General Kellerman arrived to support the developing attack in the centre. 

BELOW: The French Guard Light Cavalry move towards the center.

ABOVE: Foy's Division spars with the Belgian infantry
BELOW: The French Guard Light Cavalry commence their charge.

 After slaughtering the Dutch militia the Guard Lancers charged on again and crashed into the large Nassau Brigade (the 2nd Nassau Infantry Regiment) that was in reserve. Yet again the Prince of Orange's men could only form disordered squares and they too were swept away.

As the the French Guard cavalry was slaughtering the Dutch militia a Nassau Brigade (the 28th Orange-Nassau Regiment) was busy driving off Husson's 1st Brigade from Bachelu's 5th Division who had been caught withdrawing after a failed assault on the British artillery.

 The Allied cavalry division arrived as the French Guard cavalry had started their advance and moved off to the east in an effort to envelope the French cavalry that had now stalled in front of the British Guards.

BELOW: The all conquering Guard Lancers destroy all in their path.

 The situation was now as follows:

The French cavalry envelopment of the Allies left flank had stalled thanks to the British Guards and was now itself in danger of being enveloped by Dutch Belgian and Brunswick Cavalry.

The French Guard Light Cavalry Division had smashed both a Dutch and a Nassau brigade and was pouring into the centre whilst a Nassau Brigade had counter-attacked on the East side of the Charleroi - Brussels road and driven off a brigade of French infantry.

On the allies right flank very little had happened at all apart from the batteries exchanging some round shot.

Wellington now arrived on the battlefield to take over from The Prince of Orange. The large Hanovarian brigade was place in the center.

The Nassau brigade that had driven off the French 1st Brigade was now itself taken in the flank by counter-attacking French infantry and destroyed.

 The French Guard Chasseurs a Cheval now wheeled right and overran a battery whilst the Guard Lancers wheeled left and took the Belgian brigade in the flank and destroyed them on the edged of Bossu Wood. Only the 27th Jagers remained of the 2nd Netherlands Division!
BELOW: The Belgian Infantry Brigade is taken in flank by the Guard Lancers.

 Now the French Heavies came into action. The Cuirassiers and Dragoons charged through the gaping hole made by the Guard Light Cavalry and came charging onto the Hanovarian militia in the center.

An all to familiar pattern emerged. The Hanoverian militia failed to form solid squares and were run down by the French heavy cavalry. The British had deployed the 5th Brigade behind the Hanovarians but they suffered the same fate as the Dragoons followed through onto them. As had happened in the real Battle of Quatre Bras the British 5th Brigade had been cut to shreds by French Heavies,...

 ABOVE and BELOW: The Hanoverians meet their fate.

All the while the remaining divisions of the allies 2nd Corps had failed to arrive.

At this point Wellington conceded defeat and ordered the remains of 1st Corps to retreat towards Brussels.

It was a excellent game. The failed arrival of the Allies 2nd Corps sealed the fate or Orange\Wellington though if any of the Germans or Dutch had formed solid squares they might have held on long enough for the 2nd Corps to arrive and save the day.

It just wasn't meant to be.

Oh well,....

 ABOVE and BELOW: The destruction of the British 5th Brigade.

As usual, feel free to leave comments.

Cheers

UPDATE:
Eric asked a question that deserves a fuller explanation:
"Why do you refer to the units as Brigades when FoG:N says the units represent 'Regiments'"?

Hi Eric
I refer to the units as Brigades because that is what they are. The authors of FoG:N (for reasons I'll never understand) say the units represent Regiments. The truth is rarely did entire Regiments take to the field. Normally it was Battalions FROM regiments that would come together to form Brigades (a collection of Battalions). Let's look at a FoG:N unit in this battle. The Allied (Brit) 5th Brigade for example. 
To make a small unit in FoG:N (1200 to 2000 men) then we have 1 battalion from each of the 30th, 33rd, 69th and 73rd Foot each providing an average of about 500 men. NOT a Regiment at all. Actually 4 battalions from 4 different regiments. Now look at the French 1st Brigade from the 5th Division. 4 battalions from the 2nd Light Inf Regt and 2 battalions from the 61st Line for a total of just over 3000 men (a LARGE unit). Again, 2 different Regiments. To try and create two 'Regiments' would result in a SMALL 2nd Light Infantry but not enough (only 800 men) to make a SMALL 61st Line Regiment. So I settled on a LARGE Light Infantry unit with a SKIRMISH element due to the preponderance of Light Infantry from the 2nd Light Infantry.  
By contrast the 2nd Brigade of the  2nd Netherlands Brigade consists of 1 LARGE unit made up of 3 battalions from the 2nd Nassau Line regiment with a total of 2600 men! 
Oh and all the miniatures are either AB Miniatures and a handful of Fantassin / warmodeller figs.
I'd use FoG:N if you are trying to fight the whole battle or Lasalle if you want to fight just a part, like the fighting around Bossu Wood.

Westfalia Miniatures Review

Hi Guys
I recently placed an order with the guys at Westfalia Miniatures. I ordered some Rude Highlanders, (a pair of miniature), a set of eight Hanovarian Kiemannsegges Jaegers, a set of three French Engineers in body armour and a set of four Prussian Medical staff.
Lets have a look at the Highlanders first I think:

 They are called 'Rude' Highlanders and they certainly are that. Both miniatures are sculpted in the act of taunting their French enemies with uplifted kilts. The miniatures are excellent sculptures. There is plenty of detail and the posing is excellent. They really appear to taunting their opponents in the time honoured fashion we have come to expect from the Scots. The uniforms are historically accurate  and if something is not how is should be I'm not aware of what could be missing. I'm really impressed with the detail in the faces of these lads. They are clearly having fun. If I had one criticism it's that the Scot on the left hasn't got a musket. A loose musket that could be placed at his feet or resting against a fence post or wall would have been a nice touch but I'm really just being picky now. Overall these two lads a a must for any serious (or not so serious) collector of a Napoleonic war British army. There was no flash on the miniatures at all. What you see here is exactly as I received them out of the pack. For 3 GBP I think they are very good value for money, (after all, it's not like you will need an entire battalion of these guys).

 They are certainly compatible with Perry Miniatures (my prefered manufacturer of Napoleonic Brits).
How you pose / base them is umm up to you.

 The 3 French Engineers / Sappers are real gems. They consist of one fellow swinging a pick, one creeping forward with some tools and the third, (not pictured sorry) firing his musket, (probably covering his two comrades as they work). These are unusual (but welcomed) miniatures sculpted in the process of doing what engineers / sappers do.  They have helmets and body armour on (a 'must have') if sapping or doing other engineering tasks close to the enemy lines or fortifications. Again the detail is excellent and there was no flash to speak of. At 4.50 GBP they are good value for money. I'm sure you can think of plenty of 'Skirmish' type actions where these guys would be very useful. I'll be basing them for SHARP PRACTICE.

Let's now look at the Hanovarians.
There are eight miniatures in this set, consisting of an Officer, Hornist, one Sharpshooter, (the chap with the fancy epaulette on the right shoulder) and five Jaegers either shooting, dashing forward or loading.
Sculpting and posing is first class. All thedetail is there, and these chaps, like the others, look as if they will paint up a treat.
The subjects are a rather obscure unit, and I'm not sure if any other manufacturer is producing them. 12 GBP for these eigth miniature is I think good value. You'll only need one packet of these lads, and eight is a good number for a skirmish unit. Again, I'm think of SHARP PRACTICE for these guys.
Again, as you can see no flash to speak of.
The Officer (Captain) is a very serious and grim faced chap. He means business.
You can find details on this unit during the '100 Days' HERE

Now for the Prussian Medical Staff Set.

You get four miniatures. A Battalion Surgeon, two Company Surgeons and (I think) a 'Squadron' Surgeon.

Again, sculpting, posing and detail is excellent. The uses for these miniatures is limited only by your imagination, but casualty markers immediately springs to my mind. I particularly like the kneeling chap. He has a sword at his feet, (just the thing for defending himself and his patient). The Surgeon with the apron and saw in hand would look nice in a little diorama at the rear of your army.

Priced at 6 GBP they a good value for money in my humble opinion. 

 I suspect the Doctor with the Bicorn hat on the right here could be painted as a British Surgeon.

All these miniature are very robust. The French Sapper with the pick was of concern, as the pick handle is rather thin, but I was able to bend the pick without fear of it snapping.
All these miniature have real character. They are amoungst some of the best sculpted miniatures I've seen.

Finally I was also sent a French Ammunition wagon \ Cassion. You can see an assembled version at the Westfalian Miniatures website HERE
Assembly is very straight forward and all the parts fit together without any dramas.
This will look the biz indeed as part of my Gun Park directly behind a batter of cannon.
PRICE at time of this review: 8 GBP.

In Summary I would HIGHLY recommend Westfalia Miniatures to you for excellent quality miniatures.
They are certainly a producer of quality miniatures offering those 'unique' miniatures you probably will struggle to find anywhere else, but will add that vital bit of 'character' to your army.
Comments welcomed.
Cheers