Battle of Wavre 19th June 1815.

Last night we had a most excellent  game,which was devised by Dave,who provided the Historical scenario,as well as all the figures-well done,an absolutely thrilling game,played by Brian and Paul as Prussians,and Dave and I as French.

This shot shows the table before any movement,Wavre is in the top right corner and Limal is in the bottom left-the river took a whole move to cross, and dis-ordered any troops requiring them to spend a whole move reforming!!!!-this was not going to be easy for the French!

Dave opened the proceedings by firing on Brian's troops placed on the hill-we still use the "old-fashioned" bounce stick to determine where the ball from the cannon,actually lands,then bounces onwards,using a coloured dice which matches the colours on the stick!!

My Infantry,Cavalry and Guns have "burst" out of Limal village,and are masking the woods,as well as moving to attack the hill in support of Dave's advance.Both Paul and Brian aimed their batteries at me,and inflicted alot of damage-the swines!!!

Dave's advance and attack on Wavre,was nothing short of "magnificent"-we brought our reserve troops onto the board on move number 3,to groans and rude comments from the Prussians!!-they are making their way to the left of the bridge,ready to cross when the Prussian cavalry threat has been removed(well,that was the plan!!!)

Brian and Dave "slug" it out in Wavre-this tussle lasted almost the whole of the game,each side being pushed back,then sending in reinforcements,winning,then losing-great stuff,and marvellous wargaming!!

With the Wavre battle raging in the background,Brian is musing at how we are going to get over the river with "millions" of cavalry blocking our way!!(so were we!!)

With a good(and beautifully painted) leader anything is possible!!-and so it was.We managed to get my cavalry to carry out a "blocking" attack,whilst Dave's cavalry crossed the river and reformed-Paul was sending in wave after wave of Dragoons and Lancers,trying to prevent us from attacking his central position on the hill!

Paul's face says it all-desperation is setting in(not really,he always looks like that!!!)
This is a good shot of most of the table,showing the French closing in on the central hill.

As Wavre is still being contested,a furious fire-fight erupts!!-Dave was hard pushed here,but just managed to force the Prussians to retire,and the hill was almost ours-hurrah!!

Brian's body-language is now telling the story!!-all is lost for the Prussians,despite Paul putting a massive counter-attack on my troops guarding the left flank,facing the woods.

Paul's counter-attack-almost successful,I think that had he put the attack in a couple of moves earlier,the battle may have had a different out-come!!
Well played everyone,and another big thank-you to Dave for his efforts.
Roll on Thursday,we will be using the same terrain(because I think it is great!) and probably a Saxon and Norman game.