Napoleon 250th Birthday
Napoleon Bonaparte was born 250 years ago on 15.8.1769. One version says On Assumption Day his mother gave birth on a threadbare rug on which were woven heroic scenes and figures from the Iliad. Letizia Bonaparte dismissed the story with a laugh and said there home contained nothing as luxurious as rugs and even if it had they certainly would have been taken up.
The next pictures are from another Waterloo refight played a month later. This game was played using Napoleon’s Battles rules and scenario. The short scenario was used ending before the Prussians arrive lasting 12 turns between 1130 and 1700 hours. The French army was represented in full but substitutions had to be made for the British a mix of British, Austrian, bits of card and some traitorous French were used. To win the French had to break the Anglo- Allied army’s morale by games end otherwise the British win. It was a great game and went down the line. The French army employed a pincer attack Reille’s II Corp supported by cavalry attacked the British right flank bypassing Hougmont , Whilst D’ Erlon’s I Corp supported by cavalry attacked the British left flank, The French Guard artillery pounded the British centre until 4 brigades of Imperial Guard passed through it to attack the British centre. The time limitation mean the French could not hang around. Time was running out, the British were close to breaking, their flanks were buckling when Divisional General Friant was shot of his horse whilst leading two Brigades of old Guard forward in the Centre, and his demise stalled their advance as they were out of command. On the last turn of the game Wellington had a great round rallying enough of his routing troops to secure victory. If Friant had not gone down the Old Guard could have pressed their attack to break Allied morale but there was not enough time left to get his brigades back under command. The Napoleon Figure is an old Minfigs 15mm figure. Tony Played Napoleon, I supported him and John played Wellington.
Please note a Napoleon figure did appear in all the pictures before I uploaded them but cropping of the pictures when uploaded may make him disappear from some pictures.
The Final batch of pictures come from 2017 when I took part in an 1813 Campaign. Napoleon played by John attacked Berlin. The Imperial Guard were marching to the Battle but arrived too late to play an effective part as they had got delayed crossing a bridge. One Prussian Corp and a Russian Corp were defending Berlin (Berlin was represented by 3 adjacent built up areas) another Prussian Corp arrived on the table during the course of the game. I commanded the Russians who were placed in and around Berlin. We played the game using Blucher rules. The French could win by breaking the Allied armies’ morale as per Blucher rules or achieve an instant win by taking Berlin itself. The French player concentrated all his efforts on taking Berlin making repeated attacks which the Russians held off. As Allied players we were worried he would attack the Troops around Berlin breaking the Allied Armies Morale.
Napoleon failed to take Berlin or break the Allied Armies Morale which meant the French had to fall back. As Allied players we felt if the Imperial Guard had arrived on time these fresh troops may have taken Berlin giving him an instant win. In the pictures Napoleon is watching over the attack on Berlin. The Napoleon figure is I believe a Minfigs figure but I am not 100% on this. The other figures are a mix of 25mm Minifig, Garrison and Hinchcliffe.
