Description
The Day of Waterloo
It might be the most written about battle of all time…
…But tactically, it was one of Napoleon’s worst efforts.
After Napoleon’s return from Elba, he watched his peace efforts spurned and knew that four large armies would eventually invade France. In a precarious position at home as well, he elected to move quickly, hoping for a powerful spoiling attack against the two closest armies that would rally some of his former allies and, even better, encourage the “Seventh Coalition” to negotiate.
His movements with the Armée du Nord shocked both Wellington and Blucher and hinted at the old brilliance of mind. But when it came to the battles… it seemed the imagination was no longer there. Ligny was a bludgeoning match, Quatre Bras a lost opportunity and bad communications and staff work caused failure at both. Dispensing a third of his army to “chase Blücher” (without Grouchy managing to find him), he took the rest to deal with “the Sepoy General” that he at least pretended to disdain.
Wellington expected a flanking attack (and 25% of his troops missed the actual battle in preparation for it). What he got was “a pounding match.” Though he had claimed his troops made up “an infamous army, very weak and ill-equipped, and a very inexperienced Staff,” they bore the brunt of the best Napoleon could throw at them for 8 hours and turned the tide.
And yet, it served as the completely final end to over 20 years of near-constant warfare, in one of the few periods in Western history defined by a single person’s name, “The Napoleonic Era.” And may be the most written-about battle in history.
The Day of Waterloo includes:
Map: Full color, 11” x 17” mounted mapboard
Pieces: 280 full color, die-cut counters
Rulesbook: 16 pages
Charts and Displays: Three player aid charts
Skill Level: Advanced
