Summer, The Last Time….Random Waterloo Thoughts

1815 section of my library. Small but perfectly formed for my purposes.

“It was a hot afternoon, the 18th of June, and the ridge was a demon….” (Diddle, diddle, diddle ding….(that is the thinking piano part))

“The Allies threw shade, at the Frenchmen’s parade,

And their bayonets gleaming.”

Trying to pen a poem about the Battle of Waterloo to rhyme with Bobby Goldsboro’s 1970s hit Summer, the first time, has been a mildly amusing and whimsical experience but try as I might it did not seem to work out and besides, it is currently far too hot for that kind of effort! I only got as far as “I told Marshall Ney, that the farm of La Haye, was a part of my thinking…”

Seriously though, the anniversary of arguably one of the greatest battles in history never fails to draw me back to Napoleonics and misty-eyed memories of painting hordes of Airfix plastics ‘back in the day’. For me it was all formative and inspiring stuff and even now, old and world-weary cynic that I am, I can still feel a thrill thumbing through the pages of any one of the books you see above.

A couple of years ago I refought the battle using Del Prado Relive Waterloo figures (now no longer part of the collection) using a square based version of ‘Waterloo A La Carte’ available from the Numbers, Wargames and Arsing About blog written by the legend that is Jay ‘Old Trousers’ Ward. It was a great game to fight and worked out rather well - it was spread over four blog posts - and I would certainly revisit it at some point but this time using the block armies. As a reminder the initial set up looked like this:

Blimey! It almost looked like a sensible wargame - whatever next?

My cheap and cheerful handmade chessboard that formed the basis of the battlefield acquired at a boot sale some years ago for a ridiculously cheap price (£2 if I remember correctly). The squares are 6cm and the 8 x 8 grid is perfect for Portable Wargames. 

‘Old Trousers’ original hex based map - there is now available a similar version covering Quatre Bras which I will be casting an eye over at some point.

I have often mentioned of my fondness for the Battle of Waterloo and the significant role it has played in my wargaming journey. In many ways the campaign of 1815 contained in a microcosm all the elements of over twenty years of war - glamorous uniforms, the massed cavalry charges, columns attacking lines, grand batteries of artillery and clouds of skirmishers scurrying hither and thither. There were moments of great gallantry and of sheer panic and rout and above all the ebb and flow of generalship. I remember reading somewhere the campaign being likened to a Greek Tragedy with its extremes of fortune on either side - I can’t comment on that as my knowledge of Greek Tragedies is rather limited - the benefit of a non classical education I suppose (he says, tongue firmly in cheek) - but the few days of the campaign certainly pack a lot in.

Thumbing through my 1815 library has been a real pleasure in a nostalgic kind of way - I certainly have some very pleasant Napoleonic memories to enjoy - and needless to say it has triggered a few ideas, nothing fancy or far reaching, just something for a change.

I shall make a point of watching Waterloo again - for the record I had not planned to but hey, ho - and will doubtless reach for my copy of Bob Cordery’s Portable Napoleonic Wargame for further inspiration and who knows? I may even do something with it!