Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Age of the Big Battalions => Topic started by: DintheDin on June 20, 2017, 10:58:22 PM
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Hi all,
A video card crash acted just like Grouchy, so I post this with a small delay:
Here are some photos from our Waterloo game with VnB rules.
Plastic 1/72 figures.
The game mat was a generous offer of ArisK who had the brilliant idea to take a map drawing of the period and scale it up to the table dimensions!
So, the distances between the landmarks were accurate, as well the road layouts.
We could find also names of lesser known places all marked on the map!
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French troops approaching Hougoumont
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La Haie Sainte, the Grand Battery and Papelotte
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The French siphoned a great number of troops for a sweeping charge on their left and won this flank, having first taken Hougoumont.
The overall battle was ended at dusk (the first Prussian troops were already fighting), concluded as a winning draw for the French.
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Awesome!
I tried to use the Ferraris maps (same ones you have there) to do the same thing a few years ago. I was copying the images from the Belgian national museum website one screen at a time; it was quite difficult to do. How did you guys get the image ready?
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I tried to use the Ferraris maps (same ones you have there) to do the same thing a few years ago. I was copying the images from the Belgian national museum website one screen at a time; it was quite difficult to do. How did you guys get the image ready?
Thanks for the kind words! We did pretty much the same thing you did, go to the Belgian Royal Library and download the map in parts which were then "stitched together" in GIMP (a free image manipulation software). Firefox has a useful "page info" tab that has a subheading "media", and that made it easier to download a bunch of images together rather than getting each singly. It *did* take a little while to get all of them, though. Then it was just a matter of going to a photocopier's and having them printed, like banners. Not something that I'd like to do for *every* game we play, but definitely worth it, given how special the 200th anniversary refight was as a gaming event.
best regards,
Aris K.
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... Not something that I'd like to do for *every* game we play, but definitely worth it...
This is what I would like to praise, because, due to your generosity and affection for the Napoleonics, we had the opportunity to enjoy our games on maps of Quatre Bras, Ligny, Waterloo and Wavre. I owe to organize a game for Plancenoit, I dont forget :)
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A view of the battlefield from the Brunswickers' side
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The French approaching la Haie Sainte
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...and extending their right flank beyond Papelotte
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La Haie Sainte captured.
The clash between La Haie Sainte and Papelotte.
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The British Heavies charge!
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Looks great, both figures and the map.
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The units to follow, took part in the game.
They were painted by me since 1988, so I rely to your leniency!
They now belong to Haris' (Guldor) Napoleonic collection.
British RHA. Airfix 1/72.
These figures make me take a nostalgic trip back to my youth!
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ESCI Scots Greys.
I think I managed the dappled grey of the horses, (although this pic doesn't help much)
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Now, I swapped the ESCI Scots Greys heads with British RHA tarletons, converted to make the Blues and the Reds Household Cavalry helmets.
But, don't be afraid! The RHA artillerists didn't lose their heads in vain, they got instead the Scots Greys oilcloth shakos and, after some further surgery, were converted to British field artillery.
Back in 1988 one couldn't find any suitable plastics for conversions than AIRFIX and ESCI.
I even made some British line dragoons, converting French cuirassiers helmets.
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Volley & Bayonet rules are offered for big battles in brigade level, especially when you have a second and third line of troops.
I want to thank once more Aris who introduced us to this system, posting the tables of the other three battles of Waterloo campaign we played, for which he so kindly provided the maps.
Quatre Bras
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Ligny
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Wavre
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I want to thank once more Aris who introduced us to this system, posting the tables of the other three battles of Waterloo campaign we played, for which he so kindly provided the maps.
Quatre Bras
I love the battlefield of all four battles [Q. Bras, Ligny, Waterloo and Wavre]. A dream that came true thanks to Aris, who created and provided all 4 maps
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That looks really great, why did you not use models for the woods in the same way as the buildings and bridges?
V&B is a great set of rules for battles of this size.
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That looks really great, why did you not use models for the woods in the same way as the buildings and bridges?
Thank you. The idea was to keep the terrain items as few as possible and give prominence to the map. A few houses for Ligny and Q. Bras, and one house for Hougoumont would be more than enough. We also used an item to designate the rivers at Ligny and Wavre, only because they were not so prominent in the map... As Aris said, this is not something we would like do in every game, but it gave us the feeling of been the main protagonists of the drama...
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I would like to second Miltiades on that. This is what we had decided when we played the four battles of Waterloo campaign on the real maps: To keep additional terrain minimal, so that to have the feeling of a tabletop simulation as if we were the actual generals. We didn't even put height elevations. (they could be clearly seen on the map). The only features we thought was essential to be put, were the buildings/villages to serve as main landmarks/victory points locations, bridges and rivers. In this context, letting the map as level and plain as possible, we could find small features and written names of lesser landmarks on the field, otherwise unknown and never mentioned on the regular maps we use when playing such a wargame. Personally, studying these blown up maps, I enjoyed the art of the cartographers of the period, whose technique of drawing straight, parallel lines and unvarying repeated terrain features, was impeccable! :)
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Ligny: French troops advancing to meet the Prussians (in the background)
A pic from ground level perspective.
The river marks the impassable terrain. Buildings mark the villages sitting astride the river, where the river could be crossed.
A simplified terrain, all what we needed to have an enjoyable game. Besides this, fields, roads and village names are already depicted :)
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Nice to see more people playing in 1/72
the map is a marvelous idea, altough the houses could have been bigger ;)
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Nice to see more people playing in 1/72
the map is a marvelous idea, altough the houses could have been bigger ;)
Couldn't be ;) as in Volley and Bayonet rules, there is a visual convention.
Each building represents a whole village (may house one infantry unit).
I'm not completely happy, but let's live with that.
Indeed, we have thousands of 1/72 figures from our youth, especially Napoleonic, with many conversions, as at these times it was impossible to find the wide range of troops of any nation offered nowadays... Back in 1989, I created a whole Bavarian army using French line infantry bodies and modified RHA tarletons!?!