Could Napoleon have won at Waterloo? A live wargame in Belgium.

[Comassion]

Hi all!  Mark's Game Room took a trip to Europe to ask whether Grouchy's detached force could have saved Napoleon had it tried to march towards the battle rather than being held up all day by the Prussians at Wavre.  This is part 1 of a two-part video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12GsPI6LOWQ&ab_channel=Mark%27sGameRoom

[AKULA]

Just a suggestion, if you want to drive some flow to your YouTube clips, try adding a couple of photos or even a brief battle report, otherwise its just another piece of spam rather than adding anything to LAF 

[HESH]

Just to add that I am way more likely to want to view it too . It’s gonna be more attractive and stand out rather than just script. 👍

[vtsaogames]

Without viewing the video: maybe, maybe not.

Very aggressive command could have hit the Prussians on the march and forced them to fight before reaching Waterloo with anything but minor forces.

But Grouchy was in over his head. This was his first major independent combined-arms command. Davout or Soult would have been a better choice. Once Grouchy was in hot water, after finding out what had gone down at Waterloo, back to the wall, suddenly he led an excellent withdrawal. In games, sometimes I become dangerous after my initial blunder(s) leaves me in deep poo.

My answer is, led by Grouchy, no. Maybe II Korps would fight the rearguard action while Bulow and Zieten went on to fall on Napoleon's flank.

[Cubs]

My view has always been that you have to alter so many of the 'what if's for Napoleon to win, that Wellington himself would have just withdrawn and refused battle, or executed a fighting withdrawal to bleed Napoleon of veteran troops he couldn't afford to lose. All the while, more Allied reinforcements were on the way. But even if the French had won, then what? Were they going to beat everyone else closing in on France's borders? I think Napoleon losing at Waterloo saved France from losing a damn sight more sons in bloody and costly battles, which would just have resulted in defeat and occupation by different armies. 

[carlos marighela]

Just a suggestion, if you want to drive some flow to your YouTube clips, try adding a couple of photos or even a brief battle report, otherwise its just another piece of spam rather than adding anything to LAF 

Agreed but had they done so it would have just revealed a group of men in matching polo shirts on a jolly to Belgium with a  soporific voice over. Diazepam yield your ground! Had only they thought to arm themselves with Nerf guns.

OK that's a bit harsh as I understand the intent is to eventually game this with presumably a video of the game itself. Might have been better to wait for that and then throw this in as a 'bonus' showing the thinking behind the scenario.