Incredible Courage -100 Days - Waterloo.
As it's my birthday next month - Santa also delivered a copy of the above game.
Erratta : I mentioned previously that this Waterloo game had 8 mapsheets compared to the Wavre game which has 12. This was not my error as the particular website I took the information from did originally say 8 but they have changed this to 12 map sheets, and as I have the game - it definitely has 12 half map sheets.
Along with that are 12 countersheets comprising 2592 counters. There is a penchant for giving an approximation of the number of counters on the back of the game boxes; ( 2400 in this case ) and in the case of Ligny, there are 2800 counters , ( 2600, shown as approximately on back of box ).
This is , I suppose, not to scare " wargame weenies " who cannot take Monster wargames in their full descriptive form.
So, if you are going to go full hog and acquire all 4 battles of the 1815 Campaign, as I plan to do.......look away , " wargame weenies "; you will have - 52 half size map sheets and a total of - 7134 counters depicting the armies involved at company/squadron/section level.
Let's have a looksee at the battle-map done by Rick Barber. For the sake of repetition ; this is what an adult , I know what wargamers of the Napoleonic period want. No huge blank spaces and mostly featureless terrain; no hobbitown graphics for buildings......smooth, seamless integration of aesthetic coloration with eye friendly motif; and of course, greater detail without being overwhelming. Lovely.... !
The sins of the revamped Wellingtons Victory game are not reproduced here. Neither are the sin of the Tiller company level game of Waterloo.
The Incredible Courage Waterloo battle map has the Lasne ( river ) defile depucted in full. ( as did the original SPI Wellington's Victory ). Firstly, this presents the Prussians with a choke point which they had to navigate through, which gives a more realistic time delay detailing if you are playing lazily and god forbid, if the French have any troops nearby who could potentially block the Prussian Army for 2 -4 precious hours, which would be decisive.
I freaking hate Waterloo games which stop short in their maps with the Bois de Paris which allows the Prussians to arrive immediately in big chunks on Napoleons right; whereaas in real life, they were more staggered , tired and took time to wait and reform before moving ahead.
The French also have the possibility of deploying further west ; giving valuable time with terrain loss rather than troop loss, which does not happen if the right flank only depicts the Bois de Paris. ( which in itself gives the advantage to the Prussian player with defensive terrain if the French choose to attack )
All the main Chateau and farms are depicted nicely and you get cemeteries with rows of little graves and other small terrain touches. The town of Braine L' Alleude, north-west of the Chateau of Goumont is depicted in entirety; where the Dutch - Belgians had 2 divisions. You get all the main points and you do not feel hemmed in.
I believe that La Bataille de Mont St- Jean game had a single mapsheet to connect the battle of Waterloo map with their Wavre map game. Incredible Courage joins effortlessly the two battles which explains, not as I thought, that the Waterloo game should be bigger but that the Wavre game has to be the same size to account for the joining of the two battle maps ; not in a piddley one map section but the whole of the eastern section of Waterloo with Lasne to the large Wavre map, which is bigger than the Quatre - Bras map by a third. This is chunky stuff.
It is even possible to be more ahistorical with Gerard's IV Corps heading to aid Napoleon by intercrpting the Prussians on the road from Wavre to Plancenoit.
For the serious grognards - you could make your own mapsheets to link the road from Quatre - Bras to Waterloo and that from Ligny to Wavre. Nothing fancy - just to give a spatial dimension and more accurate time distillation effect. ( giving more opportunity to harass the allies on their retreat back from Ligny or Quatre - Bras ).
You can also use units that were left behind by Napoleon and his carriage personal guard are even depicted.
I am still overlooking the unit designations being printed in small lettering on the side of the counter...........however the drool bucket is still full to within one inch of the rim. If they change this anomaly for future games - then it will definitely overflow.
I do not find the individual battles intimidating but the whole 1815 campaign is a stretch. That is probably what Napoleon was thinking as he crossed at Charleroi.
.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes - my camera phone is crap..........! I only use it for making and receiving calls - it's very good at that.
The entire battle-map is too big to photograph............here is the town of Braine L' Alleude which is north west of the Chateau of Hougomont and the subsequent map edge. '
Here are the points of Rossomme ; Le Caillou and Maison du Roi............the southern edge of Napoleon's position and it is unforgiveable that some Waterloo games miss out one or two of these.
And above is an example of what my phone does best.....blue out the screen....Never mind....as can be seen.....you have the town of Lasne and the choke point of the defile.
So; if you have the Wavre game - the terrain continues westwards without the invisible barrier to the battle at the maps edge.
The river running south from Lasne and eventually below Plancenoit is forbidding to look at and to a degree nullifies movement with it's detail and coloration unlike SPI's Wellington's Victory game which was more simplistic.
This game is definitely a nod to the old SPI game in size terms.....which is good.
You cannot see from these diluted pictures the slope configuration/level colours,....... so as I have said before...there are no featureless terrain /blank , clear hexes as such.
Happy bunnies all round.
.
...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The good news is that once I have Wavre - it will be the first time in my life that I will be able to recreate the entire 1815 Campaign in board game terms- something I could only dream of in my younger days........If I was a teen now ; I would not be able to do so, as the prices are out of reach............so it is a twisted reality.
I did consider La Bataille........but I prefer the scaling and maps and having enough counters to sink the Titanic and above all ; having ahistorical options due to map linkages.
Wellington is going to get it....there will be a 50-50 chance that D'Erlon's Ist Corps will arrive a little bit late at Ligny but will bruise Blucher's Prussians more and there will be a 50-50 chance that Gerard's 4th Corps will flank the Prussians moving towards Wellington. This could happen somewhere south-east on the Waterloo map as there is enough room or more likely on the south-west of the Wavre map.
These maps are long enough in width............as historically; it's all a matter of good fortune and circumstance.
It begins with Quatre-Bras this summer.........losses for both sides will be transferred to the Waterloo battle and then the huge Ligny battle whose map is the same size as Waterloo and Quatre -Bras combined....Epic in scale, ...................as it should be.
.
I have a book on Ligny but nothing on Wavre...............Tick . Like his other books; they have more recent research and perspectives.
32 Books. Reasonable price......
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am going to say it...............This wargame battle map is the definitive map of the Battle of Waterloo.........La Bataille is second best. I do not say that with any pleasure or vindictiveness as La Bataille has done an amazing job with Napoleonic battle simulation over the years.
It's like looking at your wife/girlfriend and then looking at Eva Green and then looking back at your wife/girlfriend. It's called the silent acknowledgement that can never be expressed. The same thing with La Bataille.
.
So; the board wargaming,
Plan of Action is to play Quatre-Bras and Hurtgen Hell's forest this spring/summer. They both can fit on my main table-space. I get to grips with Quatre-Bras rules and gameplay and then I am good for Ligny later on in the year which occupies all the table space. With Hurtgen, I get the rules and gameplay into the brain cells and I am good to go for Atlantic Wall which unfortunately has to be rescheduled for Summer 2026, which means that Waterloo and Wavre have to be put back to late 2027. Time is always against you.
.
Decided to invest in some dice....these are a good size and I prefer them to spot dice. Blue for the French: Red for Wellington - the Duke of hiding behind hills and Black for the Prussians.
Once I have the Wavre Game - it's all go for the monumental 1815 Campaign at Company/ Squadron/ Section level.
.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
" Come in Houston - the Eagle has landed ". I have acquired the battle of Wavre- as it's by far the cheapest of the four battle games ( Grognard Simulations ) - I have added it to my Birthday Gift list.
It has 12 mapsheets; and one countersheet which is made up of markers.
It fits directly to the Waterloo battle map for a seamless movement of the Prussians from Wavre to Napoleon's right flank at Waterloo.
This is how the maps join up.
Much better than the La Bataille system that has a bunch of boxes which is not really seamless/realistic.
The Allied player has to put in the effort to move his forces with efficiency across roads and trails simulating the real situation rather than terrain box jumping which only simulates terrain box jumping...... Hmmmm !
Why be a Chipmunk brainer
when there is an alternative.
Box jumping in La Bataille games.
...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
( Dbl-click to enlarge ).
Preparations for the
Great Campaign 1815 are underway. I am really waiting for warmer and brighter weather. The Quatre-Bras mapsheets have been gummed down. ( I might gum down some of the Ligny mapsheets to give a more epic feel and maybe a French cavalry division might make a long diversion around Wellington's left flank , ostensibly for reconnaissance purposes and maybe hit the Allies with a surprise. Sending an Infantry Division would be too ahistorical and would be easily picked up by Allied cavalry patrosl;. giving them time to prepare ).
I did not opt for the plexi-glass option as the touch of the glass is cold and weird - I prefer the card stock feel. Anyways ; the dough I save can go on other stuff - say the 300 small plastic baggies I had to get.
The small printing on the unit designations means that I have had to label and place individual battalions in their own specific baggy. Saves a lot of time. I strongly recommend anyone to organize your units straight from the countersheet to the labelled baggies.
I have noticed that the French units are slightky easier to read from the Allied.
I also am not a big fan of the deployed artillery unit counters. Like , Napoleon - I like to know where my guns are - so a few old 6mm cannons come in handy for an atmospheric feel and ease of recognition - no mistaking them.
After seeing some online videos with people using small transparent colored discs - I also could use these for artillery definition or a myriad of other purpose. In a large game like Ligny - potential melee attacks can be designated easily.
Again - with the money saved from plexi-glass; I have instead, bought some grey velvet material to line a medium sized tray/box to use for rolling my numbered dice- for that professional , luxury feel. The days of dice knocking over counter stacks or falling off the edge of the table are long gone.
Wading through Grouchy's Waterloo book.......a lot of chapters dealing with the build up before Charleroi and first encounters with the Prussians .