Part one of our video battle report of Quatre Bras using General d’Armee rules. Over 1300 Napoleonic 28mm miniatures do battle for control of the vital Belgian crossroads in June 1815
Thanks so much for putting out this excellent video. I have watched both parts many times, and I don't get tired of it. Please do more of these games. I love these rules.
Always loved Napoleonic's. I can remember traveling from Mystic,Ct to Springfield Ma to play in a giant Column, Line and Square Napoleonic Battle. Battle of Dresden. I commanded the Old Guard on one of the tables . Lots of action on each of the three groups of tables. Hard to believe it was nearly 40 years ago.
Great video. One house rule we use is giving the side that lost the initiative roll on the previous turn a +1 to its new initiative roll to increase the chances of initiative changing sides during the game as it is a very powerful advantage in GdA.
The ability to seize initiative is already tilted by having simple plans and not overly complex one and by giving historically competent commanders extra ADC. It's not a house rule I'd favor but that's the beauty of house rules.
Amazing report, inspiring me to get through this mound of grey plastic. Also, technically it's not actually wrong to call Jerome 'Jerome Napoleon.' If you see any paintings from when he was King of Westphalia, the Guard du Corps have 'JN' embroidered in various places, for Jerome Napoleon. Of course the easiest thing is just to call him Jerome!
Really great show! Thank you for doing Quatre Bras!!! Would love to see more play of General d'Armee battles from you! Also, where did you get your blinds and casualty bases? I would love to add some of those to my own collection. Keep up the great work!!! Cheers!!!
Thanks for a great video and series would love to see more large scale Napoleonic battles, quick question, where do you get all the equipment you play with eg wound markers and dice bases you use for dice when allocating wounds, I’m new to the hobby and have just started out. Thanks again
David Lambert hi David. The wounded / casualties I’ve purchased predominantly from Perry Miniatures as the majority of my Miniatures are either Perry or Calpe with Warlord making up the remainder. I then simply glue them to 40mm Square cut MDF bases. I then obtain ‘Dice Frames’ and glue them to the bases also. The bases and dice frames I purchase from BATTLEFIELD ACCESSORIES here in Australia 🇦🇺. A google search should provide a link to their page
More of a ACW painter and gamer, but always enjoy watching Battle Reports of Napoleonics. It must be all the colorful uniforms. I thought I would give painting some Highlanders a try. The question I do have, did the Highlander Officers ever wear Tartan Trews & Kilts, or just the regulation (grey) trousers? Thanks for any info.
Lawrence Bateman they usually wore the simple Grey trousers of the line. I think only the officers of the Highland Light Infantry wore trews. That said, who’s to say. If you’re more interested in ACW I’ve just posted a couple of videos relating to that conflict
Looks good and clearly great fun,! Sore point, Prince of Orange was a competent and brave commander who, with his experienced staff, performed well at Quatre Bras and Waterloo as Wellington as contemporary sources acknowledged. Sadly English speaking historians have tended to be prejudiced and authors such as Cornwell do an outright character assassination on the Prince as well as portraying the Netherlands troops as untrustworthy or near useless only kept in position by the "brave" British. Oh dont' bother with the well quoted "square into line" incident, its been pretty well debunked.
Very enjoyable vid. Well done. However, I think you made a couple of errors with respect to the rules. First, the French columns were a massed target. The fact they are slightly echeloned does not help (there is a diagram showing this exact deployment). Second, with the respect to the Jagers in the Farm, they could have targeted the French columns on the front side because the French skirmish screen was too close to the columns to be effective. The first casualty would go on the skirmishers and the rest on the column. Keep up the good work. I look forward to your next game.
Kent Haryett hi Kent. The Columns are echeloned due to the fact the rear of the columns fired upon are in line with the front of the supporting columns. They aren’t ‘along side each other’. But I’ll consult to rules to confirm so thanks for your comments 👍 The Skirmishers need to be at least 3 inches in front to be effective at skirmishing the supported line. I know it looks like they are too close but they aren’t. The Brunswicker’s skirmish line is however too thick so we will fix that up. Thanks for your comments
@@CheckYourLeaderTV My pleasure. Great set of rules which resparked my interest in Napoleonics. You are absolutely right with respect to the skirmishers. They looked closer than 3" from the columns. I look forward to Part 2.
Dan Carson 👋 Dan These rules would work perfectly fine for the War Of 1812-14 and in fact the father set (General d’Brigade) has a scenario book which one of the scenarios covers a 1812 Battle,.. Bladensburg I believe (excuse the spelling). As for natives just class them as ‘Recruits’ but maybe give them a Melee bonus or ‘Foot Cossacks’ . Be imaginative 😉
I believe bounce through is applied irrespective of casualties on the target, it's intended to punish units that bunch up. Similarly having columns to close laterally will create a massed target, so extra CDs for that too!
@@CheckYourLeaderTV The rules do state on page 79 " Roll 'ONE' CD for EACH UNIT HIT." So if no units were hit then no CD. Firing ball could land short or go long and go over the head of all the units bunched up and even fall left it right of the target unit so hence if no casualties on the unit then no CD for the bounce-through.
Ricky Bell 👋. I was an Artilleryman for 32 years becoming a Master Gunner and Regimental Sergeant Major of the Artillery School as well as 3 Gun Regiments. I’m not 100% sure on the ruling but from a perspective of reality even if zero to very few troops in the targeted unit become casualties given the right circumstances (firm ground or undulating ground) it’s highly probable troops in following units will be hit. Ideally the guns will aim to have the rounds strike the ground a few meters before the target unit and have the rounds skip through the ranks.
Great game, looks fantastic. You keep forgetting your bound CD when shooting artillery at columns and you don’t need to check the status of the reinforcements, they just move onto the table on the turn they arrive., as they are scheduled not reserves.
Nick Jennings hi Nick. We’ve only had the Allied Batteries Fire French columns and each time we have rolled for Bounce Through where appropriate. Actually the first shot by the Nassau caused no casualties EXCEPT for a bounce through 😁
I think it was when you shot the other battery at the unit on the small hill. You get a bonus CD for artillery at columns and then 2 extra CD where columns are massed. I might have missed though as lots going on. Fabulous game though and very envious of the size of table for your 28s. Keep up the good work gents.
Nick Jennings Hi Nick The columns are ‘Massed’ columns only if there is another column beside it. If the columns are echeloned then they are simply in column. If shooting at infantry in column the shooter (Artillery or Inf Volley Fire) get 1CD OR 2CD if the target is Massed Columns. My understanding is the infantry can be either in Column OR Massed Columns but not both. If you look closely you’ll see that the French Column on the hill wasn’t ‘Massed’ with other columns. They were nearby but not along side.
First bit I skipped to, heard "Campi and Bachelu's brigades". Oh dear. Sounds like the Hisotry Channel. Oh no, you just said "Jerome's brigade". Dear oh deary me.
@@CheckYourLeaderTV Apologies. The Bois d' Bossu was not "open woods", it was quite dense. It's closer to the Brussels road and there is no hill to the west of Gemioncourt (the highest ground around is to be found at the crossroads itself. The angle of the roads is wrong and where are the settlements that where significant, such as Piraumont and Thyle? "Bashool's brigade". Do you mean "Bachelu" (Bash-e LOO) - if so, he was the commander of the 5th Division (not a brigade) and it was posted as the rightmost of Ney's three column attack. It's a game - it's just not the battle of Quatre-Bras I'm afraid. I could go on... Nicely narrated though, so I do feel a bit guilty for posting. It's a great place to visit - I've walked up that road and along to the east from the crossroads, down Picton's initial positions.
@@anthonyat2401 I toured the entire Area Of Operations in 2015. I’m aware that the Brigades are not named correctly,... they are named for the Divisions they belong to. I used the names as they were named in the scenario book they are from so it’s important I don’t confuse anyone following along from the GDA ‘100 Days’ campaign book. As for pronunciation,... I don’t speak French 😁 I’m sure I butcher their language unfortunately
What an impressive refight! Just a slight shame that the forest known as the Bois du Bossu plays no major part in the scenario. There’s a tiny piece of it on the French left but in the actual battle it saw some crucial action. Also the fields of wheat in the Allied centre, so tall they covered entire battalions, seem to have been forgotten.
I had considered giving some kind of benefit to troops being shot at to reflect that and also making the tests to respond to charges harder to pass due to 'surprise' but decided it would simply prolong the game for no real benefit.
Check Your Leader TV - Not at all easy to game tall crops, they certainly made it harder to ID friend from foe. I was thinking some kind of additional throw for the Allies making it harder to ID the nationality of approaching units (as happened numerous times in the battle). Units in any colour but red perhaps needing to be thrown for.
