Waterloo in 54mm

On Saturday I had the honour and pleasure to be able to take part in a re-fight of the Battle of Waterloo using 54mm-scale figures! Nearly 2,000(!) figures were used, and the whole thing was very well organised by leading members of the Funny Little Wars Yahoo Group (Tim Gow and Paul). We were lucky enough to be able to have access to a large lawned area in Central London, and this enabled not just the main battle to be re-fought, but also the battle between the Prussians and French at Wavre.

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I was one of the Allied players, and was in command of Hougmont and the right-wing. In the centre Brian Carrick commanded the main Allied artillery and the infantry just behind the main ridge, whilst on the left Conrad Kinch busied himself fortifying La Haye Sainte, the sandpit, and several farms.

I fully expected that the French would begin their assault on my side of the battlefield with an attack on Hougoumont ... so I garrisoned it with Light Companies from the Guards and Brunswick Avante Garde ... and some special troops from Canada, courtesy of Ross Macfarlane.

I needn't have bothered, as the only French troops that came close were French light cavalry (with some horse artillery), which gave the strong-point a reasonably wide berth.

In response I moved forward my light cavalry, which included (on the right) some of 'Kinch's Own' Hussars (in truth, the 18th (King's Irish) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Hussars)) ...

... one of whom could be seen to be swigging from a bottle that looked remarkably like a Guinness one!

Both side's cavalry then spent some time glaring at each other across the battlefield.

In the meantime, a large column of French infantry and artillery began to advance towards La Haye Sainte ...

... which was heavily garrisoned.

The French advance was slow ... possibly due to the rain that had occurred earlier that day.

Elsewhere French heavy cavalry was deployed ...

... and a large force of French infantry began to move forward in line, supported by columns.

In response, some British infantry formed up in line. (They were later to move into square and see off a French cavalry attack.)

The farms that Conrad Kinch had garrisoned with infantry and artillery were able to pour infantry and artillery fire at the advancing French.

Whilst the situation was developing in the centre and on the left, a large body of French cavalry appeared in front of my section of the Allied line.

They moved forward slowly but surely ... and I deployed my heavy cavalry in response.

The French shock themselves into line and both side's cavalry advanced, resulting in a massive melee.

By the end of the fighting, the Allied cavalry was thoroughly beaten and those that had survived the battle were withdrawn to safety. Their sacrifice was not in vain, and the remnants of the French cavalry were too blown to be of further use on the battlefield.

Whilst this was going on, the situation around La Haye Sainte was coming to a climax ...

... and in the sandpit a French cavalry charge overwhelmed the Riflemen stationed there.

At this point the fighting ended, and the umpires adjudicated that at that point in the battle, the French were winning by a narrow margin ... but that the arrival of the Prussians (they had held the French at Wavre and had been moving a large number of troops towards Waterloo for quite some time) was likely to sway the result against the French in the long term.