The Battle of Quatre Bras 1815

 Last weekend, I was playing a multiplayer game of the Battle of Quatre Bras at the Veterans Hub in Glasgow. We essentially followed the scenario outlined in the Black Powder: Albion Triumphant supplement. The game was played on a 12' x 8' table, which enabled more approach moves, though it posed a few challenges in reaching the units around the centre of the table where the key actions were fought. The terrain base was a printout from a map drawn using Inkarnate.

The Battle of Quatre Bras was fought on 16 June 1815. It was an early clash in the Hundred Days Campaign in which Wellington’s Anglo-Allied forces held a crucial crossroads against repeated attacks by Marshal Ney’s French army. Though the Allies were initially outnumbered and pushed back, steady reinforcements allowed them to stabilise the line and prevent the French from seizing the position. The battle ended without a decisive tactical victory. Still, Wellington’s successful defence kept his army intact and able to retreat in coordination with the Prussians, making Quatre Bras a key prelude to the Battle of Waterloo two days later.

This was the initial setup, with Bylant's Dutch-Belgian Brigade holding the crossroads, including a small Dutch militia battalion at the Germioncourt farm in the foreground.

This peaceful scene was soon ended when Ney arrived with Bachelu, Foy, and Pire's Divisions. Picton's Division starts to come on the Allied base line.

I was playing Jerome Bonaparte, and my division arrived on the next turn (bottom right). We agreed, most unhistorically, that I would force my way through the woods and advance on the Allied right flank. Given the Allied reinforcements, a flank attack wasn't going to succeed, but it should drag Allied units from reinforcing the crossroads. The problem was that there was no cavalry, and you couldn't take the guns through the woods. 

The Dutch militia didn't run away from Germioncourt farm and held on for most of the game. They also held up two batteries of guns that were sorely needed elsewhere.

The French were in dire need of competent military police to clear the many roadblocks, as finding space to deploy the divisions became challenging. Too many troops ended up in the woods fighting an inconclusive skirmish. However, significant forces managed to fight through the first Allied line and engage in a grim battle of attrition over the crossroads and the Allied left flank.

The arrival of the French cavalry stretched the Allied line even further.

Jerome's Division got through the woods and made a bold advance, aggressively taking on the Allied line. Sadly, the dice gods abandoned me at this stage (or instead, they switched allegiance), and the attacks were repulsed. However, they kept Alten's Division busy and a chunk of the Brunswickers.

By the end of Day 2, both sides had reached the crossroads, and on the victory points, it was a narrow Allied victory. The French were running out of steam, so pretty much as the historical battle went. 

We used Black Powder with some house rules, which the Veterans Hub uses. In Glasgow, we don't use the disordered rule (hit on a D6), as it slows the game and, as happened to me several times, French columns end up disorganised without losing a casualty. Otherwise, it worked well, and a good time was had by all.