Quatre Bras 16 June 1815

This was a game I'd been wanting to do for some years but never had enough figures to create the desired spectacle. I was finally able to set it up at the beginning of 2024 but several units still had to masquerade as regiments that actually took part and some recycling of casualties was planned (these are noted on my Order of Battle).

 A 1990s refight featured in one of the well known wargame magazines gave me some ideas of how to set up my own version. I also read through "The Battle of Quatre Bras" by Mike Robinson plus various other sources which got me in the zone. Due to space limitations I decided to feature the action around the Farm of Gemioncourt, Bossu Wood and the village of Quatre Bras itself.

 I spent a lot of winter hours making up strips of crops to represent the high rye fields as these featured a lot during the battle where they hampered both movement and visibility. For the terrain I fashioned a new crossroads section using the reverse of my Hex terrain tiles. A hot wire foam cutter and pots of acrylic mud (a new medium for me) recreated the rutted roads. Although the hex terrain has some really good hilly sections they did not represent the undulating landscape I wanted and which was typical of the battlefield. I settled on some low hills made from packaging offcuts (not as pretty but functional). 

I did not make any move by move notes for this game as it was entirely for my own gratification so hopefully the photos and notes over the next few posts will suffice. 

Quatre Bras Order of Battle

FRENCH C in C Ney Second Corps – Reille 5th Div -Bachelu 4 line battalions represented by: Young Guard voltigeurs portraying line regt Young Guard tirailleurs ditto 21st Line 25th line 28th line 6th Div – Jerome Bonaparte 13 line battalions represented by:  45th Line 46th line 54th line 55th 105th 17th 19th 51st Lt infantry 85th 8th 29th 95th 9th Div – Foy Represented by: Line fusiliers Swiss 2nd Saxon Lt inf Voltigeurs 2nd Cav Div – Pire Guard Chasseurs a cheval - portraying line 3rd Chasseurs a cheval 3rd cheval leger lanciers 4th cheval leger lanciers 2nd corps artillery: 5 foot batteries 1 line horse battery 3rd Cavalry Corps - Kellerman 1st Cuirassiers 4th Cuirassiers 7th Cuirassiers Grenadiers a cheval (portraying Cuirassiers) 1st Carabiniers 4th Hussars portraying carabiniers 2nd Dragoons Empress Dragoons portraying 7th dragoons Horse Artillery of the Guard Foot battery ( portraying horse)

ALLIED C in C Wellington 1st Corp Prince of Orange 2nd Netherland Div – Perponcher 1st Nassau 2nd Nassau 35th Belgian Jagers 12th Dutch Line 7th Belgian line 27th Dutch Jagers 5th Dutch Militia Prussian Landwehr Elbe – as militia Prussian Landwehr Silesia- as militia Artillery: Netherlands Foot Battery Prussian foot battery – as Netherlands 2nd Netherlands lt Cav Brigade – Van Merlen Dutch Carabiniers as Belgian light dragoons 7th Hussars as 6th Dutch Hussars 5th Anglo Hanoverian Div – Picton 1st Royal Scots 28th N. Glos 32nd Cornwall 27th as 44th 42nd Black Watch 79th Cameron 92nd Gordon 95th rifles Hanoverian Landwehr 21st Portuguese as Hanoverian Landwehr Spanish Line as Hanoverian Landwehr Prussian volunteer Jagers as Hanoverian Landwehr British foot battery: Spanish as Hanoverian Battery Brunswick Div – Duke of Brunswick Prussian line as 1st Line 2nd Line Prussian line as 3rd Line 1st Light Avant Gd as 2nd Light Tyrolean Jagers as 3rd Light Leib Btn Oels Jagers RHA as horse battery Foot artillery Brunswick Hussars Prussian Uhlans as Brunswick 3rd Anglo Hanoverian Div – Alten 52nd as 30th 71st as 33rd 69th S Lincs Belgian Jagers as 73rd Highlanders 60th rifles as Hanoverian landwehr Prussian Gd Grenadiers as Hanoverian Landwehr 27th Jagers as Hanoverian Landwehr 12th Dutch as Hanoverian Landwehr Prussian 2/18th as Hanoverian Landwehr Artillery: British battery British Battery as KGL 1st British Div - Cooke 1st Gds (2 btns one as any removed casualties) 2nd 1 btn ditto 3rd ditto Artillery: Brit foot battery (use any removed casualties) KGL foot battery (ditto)

For this game the French aim was to capture the strategic crossroads at Quatre Bras. All French were committed at turn one except: Kellerman's two dragoon regiments (turn14); two cuirassier regts, and two horse batteries (turn 16). The Allies, initially in the form of the 2nd Netherland Divison, had to hold them back until reinforced by Van Merlen's cavalry (turn7), Picton's Anglo Hanoverian (turn 8) Duke of Brunswick (turn 9) Alten's Angl-Hanoverian (turn 10) and Cooke's British (turn 14)  

The starting positions to the South of Quatre Bras. Gemioncourt Farm in the centre ground. Massed French troops prepare to advance against the thin line of Dutch Belgians. 

The view from the West.

French forces move forward. Artillery move forwards to higher ground and begin to bombard the defenders of Gemioncourt. 

The farm model comprises elements of Airfix La Haye Sainte and their country Inn (a 70s survivor heavily modified)  

French are taking some casualties from Netherland batteries

French Line move into Bossu Wood in the distance. This will prove to be hotly contested. 

Nassau & Dutch contingents prepare to slow the advance.

Hinton Hunt Netherlands artillery defend the stream crossing 

The battery on the hill comprises Hinton Hunt crew and Newline guns.

Dutch Belgian reserves begin to move forward through Quatre Bras

A view of the entire field of battle. At the far left Kellerman's cavalry. At the top Jerome Bonaparte's Div move steadily through Bossu Wood and take the stream bridge. In the middle ground the 35th Belgian Jagers hold out in the farm of Gemioncourt while the the rest of Perponcher's Division retreat over the stream faced with the overwhelming French forces.  

  

Hinton Hunt Young Guard Voltigeurs portraying one of Bachelu's Line Regiments. 

A Hinton Hunt French General leads the 5th Infantry Division

Hinton Hunt 27th Dutch Jagers have taken casualties but stand firm behind the stream and await the first of Bachelu's infantry.

Hinton Hunt Light Infantry Voltigueur's portraying 4th Light of Foy's Division move past Gemioncourt.

In the next post: The French advance continues and the first of the Allied reinforcements arrive.

"Remainder to Follow Soonest"

So said the compliment slip from Marcus Hinton c1974.

Now I've great admiration for Mr Hinton in terms of his sculpturing abilities and his vast range of figures. He has also given me endless pleasure for the last 50 years or so collecting, painting and gaming. I'm not the first however to comment on his rather disorganised mail order service. Still, for every cloud there is a silver lining and, in my case I received double the amount ordered on a few occasions after chasing him up. I would have loved to have met him.... a great British eccentric by all accounts.

 Like many of my contemporaries I was converted to metal figures and Hintons specifically after being frustrated with the limited range of plastic Airfix Napoleonics (Highlanders and Cuirassiers anyone?).  Hinton Hunt advertised in Military Modelling magazine so they were the chosen ones to expand my forces.  However Hintons came with the "exorbitant" price tag of 9p for a foot figure and 18p for mounted (approximately £1.50 and £3.00 in todays money) This stretched my pocket money budget somewhat especially if I was to follow Terry Wise's recommendation in "Introduction to Battle Gaming" of 27 figure battalions and 12 figure cavalry regiments. 

If only my pocket money would have stretched to "Bulk Prices"

 So my collection began in dribs and drabs which, if memory serves me correctly, started with French Grenadiers of the Old Guard. I remember being somewhat disappointed at the amount of flash and large mould plugs on the bases. Luckily my Dad was a metal worker so had a handy collection of files which were great for levelling the bases but not so much for the finer work required!

The first of many.

An advert in Military Modelling c1972 took me 70 miles or so to Deal where I had relatives, to buy some unwanted Hintons. I called into an old cottage near the sea front where the collector and his wife lived. He was a very kind and informative man and looked very old but was probably my age now (a sobering thought). I came away with some French line infantry, Russians and Tyrolean Jagers.  I recall turning down some French dismounted Dragoons including horse holders, probably due to lack of funds. About the same time, I ventured North across the river from my home in North West Kent to visit the Hinton Hunt shop in Camden Passage. I know now that it wasn't Marcus Hinton who served me having seen his photo and the Pathe News clip featured on the excellent Hinton Hunt Blog). I was very pleased to pick up some British Line infantry and was disappointed that I couldn't afford more. Fast forward a couple of years and my personal wealth had improved considerably when my first pay packets started rolling in. I was then able to begin to collect in earnest by mail order as the Hinton Hunt shop had closed by then. French Guard Grenadiers, Guard Chasseurs, Guard Artillery, Line Infantry, Lancers of the Guard, British Line, Rifles, Highlanders, Royal Field Artillery, and Scot's Greys were bought in quick succession. I also meticulously recorded every purchase and serial number, for reasons I can't remember, and have continued to do so ever since in the same notebook. 

The 45th Line containing some of the oldest vintage figures in my collection. I had no idea about grenadier or voltigeur companies when these were painted. Company pom pom colours were added when I got hold of a copy of Renee North's "Regiments at Waterloo"

You just don't get letters like that nowadays with your order...the handwritten note reads "very much regret the long delay due to illlness and staff shortage".

French Line 1807-12 painted with the aid of the souvenir magazine accompanying BBC's "War and Peace" . I'd yet to buy Funcken's "Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars".

Chasseurs of the Guard. The Eagle Bearer has mislaid his bearskin and wears a shako (HH didn't produce a Chasseur Eagle bearer). My painting guide for these was from a single illustration in Renee North's "Military Uniforms 1886-1918" so they are forever blessed with bright green plumes.

Two of my four gun Guard Foot artillery (I actually ordered two!). All my early figures were painted with Humbrol gloss enamels - later varnished with matt (sorry all you gloss fans!) 

The Red Lancers....thankfully Funcken had now graced my bookshelves.

The complete early 1970's French collection with a couple of later interlopers (the terrain is a section of my scratch built Waterloo layout) 

The British 1st Guards some of whom came from the HH shop in Camden passage. Still no light or grenadier companies for these chaps

The 69th Foot. These poor fellows remained unpainted until about 1990 but at least have grenadier and light companies! 

The 92nd Gordon Highlanders. Notice the absence of the King's colour which was not produced by HH. I had no thought of converting in those days but was probably hopeful that a King's colour would be on the next production list (it never was). 

The 42nd Black Watch. If you have seen the illustration in Funcken you will know why the kilts bear no resemblance to the Black Watch tartan

Royal Field Artillery 

I think I bought four guns and crews to equal the unexpectedly swollen batteries of French Guard Foot artillery 

The riflemen in the sandpit are my originals painted with the darkest humbrol green available at the time. Their Clayton compatriots to the rear had the benefit of the Humbrol authentic range which did a good rifle green.  

There are twelve Tyrolean Jagers among this group including the Officer and horn player which were bought from the kind chap in Deal. The rest are lucky ebay finds misdescribed as Rose Miniatures. I've no other Austrian troops but always liked their appearance (and they can double up as Avant-Garde) 

The Royal North British Dragoons later to be joined by the rest of the Union Brigade courtesy of Clayton.

The British & allied contingent form up on the Mont St John crossroads (minus "Wellington's tree"). I think I'm due to get the rest of the terrain out of the loft and try another refight.

 

So ended my first phase of collecting. When I relocated to Deal in 1989 I found I had time on my hands to resume collecting. A plea published in one of the wargame magazines at the time brought a handful of figures from collectors in the USA and Australia. Then to my delight I received the address of David Clayton/Elan Enterprises, who had bought the HH moulds. Two bulk buys from him and another large second hand purchase from John Tuckey, a notable West Country wargamer, together with my vintage figures form the majority of my HH collection today.

You can see much of my collection in action on my next post which will be my Quatre Bras refight from last year.    

French 1st Line

I thought this might be my final Hinton Hunt French battalion so I decided, with some irony, to represent them as the 1st Line. However, I now find I do acually have enough troops to cobble together another one. I'm tempted to paint them as one of the French foreign regiments, still that's for another day and future post.

The 1st line were present in many actions since their formation in 1792 but according to my trusty "Napoleon's Regiments" they only had one battle honour which was Wagram. As I hand paint all of my flags this came as some relief as I could actually read the finished lettering!

My passion has always been the Waterloo campaign. My imagination was fired by many visits to Dover Castle as a youngster where Siborne's battlefield model was displayed for many years. In most cases I have therefore based my collection around regiments that took part in that campaign. The 1st Line appeared at both Quatre Bras and Waterloo as part of Reille's Corps. At Waterloo they were engaged in the fight for Chateau Hougoumont brigaded with 2nd Line in Prince Jerome Napoleon's Division and commanded by Brigadier-General Soye.

The figures used are: FN 07a Fusilier marching, FN16 Voltigeur in greatcoats marching, FN11 Officer in great coat charging and BN90 British Light Infantry Officer (converted to Eagle Bearer)

Although my Hinton Hunt French Line battalions now number 11 (inc 1 Swiss) they all differ in appearance and composition in some way. I don't usually mix greatcoated troops in the rank and file but as I had a lot of reasonable copies of FN16, courtesy of ebay, I decided to break the habit of a lifetime.

The Eagle Bearer was a copy of a British Light Infantry Officer also bought via ebay which came with a French grenadier head stuck on! I didn't realise what he was until I started painting when some of the detail became more evident e.g. a waist sash and shoulder wings. As the moulding was not pronounced I decided to press on and use some artistic licence. I found a couple of pictures of early revolutionary soldiers with tricilour sashes (and one of Napoleon) so I've given him one rather than file and paint it out. I think he captures the spirit of a fervent officer/NCO who has just picked up the flag from a fallen comrade perhaps. 

FN16 is in1807-12 uniform which is a little bit of a mismatch with the1812-15 fusiliers. That said I don't suppose they all got their new uniforms in 1812! 

I have favoured scenic bases for 30 years or so having been swayed by some of the magnificent examples in various wargame magazines. Mine are a bit different than most in that for the past 25 years they have had some actual soil from Waterloo mixed in with the scenic scatter. I picked up a handful opposite La Haye Sainte during my last visit to the battlefield in 2000 with the Waterloo Association. (How sad is that!!)

Ligny: The Conclusion

 

The 55th Line, supported by newly arrived 1st Grenadiers of the Guard, prepare to volley at weakened Brunswick Oel Jagers and 2nd Line as they continue to move on St Amand.

Meanwhile at Ligny, Prussian and Belgian reserves attempt to intercept French forces moving in from the West.  Leading the advance are the Prussian 1st Regt of Guard Grenadiers (probably Clayton produced Hinton Hunt, and bought second hand in 1997). 

 

The Marines of the Guard have now arrived at the brook to lend their weight to constructing the pontoon. The Young Guard to their right wait to assault when the bridge is in place.

The valiant defenders of Ligny prepare to receive another attack. The French command has not yet called upon Guard support but is relying on the fresh offensive from the West to weaken the defenders' resolve

The 2nd Grenadiers of the Guard march towards their Prussian foes

The Oel Jagers have been seen off and now the position of the Prussians and their allies looks perilous across the battlefield.

Turn 21 and the Prussian 2/3 Line have been broken at Ligny by the Guard horse artillery. With resistance at St Amand all but over, relentless pressure by Gerard's Division at Ligny, and the increasing threat of the French Guard, the Prussian & Dutch Belgian army reaches its breaking point and is forced to withdraw to fight another day. 

Arriving to oversee the victory, the Emperor and his staff

                                                                                                                          

This was a very enjoyable game with some similarities to the actual battle phases, particularly the prolongued fighting in Ligny village. I recommend Andrew Uffindel's  "The Eagle's Last Triumph" which has a stirring and detailed acount of the action.  

Ligny Part 6

Turn 13 and the Old Guard Grenadiers and Chasseurs are ordered to move on St Amand  

The Young Guard Voltigeurs, Tiraillleurs and Marines of the Guard also make their move in the middle ground now the danger of casualties from artillery is receding.

French Line continue to press home the attack on Ligny while batteries in the foreground have all but removed the opposing artillery menace.

Turn 16 and the Guard Horse Artillery move into St Amand with the aim of bombarding Ligny from the West

Saxons back up their French allies to stem the advance of the Brunswickers who are still attempting to retake St Amand.

Turn 18 - Prussian and Dutch Belgian reserves move to attack French columns advancing towards Ligny from the West

Meanwhile the Saxons find themselves facing the Brunswick Leib Battalion after the French front line has been broken. 

Now, there is no mention of pontoons being used across the Ligny brook but, as my "brook" is wide enough, and this is not an accurate historical refight, I couldn't resist the opportunity to introduce a Paper Boys model. The caisson is doubling up for the pontoon transport. One element in place determined by the throw of a dice (no Shako rules for pontoons so a D6 throw per element will do!). 

The Brunswick counter attack has destroyed the valliant Saxons. The Leib Battalion temporarliy move back to lick their wounds while their Oel Jager compatriots take up the struggle. They are faced by yet more French Line who are now supported by the Guard. (The Oel Jagers are mixed HH vintage and copies with flag bearer conversions using my usual wine bottle foil method) 

The Guard Horse Artillery start to barrage the defenders of Ligny from the West.

At the end of turn 18 The French have lost 6 out of 8 line battalions at St Amand and the Prussian/Brunswick 4 out of 7. The French however have 4 Guard Battalions in hand. 

At Ligny The French have lost 5 out of 12 line with Prussian/ Dutch Belgian at 3 from 10. 3 French Guard battalions remain in support. All French batteries are intact. Prussian/Netherland artillery has been destroyed. Much will depend on impending melees. 

Next time....the conclusion