Waterloo - Another Go At D'erlon's Attack (Part 2)

 The French columns have started to engage the whole of the allied lines 

The Dutch Belgian line is beginning to buckle

If they break, cannister awaits the French columns

La Haye Sainte is being besieged on three sides

My (very) vintage Hinton Hunt fusiliers taking on Kennington riflemen masquerading as KGL

The grand battery is able to fire off some shots where gaps appear between the columns

                         

No breakthrough yet

The 95th rifles are beaten back from the sandpit 

The  Austrian and Russian attaches in the middle of the cross roads stand their ground! (or I forgot to move them out of the way!) 

Alten's men start to advance in support of the beleagured defenders of LHS. 

The rest of the allied line still looks strong despite the rupture at the crossroads

Lots of melees to resolve!

A Dutch battalion has been beaten back behind Best's Hanoverians 

Picton's troops in line on the road and ready to receive

Will Kempt's brigade plug the gap in the centre?

At this point in the battle half of Quiot's Division are bogged down at La Haye Sainte but the rest are breaking through at the cross roads. Donzelot's Division are looking very threatening to their right. Marcognet's Division are less cohesive but are still a danger on the right wing.

The conclusion in the next post.

Waterloo - Another go at D'Erlon's attack. (Part 1)

 After my first restaging in January I quickly decided to do it all over again! I still had a lot of victorious allied troops on the table and it seemed a shame to put them back in their cabinets so soon. This time I wanted to better represent the strength of the French line battalions. I could just about field the number required using the remainder of my French line collection plus a couple of stand ins.   

To speed up the game I put all of the now augmented French Line battalions on the table from the start. This stretched their frontage beyond the grand battery which was already deployed. 

  

. Young Guard tirailleurs in the foreground were rebadged as line. 

En avant!

The starting positions viewed from the French lines

Quiot's columns starts to engage with the KGL in the La Haye Sainte orchard

At the top of the picture Marcognet's men are being staggered by artillery fire

Alten's KGL represented again by British figures

The disruption to Marcognet's columns from gun fire is evident to the right

The Dutch Belgians holding firm at the moment

Alten's Division have moved into line along the ridge in anticipation of an infantry assault

The French columns fast approaching the allied line. Quiot's troops are behind the rest due to manouvering around La Haye Sainte  

 

Surely the French Columns must succeed this time!

But this is what faces them

Melees begin across the line

The effects of allied artillery can be seen by lack of cohesion of the columns on the left and right of the picture. The Dutch Belgians are the first to meet their foes.

See how they get on in the next post.