Waterloo - Turn One

The battlefield at the start, looking north from behind the French lines

As usual I will write up the battle as it proceeds.

Artillery fire always comes first, and the French grand battery, aiming at the Allied infantry directly ahead on the ridge, rolls a 4. The score is increased by one thanks to the general of artillery being in the same hex as the battery, taking the total to 5, but is decreased by one because the target counts as being under cover (reverse-slope effect) and a further one because of the muddy ground, meaning a final total of 3 - two short of the required score.

We dice to see who moves first, and I win 4-3.

I start by ordering the reserves on the Allied extreme right to move into the empty hex to their right, and the order is correctly carried out.

I then order all the infantry corps commanders to move as far forward as the most-advanced division within their corps. However the order apparently does not reach I Infantry Corps around Hougoumont on the Allied right (I rolled a 2, but two had to be deducted because the corps, and specifically the corps commander, is six hexes distant from Wellington).

The same result happens with III Infantry Corps, even though its commander is in the hex adjacent to Wellington (I again rolled a 2, and since the minimum deduction is one, that meant a score of 1, whereas 2+ is needed for an order to be acted on).

The order did get through to the commander of V Infantry Corps, around Papelotte on the Allied left, and at the same time, also acting on my orders, the two further-back divisions of the corps advanced.

I gave no orders to the commanders of II Infantry Corps and IV Infantry Corps, who were already leading their corps from the front, nor to the cavalry corps, which I was happy to leave behind the ridge.

The advantage of having the corps commanders at the front of their troops is that they give a +1 combat modifier to troops in the same hex. But risk is involved as the loss of a corps commander means the army loses three strength points.

Napoleon orders his three left-flank infantry corps to advance on Hougoumont, but II Infantry Corps fails to budge.

He also orders the Imperial Guard to advance alongside his field headquarters at La Belle Alliance, but it too does not move.

Similarly, the French right-flank infantry corps are ordered to form up in single hexes and move to their left, but these orders also somehow fail to get through - evidence of apparently shoddy French staff-work.

Situation at the end of turn one, with the French left-flank closing on Hougoumont