Napoleon in Russia Project

[jonnymacbrown]

Just wonder what problem you have with Waterloo and Borodino, can't really understand how you can designated Waterloo battle & campaign as "fantasy scenarios", there surely can be different points of view to a battle & campaign but these views likely depend on the sources you chose to form your view, but I wonder on what source the view that they are fantasy is based on.

I posted this a while back but it's all too sadly true:
British and French deployments, as well as Prussian arrival routes are not based upon any known historical sources. It’s not like this information is hard to come by: Adkin's The Waterloo Companion is the best source for French (and other) deployments at Waterloo among others. Unfortunately HPS did not use John Tiller’s accurate historical scenario that he created for BGW; hence all historical scenarios in HPS Waterloo are a complete fantasy.

There is no doubt that Prince Jerome’s 6th Division launched the French attack at 1130 with an infantry assault and bombardment. A quick glance at the HPS historical scenario shows that 6th Division on the left is not anywhere near in position to attack anything, ensconced in a wood and more than 1000 yards away from the enemy. French 4th Division is on the right, on its way to someplace too; but who knows where? French IG is also on its way up the pike and French III & IV Cavalry Corps are not anywhere near where they were when finally deployed by Napoleon at 1130. In this historical set up, you are forced to attack the Hugomont orchid with Bachelu’s 5th Division, because the 9th and 6th Divisions are too far left and to the rear to do anything. In historical fact it was the 6th and 9th that led the initial II Corps assault with the 5th Division held in reserve. VI Corps is also too far to the rear and to the left; they were actually centrally located. This fact alone make the historical scenario completely wrong and impossible to use as an accurate simulation.

Prussian route of march is also madly askew; the first arrivals should be through Lasne, and not so far south. In this “historical” scenario everyone but the I Korps infantry and cavalry come on through Couture or south of there. This is clearly wrong as most arrivals marched through Lasne. It's all made up in the designer's own mind! The Prussians would and did take the more northern route through Lasne to avoid any possible interference from Grouchy. It’s all a fantasy, from a scenario designer noted for fantasy scenarios; and it creates insurmountable problems for any wargamer wishing to recreate a Napoleonic battle. In this ‘historical’ set up you are forced to begin moving everything at once, just to get into position to attack. In Napoleon’s actual deployments every unit in the French Army was in position to attack at 1130, or quickly assist the attack, without doing any addition movement. This is the essence of Napoleonic deployments and the game designer here didn't understand this and didn't care. jonny