Waterloo Battlefield visit

I was on a working trip to Brussels this week, and had a few hours of spare time on Friday. I knew exactly how to pass the time. I took a local train from Brussels and made the 20 kilometer or so trip to the Waterloo battlefield. 

The map of the battle from Wikipedia.

From the train station of Braine-l'Alleud it was just a 3 kilometer walk to "butte du lion", the huge observation mound / monument they built on the site of battle in 1820. It's interesting that the place started to attract tourists right after the battle and there's been a steady stream of people wanting to see the fields and the ridge themselves for nearly two hundred years now. 

The mound from the east.

View from the mound towards La Haye Sainte.

Apart from the nearly 50 meter high observation mound, there's a visitors center complete with a shop selling the kind of garbage you'd expect. You can view a short documentary on the battle there, as well as some scenes from the 1970 Waterloo film. There's a miniatures diorama of the battle which looked uninspiring. Also there's a small wax cabinet. 

The emperor seems glum.

Blücher.

Wellington's plumage is a bit droopy.

Bonaparte's death mask.

The best attraction built there is a panorama built in 1912. It's like an early 20th century action movie. There's a very detailed 360 degree painting of the battle with lots and lots of details complete with sound effects (added during renovation, I assume). Too bad there is some water damage on the painting, but the place is still in a remarably good condition.

The panorama building

Ney's cavalry charge in the panorama

The battlefield itself is quite well preserved compared to some I've seen. There's asphalt roads with plenty of cars on them, but they are on their historical lines. Other than that, the place is mostly just open field. The ridge line that was so crucial to the success of the Allies is easily seen, even though a good portion of it was used to make the observation mound. This was seen as tampering of the battlefield even in the old days and is said to have pissed off even Wellington himself. Still, you can just imagine British troops waiting nervously in cover as the French artillery shells whistle over their heads.

The field between the mound and La Haye Sainte. Ney and his cavalry charged right through here.

La Haye Sainte.

Facing east from La Haye Sainte. Uxbridge's cavalry charged through here.

A view from La Haye Sainte towards the French artillery position.

I looked at the field from the observation mound and walked from there to La Haye Sainte stepping on my way on the same ground which trembled under the hooves of both Frencg and British cavalry charges. I didn't have enough time to visit Hougoumont (which I think is closed for renovation anyway) or the French side of the field, but I think this was plenty. The battle had a profound impact on the European political map for more than a century to come, and I was pleased I had time to visit.

They're digging and building something over there. Maybe an underground parking lot for the anniversary?

During the trip I had plenty of opportunities to toast the men of Waterloo with some excellent Belgian beers.

WW2 Normandy demo table and first impressions of Rate of Fire

I've had it on the back of my mind for some years to do a small WW2 table and try out some small actions on it. One of my regular opponents plays Kampfgruppe Normandy (Published by the now dead and buried Warhammer Historical), and the obvious reboot by Kampfgruppe's author, Battlegroup Kursk. Not exactly designed for small actions, those rules. Still, I adopted the model scale from my opponent in hopes of gaining some synergy. 1/72 it is.

My WW2 bug was inflamed by the new Bolt Action rules, which I naturally had to procure. I got the book, read it through and wasn't terribly impressed. They seem fine, but there was something missing. Somehow pinning and machine guns seemed odd. I haven't tried out the rules, so I might be wrong. Anyway, I continued shopping for rules and bumped into Rate of Fire. The rules were available as a cheap PDF so I picked them up. Actually, they're on sale for three british pounds as I write this! I liked the rules. They seem to inherit a lot from Squad leader, without much of the complexity. The act of firing upon moving enemies as opportunity fire feels somewhat like Defensive Fire, there's rules for concealing troops under "?" -markers and so on. The size of the action seemed ok too. The ideal size seems to be a platoon per side, so I thought up a scenario set during the Allied invasion into Normandy between some Germans and US Paratroopers. 

Somewhere in Normandy...

A small stream separates the farm from the 88. Anyone crossing will be easier to hit.

Rate of Fire is recommended for a 6´ x 4´ table, but I made mine a small 3´x 3`, just to get enough space for a small skirmish between an understrengh paratrooper platoon and a larger but less prepared German platoon guarding a Flak 88. I didn't have quite as much time for the table is I hoped, but it came together quickly. Some paint layers are flatter than I wanted, proper hedgerows became trimmed hedges and the roofs of the buildings are textures printed on card. It still came out nicely to draw some attention from the boardgamers at Kinkkucon.

A view from the other side. You can barely tell I cheated on the roofs.

The objective. I was in bit of a hurry to paint this one too. Nothing really but a grey undercoat.

In the scenario, an entrenched German Flak 88 is shooting at allied aircrafts, and a nearby platoon of paratroopers still searching for their company after the jump decide to take it out. The trench has no other troops beside the gun crew, but the nearby farm is occupied by a platoon of German infantry. The first couple of turns are still dark, so LOS and movement speed are restricted. The Paratroopers enter from the table edge opposite from the Germans and the scenario ends when the 88 is taken out or either side breaks.

The paratroopers advance.

The games I played ended in US victory, even though the Germans have the benefit of good defensive terrain. The veteran status of the paratroopers seems to make all the difference when it comes to firing. A bit of tweaking on the scenario is required, but it makes for a good tutorial to those interested in miniature wargames.

A light machine gun provides covering fire from a knoll.

The paratroopers make a daring rush over to the trench, suffering casualties in the process.

A desperate last stand.

The Rate of Fire rules are quick to learn and seem to give plausible outcomes in infantry engagements. You don't want to go rushing into open ground when a stationary enemy is ready to fire, I tell you! I'm sure the concealment rules help bring some uncertainty and paranoia into the game when played on a larger table, but they weren't too useful on a small table like this. I recommend you get a PDF copy of the game, it has excellent value for your money! I picked up the AFV rules for the system as well. It will be interesting to see how tanks alter the equation.