Project Waterloo - A Change of Plan

Over the Bank Holiday I met up with Lee regarding his proposal to change the boards from 2 foot squares to four 6x4 foot boards to speed up set up at Joy and Six. This means the work on the smaller boards has stopped though we will use them for other games in the future but effectively they are a dead project for now. We are now back to modelling the terrain as close as we can to the actual battlefield rather than the fudging that would allow the boards more use for other games later.

We spent a couple of hours mapping out the boards and then over laying bases to represent the units that would be in play. This showed the scaling was a little out that allowed us to remap the boards again so that now the terrain will be a good fit to our troops base sizes and should really look correct when it gets played out. This has allowed us to move Hougoumont in from the edge by around two feet which will allow the cavalry to lap round the outer edge as they did in the actual battle and allows the orchard and woods to be better represented.

The new board length will be six feet by sixteen and now we have the boards laid out it's far bigger than I had in mind. For the actual battle about eleven foot is in play as such with the other five foot being rather vacant of troops (aside the odd battalion) until the Prussians make their appearance. Not that this part of the table will be a void as it has a couple of the places in the area that will be fought over later in the battle such as Frichermont all the way to the Bois De Paris woods. Plancenoit will also get a little more exposure as it will not be more than half off the table as the original plan called for.

All this is very positive and later than evening I received a text letting me know he had already sculptured the smaller hills. However it's starting to look like our chance of playing the game before the Joy of six could be put on hold though it still has a chance of happening. If not then July will be the first public sight of the table and figures set out in battle, no pressure then :-)

For the Joy of Six we plan to have the game set up showing an important stage in the earlier stages during the morning and then reset it showing the battle towards the end of the day, yes the Prussians will get to be on the table!!!