Two of our members here at Lancaster took part in what was described as the largest wargame ever (in 28mm), Rob for the Allies and Julian for the French, both put in a lot of time, effort and expense to take part in the extravaganza, including a trip to foreign parts north of Hadrian's Wall. Rob was holding around the village of Papelotte where he was credited with delaying the French until the Prussians turned up, he lost five of his twelve battalions doing so.
Here is Rob's story-
I have the honour of
contributing to George’s Blog as a Guest contributor to talk about how I came
to be involved in the recent Epic refight of Waterloo held at Glasgow
University on 15/16 June 2019.
It is strange how quirks
of fate set you on an unknown course of action. The local train service from
rural Cumbria to Lancaster is to say the least erratic and with a tendency to
cancel with no notice. To ensure you are able to get to a Hospital appointment
in time, you normally catch a much earlier train. However it does leave you
window shopping in Lancaster City Centre, not my favourite past time! So I
picked up a wargames magazine in W H Smith and settled down in a coffee shop to
read and kill time. I then stumbled onto an article by Dr Tony Pollard,
Professor of Conflict History and Archaeology at Glasgow University. In
wargaming circles, best known for his TV programme with Neil Oliver Two Men in
A Trench.
The article was talking
about the work His Archaeology team was doing on the Waterloo Battlefield but
in particular the way the Archaeology was being used as Therapy for Veterans
with PTSD. It went on to tell how they had accidentally started painting
wargames figures in the evenings and discovered its therapeutic benefits not
only to stressed soldiers but also to stressed out Archaeologists! It ended
with a massively stupid ambition, to refight the battle of Waterloo in 28mm
scale at a ratio of 1figure = 6 men. This would mean about 22,000 figures on
the table Then, I hurried off to my appointment.
But a seed had been sown
and in June 2018, the call went out for volunteers to provide units for the
refight which was rapidly moving from an ambition to a reality. It scared the
hell out of me to discover that each battalion would be made up of 72 figures
and I would need to provide three battalions. My painting skills are OK but 220
Infantry figures would be madness!! For four days I dithered and hesitated and
then discovered that the Commands were being snapped up. I thought this event is
unlikely to ever happen again and it would be an excuse to build that 28mm
Napoleonic army that I have always wanted. I Jumped ….and agreed to take the role of Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar the 23 year
old commander of the 2nd Nassau Brigade of the 2nd Netherlands
Division.
Rob, bottom right red shirt. |
A year later and I have
two huge boxes containing 3/2 Nassau Regiment, 1/28th and 2/28th
Orange Nassau Regiments and a battery of Dutch artillery and I am carrying them
into the Kelvin Gallery, the scene of the Two day refight….and I am one of over
a hundred players and umpires who have donated to the Waterloo uncovered
Charity, bought Polo Shirts and Dice and an army that most finished painting in
the week before the battle. I am also clutching Black Powder 2 , the chosen
ruleset.
The hall had four tables which were about 80’ long and 6’ wide.
the forces were placed in their historic positions at 1100 on 18th
June 1815. The wargamers took the role of Brigade commanders and each Brigade
had four regiments. The Brigadier provided three and a second wargamer provided
the fourth regiment. The Divisional Commander was a forces veteran, usually
with little wargaming experience and the wargamers role was to guide them in their
decision making. That was the plan anyway! The commanders of the 2nd
Netherlands Division came from Holland, Australia, the UK and Cumbria!
At the same time that the
battle was raging on the main floor the galleries above had historical re
enactors’, participation games, Archaeological displays and a very big Warlord Games presence so that public
visitors had other things to do than spot the bald heads of most of the players
It was a marvllous
experience, truly epic in scale and ambition. It was fantastic to meet so many
wargamers from so many countries. It also raised money for a very worthy Charity. I am so grateful
that I stopped dithering last June and jumped.
Red Polo shirts were the
Allied commanders. Blue the French, Green the Prussians, White the Umpires (many of
whom had flown in from Australia) and Light Blue the support
staff who were mainly students from the University acting as war correspondents
.
incroyable!
ReplyDeleteYou can find a series of videos here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQF7pvSm6Xw I believe BBC Scotland are doing a documentary but not sure.
DeleteThanks George, I really enjoyed looking at the video. If BBC does do a documentary please mention it on your blog
DeleteI will keep my ears to the ground John, I cannot watch BBC any more as I cancelled my licence in protest at their bias.
DeleteIncredible just about sums it up. What a tremendous experience.
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt it was a great weekend and the taking part must have been memorable.
Delete