Battle of Waterloo Diary
Here is a war diary documenting an epic encounter at the alternate Battle of Waterloo. This battle is available in the FREE Imperial Guard DLC for Napoleon: Total War!
Battle of Waterloo
June 18th, 1815
The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
When Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, leader of the allied forces, came up against the might of Napoleon’s army, it was with a very real belief that the engagement could be truly decisive. This was to be the battle to end all battles, a red letter day in history, and a moment for heroes to be made. The Napoleonic Wars were coming to an end.
In Napoleon: Total War, gamers had the option to play as France in this key battle and, with it, change the outcome of history. Now, with the release of the Imperial Guard Pack, players have the option of commanding the allied army and condemning the pesky Frenchman to his exile once and for all. It was a challenge I found too hard to resist.
So here I stand, on the Brussels road, south of Waterloo. Most of my army is assembled on the reverse slope. There they will be relatively safe from Napoleon’s deadly artillery. The rest of my army is at Hougoumant on the right, with Jaegers hidden in the orchard. I also have units in the centre and on my left. It’s crucial I hold these armies; they will dictate the flow of battle.
Napoleon’s artillery is truly deadly, so I will do my best to stay out of their reach and neutralise them as quickly as possible. I’m hoping Prussian reinforcements arrive at some point, so if I can win the numbers battle until then I’ll be happy.
“Our men are running, sir!”
I’m not winning the numbers battle.
My rifles are starting to get chewed up by the advancing, deadly French fusiliers of line. They know it’s all or nothing and are advancing with great impetus. I order my rifles to occupy the nearby building, hoping to lure the French to my position. My defences are all set up around the ridge surrounding the house, so if Napoleon’s men are drawn to that location, they’re likely to take a pounding. Sadly, they’re not having any of it.
If this battle is going to be won, and if my men are to stand tall, then I need to take positive action. Sitting back and letting the French artillery have their way is going to be suicide – and I cannot simply rely on Blücher’s tired Prussian soldiers to come to my aid. I expect they’ll join the battle from the other side of the field, so their presence is unlikely to protect my front lines – if they even arrive at all.
I take the initiative. I group some of my cavalry under the leadership of the Earl of Uxbridge and order them to flank the advancing French fusiliers. Preoccupied with their advance, the French barely have time to turn face-on to my cavalry when they are hit hard. Their units immediately suffer a huge morale dent as my experienced troops send fusiliers flying through the air.
Having neutralised the threat of the fusiliers, I turn the Duke’s attention to Napoleon’s 8 and 12lber artillery. Onward they rush, and manage to deal some damage to the cannon. Napoleon responds by sending his lethal Dutch guard lancers to intercept the cavalry. Weakened by canister shot, my good Duke crumbles under the French attack.
The Duke has done well, though. He’s eliminated the fusilier advance and disabled two French artillery units.
Onward come the Dutch guard, and my defences must quickly adapt. I march my finest foot soldiers down the hill to face the oncoming French and form square as they begin their charge. Almost impenetrable to the cavalry, my foot soldiers hold firm. The Dutch lancers begin to rout and opportunity begins to knock.
“CHARGE!!!”
Not before Michel Ney himself starts his charge, however. His powerful cavalry unit makes short work of one of my scuttling line infantry units, which was desperately trying to reform after a heavy artillery bombardment. Bringing a unit of lethal Empress Dragoons alongside him, Ney moves up and turns his attention to my now-advancing foot soldiers.
I form square again, but not quite in time. Ney’s charge deals a great deal of damage to my men and they start looking like they might rout. I respond by bringing the Duke of Wellington himself into the fore. I hover over the inspire and rally buttons, eagerly awaiting the advance of Wellington’s general’s aura. Wellington reaches the front just in time, and my troops receive a huge morale boost, spurred on by the Duke’s presence.
As the rain begins to fall, the Prussians join the battle. It’s suddenly looking grim for the French, and Napoleon himself. Still, however, he comes. Using all of his remaining units, Napoleon charges the Prussians, leading the line personally.
Meanwhile, I recover any units I can to take out the remaining French artillery, which is still raining down terror on my lines.
Blücher prevails, Napoleon falls. As the general falls from his horse, I sense he knows his empire has fallen. What will become of him now is down to the top brass, but I’ve done my job and, after a long and hard battle, consider him defeated.
He was a man after all.
Well done, nice little narrative.
Posted by Scott on March 31st, 2010 at 2:53 pm
sounds great. maybe units like empress dragoons could be added to original Waterloo too.
Posted by John on March 31st, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Has in my country says or 8 or 80 , France is unstopable now …do you guys really played it in gold dificulty ?
Posted by Pedro on March 31st, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Steam is a complete CATASTROPHE – I thought I was buying a game from the Creative Assembly, instead I have this invasive, crash prone ‘Game is Unavailable’ error proned ‘service’
NEVER again – that is the last time – I see Steam involved – it is a deal breaker.
Posted by John on April 1st, 2010 at 11:31 am
When I played the Battle of Waterloo as the British, it was a brutal battle of attrition. It came down to five units. A British artillery company, a Prussian artillery company, two French horse artillery companies, and Napoleon. Wellington was killed off earlier. The AI wouldn’t charge Napoleon, so it ended up as a lobbing duel between the artillery units. I finally prevailed after killing Napoleon and the remaining French gave up and ran.
Posted by Col. Sharpe on April 6th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
nice job i love total war games
Posted by harland555 on April 7th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
In this time I have not ideas for critical remarks. I wish to tell thanks МС. Napoleon TW is a maximum of the balance detween interests of the buyer and the technological level СА.
It is interesting: that to happen then…
Posted by Sargon-1 on April 8th, 2010 at 10:59 am
real nice ever thought of making a video post of it
Posted by matt on April 12th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Ok, I have my own journal entry, it was a battle between only two units: Napoleon and The Duke of Welington:
I arrive at the battle knowing both Napoleons army as well as my own have been obliterated, but we made sure so was the Ottomans who attacked us. Napoleon and I have made an agreement 1 on 1 in the battle field his 24 horse men and my 24 horse men with us both being one of them. I quickly gain the high ground and wait for him. After waiting for five minutes i went looking for him. Almost immedietly when i was off the high ground we were flanked by his calvarly. They were in the trees the whole time! I quickly see 3 of my closest friends fall but we rally and fight back. Napoleon is in the swirl of action and i rush to meet him. Just as i was about to swing my sword a man jumped in front and we battled. My horse kept me alive by moving when i could not dodge. I stabbed the man in the lower neck and he fell. By that time we both had lost ovwer ten men and it was getting hard to move around. As i gain my sences my horse suddenly cries out. He was stabbed in the leg. I fell to the ground but i was alive. I pairied the mans attack and stabbed his gut. Soon i was fighting 2 men and i had only 3 left while Napoleon still had 5 not including the ones i was fighting. I tried to defend until i had nothing left. I was trying to go into the trees but i tripped over a dead man. I was lying on the ground with no hopes of living when at the last second a brave man leaped off his horse and tackled one of my attackers. As the second one tried to help him with his back turned on my i stabbed him then took his horse. The man who saved my life died but so did the man he jumped. Suddenly i realized that is was Napoleon and me left alive. I was unfamiliar with this horse but i had to make do. As we charged eachother i realized how he had somehow not been touched in blood… I was covered in the blood of the men i killed. We crossed and i cut his arm and then his head. I was about to cheer when i saw a small figure in the distance with a 3 point hat on a fast horse riding away covered in deep red liquid. I screamed in frustration an rode back to my home to train troops and kill the damn man who will not agree to fair terms. I SHALL KILL NAPOLEON IF IT IS MY LAST GOD FORSAKEN BREATH!
Posted by Tim Rapp on April 21st, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Hello Mike,
I have some suggestions to make about the multiplayer campaign of Napoleon:
first of all when enemy ships blockade a port it is ok to stop the trade through it (even if i believe that it must required more than one ship and for sure not trade ships to blockade a port),but tottaly unfair and historically inaccurate to stop the production of friendly ships in this port especially for countries as russia,austria,prussia when facing england or france.Is it logical that you only need a sloop to block a dry dock and stop the producing of all war ships on it?I think that you should allow the producing of ships in a port that has been blockaded or give the chanse to the player maybe to build a battery fort in order to break the blockade of his port.In this way the game will be also more strategic because you must choose very carefully which of the ports of your enemy you really need to blockade with a superior force and you also give the chanse to countries like those i mentioned to have a chanse to threat countries which are the naval powers of this era.
Second,i think that weather must effect the sea too.Storms during the winter and summer should at least cause damages to the ships that travel through them.You can also in land during the winter or spring to have floods or muddy terrain.
Last but not least we really need a multi campaign for more than 2 players in order to make it more exciting and competitive.
Thank you for your time!
PS
If you think that i should post this in another blog or forum
plz e mail it to me
Posted by Domesticos on May 1st, 2010 at 5:33 pm
I agree with Domestico’s comments on everything except the requirement for more than one ship. As I understand it, the naval system is abstractly representative of a Nation’s naval forces, rather than a direct representation. A single 74 gun ship icon likely represents several ships, yes? So a ‘sloop’ icon might represent a small squadron of various light craft which would be perfectly adequate to blockade a port from merchant vessels. My blockade gripe is with the strange ability of my ships to sail directly into undefended ports and raze them. I think this should require a token ground force (beyond on-board marines). How about the ability to construct shore batteries, at something less than the price of a small star fort? Man them with one militia/fencibles unit and they can hold off ships? Beyond the scope of this game, but how about a port assault battle, ala Aubrey/Maturin or Hornblower? Land a battalion of marines to outflank shore batteries, bring in the frigate for fire support, then march into town to route the ‘armed populace’ and set about pillaging the shipyards and setting the warehouses ablaze!
Posted by Scott Coulson on May 7th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Only the Prussian army has rescued Englishmen in fight at Waterloo. Napoleon practically has had time to crush Velington.
Posted by Izgurd on May 12th, 2010 at 8:47 am
One more suggestion about the multiplayer campaign of Napoleon
I think that you should give the abillity to allied or protectorate fleets to be repared in allied or protectorate ports,maybe with an appropriate price.That happends with land troops,so it is absolutely logical and historically accurate to also happend with fleets.
Also it would be nice in diplomacy to be able to ask from your allies or protectorates to transport your units with their fleets and the opposite.
Posted by Domesticos on May 21st, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Im new to total war so new that i havent actually played it yet. ive followed all the steps to set it up with steam but nothing happens my email confirmation had no link. Whats a person to do im itching to play but cant. Any advice would be gratefull.
Posted by shaun on May 25th, 2010 at 7:34 pm
how do you play the battle of waterloo as another nation? :S
i have the imperial guard pack but in napoleons battles it doesnt give me the option to play as anyone else…help?
Posted by LeKnight on May 25th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
why have buildings that crumble after 2 or 3 cannon shots a good part of the battle gameplay made ussless buildings would last much longer in the real world pach a fix and lets be able to garroson some buildings please
Posted by graham on June 12th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium. An Imperial French army under the command of Emperor Napoleon was defeated by combined armies of the Seventh Coalition, an Anglo-Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington combined with a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard von Blücher. It was the culminating battle of the Waterloo Campaign and Napoleon’s last. The defeat at Waterloo put an end to Napoleon’s rule as Emperor of the French and marked the end of his Hundred Days’ return from exile.
Upon Napoleon’s return to power in 1815, many states that had opposed him formed the Seventh Coalition and began to mobilise armies. Two large forces under Wellington and von Blücher assembled close to the northeastern border of France. Napoleon chose to attack in the hope of destroying them before they could join in a coordinated invasion of France with other members of the Coalition. The decisive engagement of this three-day Waterloo Campaign (16 June – 19 June 1815) occurred at the Battle of Waterloo. According to Wellington, the battle was “the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life.”[5]
Napoleon delayed giving battle until noon on 18 June to allow the ground to dry. Wellington’s army, positioned across the Brussels road on the Mont-Saint-Jean escarpment, withstood repeated attacks by the French, until, in the evening, the Prussians arrived in force and broke through Napoleon’s right flank. At that moment, Wellington’s Anglo-allied army counter-attacked and drove the French army in disorder from the field. Pursuing Coalition forces entered France and restored Louis XVIII to the French throne. Napoleon abdicated, surrendered to the British, and was exiled to Saint Helena, where he died in 1821.
The battlefield is in present-day Belgium, about eight miles (12 km) SSE of Brussels, and about a mile (1.6 km) from the town of Waterloo. The site of the battlefield is today dominated by a large monument, the Lion Mound. As this mound used earth from the battlefield itself, the original topography of the part of the battlefield around the mound has not been preserved.
Posted by Antonelo on June 28th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
british are well placed behind the sunken road,….seems to be hard enough to soften their lines with arteliry,….but what if we use howitzer to soften the british lines,left heugomont defensless n isolated for all out assault??
Posted by armandezmoney on July 19th, 2010 at 6:50 pm