Command Magazine #11: Hougemont "Rock of Waterloo"

I have always wanted to play this classic early Command Magazine game, "Hougemont: Rock of Waterloo" (some say the early Command Magazine games were the best). I had the chance to bring it 'out of the packet' to play with some wargaming friends the other day in a "get our collective heads round the rules and play test of mechanics" mode. By the end we were getting there but I am sure another read through is required to fully grasp the colour and "hex terrain" considerations. It played well though (see below, a mere thirty years old and still ready to play fresh out of the bag with the counters still in mint condition):

There are plenty of French (see below, three waves of them in fact):

And pitiful few British, Nassau and Hanoverian defenders (see below, these are the reserves released or rather drip fed into the action):

The original on the board units are eight British Guards at the back and twelve German lights sent forwards (see below, top marks if you can spot them all - extra counters are their leaders):

Please excuse the angle of the photograph but the French move from a released row, to a advancing row and then to the board proper. You literally see them coming towards you from afar - with nothing you can do about it (see below, "Thousands of them Sarge!")

Given the numbers a column tried to run round the outside of the board but were caught by a neat game mechanic of off-table artillery - losing 50% of their number (though note, casualties is not one of the victory conditions - capturing objectives is). The other Frenchies chase the Germans away from the hedge they were defending and further into the woods (see below, there is a nice little game mechanic which is a defender reaction (when within eight hexes) in the attackers phase, which allows the defenders to fire and move (back) first so they are simply not "overrun"):

Trading space for firing works well until you run out of space to trade. The German troops are now pushed back as far as they can go. The French have taken enough casualties for Napoleon to commit another "wave". Whereas the British have not quite convinced Wellington of their dire state - this will come soon). The "other" Allied defenders are roving Howitzer batteries lobbing [guessing where the French troops are going to be with an interesting scatter rule] down air and ground burst (see below, only turn two out of ten and it is looking tight for the Allied troops):

We stopped there so we could re-read the fortification rules of the Chateau and 'a thing or two about gates'. There is plenty of chrome and flavour yet to come. I like the thought of transferring this to the tabletop with miniatures somehow!