Alternative battle of Waterloo

Ahhh. Good to see the reemergence of that old Total War cliche, "cavalry can (and will) charge and successfully break infantry squares". I was seriously P/O'ed when Creative Assembly released their gameplay trailer for Empire Total War and it was their lead coder playing as the British (in place of the Mamelukes) fighting the Battle of the Pyramids. With an army of only cavalry he then proceeded to rush every single French infantry square, and broke them all with average casualties. I just stood there gawping, as a little bit of my soul was destroyed.
 
Ahhh. Good to see the reemergence of that old Total War cliche, "cavalry can (and will) charge and successfully break infantry squares". I was seriously P/O'ed when Creative Assembly released their gameplay trailer for Empire Total War and it was their lead coder playing as the British (in place of the Mamelukes) fighting the Battle of the Pyramids. With an army of only cavalry he then proceeded to rush every single French infantry square, and broke them all with average casualties. I just stood there gawping, as a little bit of my soul was destroyed.
I've never seen it happen in real gameplay however. Infantry squares with the top quality bayonets take a frightening toll on cavalry.
 

Sior

Banned
Horses are more intelligent than men! It takes a lot to persuade them to do something as stupid as chargeing in to a hedge of bayonets!
 
Or Napoleon manage to make a deal with Britain. Free hand of France in continental Europe in exchange to leave Britain and it's empire alone.
Why would the British do that? They spend the best part of the last decade fighting Napoleon.
 

Adler

Banned
Nappy would have lost the battle of Belle-Alliance the very next day.

Adler

P.S.: In Prussia the battle was indeed named Belle-Alliance.
 
Ahhh. Good to see the reemergence of that old Total War cliche, "cavalry can (and will) charge and successfully break infantry squares". I was seriously P/O'ed when Creative Assembly released their gameplay trailer for Empire Total War and it was their lead coder playing as the British (in place of the Mamelukes) fighting the Battle of the Pyramids. With an army of only cavalry he then proceeded to rush every single French infantry square, and broke them all with average casualties. I just stood there gawping, as a little bit of my soul was destroyed.

...since when? Hussars, Lancers, Dragoons, Horse Guards...I've never seen any of them break a line infantry square. Maybe Lancers charging downhill would do it...
 

nova2010

Banned
Why would the British do that? They spend the best part of the last decade fighting Napoleon.

During the Vienna conference before Napoleon escape from Elba the Prussians and Russians they were are seeking more land in Europe. Austria and Britain were unhappy with that. In OTL the Austrian foreign minister (I don't remember his name) through diplomacy manage to keep the peace in Europe after 1815. That was one of the reasons that escaped from Elba to take advantage of this.
 
...since when? Hussars, Lancers, Dragoons, Horse Guards...I've never seen any of them break a line infantry square. Maybe Lancers charging downhill would do it...

I've managed it a few times with general cavalry attacking infantry head on. I would have refused on historical grounds, but the AI does it to me too.

Anyway, Lords and Ladies I present to you Exhibit B (Exhibit A was part of the OP). This is Creative Assembly's Battle Programmer in a teaser trailer before the game was released, winning the Battle of the Pyramids (fought on a pleasant European plain for some reason, fought between Britain and the Dutch for even less reason) by charging five units of cavalry head on into infantry, after talking about how the battalion square was Napoleon's tactic for repelling cavalry. I was not impressed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qabYFgfdLwo
 

nova2010

Banned
I've managed it a few times with general cavalry attacking infantry head on. I would have refused on historical grounds, but the AI does it to me too.

Anyway, Lords and Ladies I present to you Exhibit B (Exhibit A was part of the OP). This is Creative Assembly's Battle Programmer in a teaser trailer before the game was released, winning the Battle of the Pyramids (fought on a pleasant European plain for some reason, fought between Britain and the Dutch for even less reason) by charging five units of cavalry head on into infantry, after talking about how the battalion square was Napoleon's tactic for repelling cavalry. I was not impressed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qabYFgfdLwo

Nice video but the videos that I show were mods of Napoleon Total War
 
During the Vienna conference before Napoleon escape from Elba the Prussians and Russians they were are seeking more land in Europe. Austria and Britain were unhappy with that. In OTL the Austrian foreign minister (I don't remember his name) through diplomacy manage to keep the peace in Europe after 1815. That was one of the reasons that escaped from Elba to take advantage of this.
Nva the minister you are reffering to is Metternich.
 

67th Tigers

Banned
Ahhh. Good to see the reemergence of that old Total War cliche, "cavalry can (and will) charge and successfully break infantry squares". I was seriously P/O'ed when Creative Assembly released their gameplay trailer for Empire Total War and it was their lead coder playing as the British (in place of the Mamelukes) fighting the Battle of the Pyramids. With an army of only cavalry he then proceeded to rush every single French infantry square, and broke them all with average casualties. I just stood there gawping, as a little bit of my soul was destroyed.

Much like real life. Yes, only two British squares were broken 1793-1815, but it was very common in the German campaigns for squares to be broken.
 
How the hell did Lannes come back to life to save the day at Waterloo?

The OP based his question off a video game so I'm surprised Mario and Luigi didn't show up in the clips. :rolleyes:


Back to the point boys what next?

The point here, boy, is that PODs based in video games are rubbish. There are plenty of plausible PODs which could have led to varying levels of victory by France at Waterloo which don't rely on a zombie French general.

A French victory at Waterloo sees Wellington withdrawing down his lines of communication and collecting the troops guarding the same. Wellington actually had more troops positioned along his LOCs than at the battle. The Prussian army is still in the field and very close by. The Russians and Austrian armies are collecting on the Rhine.

Napoleon is doomed. He's vastly outnumbered, is facing uprisings in France, can't win every battle, and the Allies will not negotiate with him now that he's broken his latest agreement with them. The details and dates will differ, but Napoleon is going to be beaten, made to surrender, and go into exile.

As for cavalry versus infantry squares, let me offer the following link.
 
I think my favorite part about those videos was that the creator knew Lannes had been mortally wounded at Aspern-Essling in 1809, but went ahead and made whatever the hell that was anyway. With Lannes at Waterloo. For no reason whatsoever.
 
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