Here we are, Waterloo. How to change history and send the Britons packing? Frontal attacks will definitely fail on very hard, so the plan here is a retreat east to the far right of the map. From there, ambush the Prussian reinforcements in a trap, then pour out to the field and hill at the north and defeat the English in detail. Simple plans win wars.

The French is spread along the entire map along the bottom so the first thing to do is run all units to A1 where the small road leading north is. That's the road the Prussians runs south along and funnels into your first trap. The ridge protects everyone from English artillery. And do run over quickly, even the infantry cause time is your useful ally in this battle.

The Prussians arrive, following the original intended AI script, when you take Papelotte on the center right and move up the hill. Since we're not going that way, we will manually trigger the event. (Triggering at any other time or place is not accepted folks.) When the first artillery is in a good ambush position, thats a good time to run north trigger the Prussian's arrival.



[The first Prussian arriving]

I tried using a single cav unit one time and the event didn't flag so here I just send everyone over. The time by now should be 6-9 minutes in. Supposedly passive waiting for the Prussians to come was mentioned to work as well but even at 20 minutes they were a no show come so I opt for the offensive.

When the first Prussian musketeers arrive you can run all the cav back. English artillery might be able to hit you but the losses should be minimal.

[This is how my ambush was setup at the road chokepoint][/previewimg]

The Prussian force will walk right into your trap starting with 3 infantry units, then Blucher cav charges by himself and takes himself out of the picture. Following Blucher is two more cav units. With my setup the cavs all charges the left top unit, so put that unit into a square and that will give everyone horse steaks for tonight.

One lone Prussian artillery should be strolling on the hill ridges. Send a healthy cav unit to take it out. Then do retreat the cav back to the east. The whole band of cav units can now move up along the east road behind the ridge cover.

The road north should be clear at this point. Running everyone past the choke I stretched my line north-south from the field to the top of the hill ridge. Be sure to keep both flanks sufficiently strong as both sides will take heavy attack and hold at least a reserve unit on each flank. My artillery was stationed right in the middle of the line. Your cavalry can be split left and right but skirmishers and cavs will press harder along the hilltop.



A lone English cav unit attacks from the back. Leave one infantry unit with the square ability by the road choke right above your trap staging area and you'll be protected. Remember to use this lone unit after and pull him back into the fight. Every unit will matter.



The English will make their push now. It starts with single units but they do pour in heavily very soon. An artillery unit will be pounding your troops from afar but is positioned too near other troops to take out with a kamikaze cav charge. Form a solid line and hopefully you still have all three artillery remaining.

Pay attention to cav charging and square whichever unit is targeted. All artillery should be set to canister shot. Use cav wisely to hammer and anvil whichever lone enemy unit. Not long after the Duke of Wellington will ride in and make a splatter.

Given that all English troops are quite elitists, at least in experience level, this should be a close battle. 1-on-1 the English will out gun any unit you have. The units on reserve will make a crucial difference if you can plug the holes in your line and flank the English whenever possible. Bringing rallied troops back that were routing earlier will also be a good idea. It should be wise to let Napoleon just sit in the middle and not move him too much less he dies from artillery or neglect; morale is on short margin here.

[English pressure across the entire front]

One more lone English rifle unit will attack from the southern ridge. A single cav can dispatch the skirmisher with ease.



By this point it really depends on how much artillery you do have and whether enemy cavs were able to catch any of your units off guard. Nearly everyone will die in the battle but you should come out on top.

So hopefully you've killed everyone by this point and changed history once and for all. The whole battle plan to recap is simply retreat East and ambush the Prussians, roll north into a solid north-south front, and just survive the brunt of the English.

"They came on in the same old way and we defeated them in the same old way"
X_X of Wellington

The intended attack route by the developer is probably the capture of Papellotte early on since it was manned by only a rifles unit. But the main problem is dealing with Blucher's grand entrance to the east. Once you have taken Papellotte and baited the lone cav unit and did whatever you can to pick off single enemy units, the arrival of the Prussians also triggers the mobilization of the entire Englsh army forcing you into a two front battle. Also you're running right under the the foot of enemy artillery which will make French pudding out of your troops. On top of that is the experience gap which just makes the whole plan untenable.

I attempted assaults on Hougoumont and La Haye Saint as well, but lost my entire army before I even made it up the hill. Hougoumont directs you into an ambush unit in a little patch of trees between the two farmhouses. Then as you move closer to the hill, troops occupying Hougoumont starts firing and you are hemmed in by the infantry shooting from the hilltop. Stakes protects the hill troops from a quick charge so a slow push is the only way. (to death in this case)

The method I outlined is fairly simple and without much variability in what can happen. Barring Skynet getting wise for some reason, victory should be consistently attained. I would note the time when the English is finally routed is merely 35 minutes in, I have a feeling one can trigger the English to cascade into the same choke point and use time to allow them to march over and die with lesser risk to your army.

- Otakimeee.