Napoleon returned to France from Elba on March 1st. He was in Paris by March 20th. But the Allies would be able to oppose him with almost 800,000 men. However, the Russians would not be in place before July. That gave Napoleon time to prepare to defend himself. With the 1815 conscription class, he could have 500,000 men in the field by autumn. Therefore, he decided to attack Wellington and Blucher in Belgium before the Austrians and Russians could join up with them.

The Prussians had 120,000 men and the British over 90,000. But much of those were inexperienced. Whereas Napoleon's 124,000 men were mostly enthusiastic veterans. Furthermore, the Allied forces were dispersed over a very wide area. Napoleon's plan was to concentrate at the junction of the two forces, divide them, and defeat them in detail.

On June 15th, his force, concentrated south of Charleroi, crossed the Belgian frontier. Ney was given command of the left wing and Grouchy the command of the right. The French cleared the Prussians out of Charleroi and French cavalry reconnaissanced as far as Quatre Bras. But after they returned to report, a Nassau brigade occupied it. Wellington ordered his army to concentrate there. The Prussians concentrated on Ligny.

On June 16th, the battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras were fought.

Although Wellington's concentration on Quatre Bras had been delayed, Ney's caution failed to take advantage of it. By the time Ney was ready for a real attempt, he was outnumbered. Worse, the French I Corps spent the day shifting back and forth between the two battlefields due to conflicting orders, never being engaged in either. Wellington had lost 4,700 men and Ney had lost 4,300.

At Ligny, the Prussians fought stubbornly, but could not match the skill and stamina of Napoleon's veterans. Once the Prussians had spent their force, Napoleon assaulted the Prussian center with the Guard, followed by massed cavalry. The Prussian center collapsed. Nevertheless, the Prussian wings held, preventing a defeat from turning into a rout. The Prussians lost 12,000 men and a further 8,000 men deserted. The French had lost 10,000.

On June 17th, the Prussians retreated on Wavre. But Napoleon was informed that they were retreating on Leige to the east. In fact, these were the deserters heading back to their German homes. Upon hearing of the Prussian defeat, Wellington ordered his forces to fall back to the hills south of Waterloo. Napoleon sent Grouchy and his right wing after the Prussians and pursued Wellington with everything else. What he didn't know was that Grouchy's pursuit was very slow and the Prussians were heading north, not east.

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on the 18th.

Concerned for his communications with the coast, Wellington had left 17,000 men too far west to be of any use. But the front was very narrow and two advanced posts at Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte added to the defensive strength.

The delays in the pursuit of Wellington, the distance traveled, and the sodden ground caused a late start to the French attack on the 18th. Napoleon ordered frontal attacks on Wellington's well chosen position starting at 11:00am. Thanks to Ney, the attacks were executed in an inept manner, with poor choice of infantry formations and poor coordination of combat arms. They were driven off with heavy losses. Worse, the Prussian IV Corps could be seen approaching from the east.

But the attacks had taken a toll on Wellington as well. He had suffered both heavy casualties and even heavier desertions from some allies. Ney finally captured La Haye Sainte. The critical point of the battle had arrived. Ney asked for the Guard to be released. But Napoleon hesitated, being preoccupied with the Prussians. He finally pushed them back with some of the Old Guard.

He then finally released the Guard against the center, over an hour after Ney had requested them. But by this time, Wellington had shored up his defenses. Worse, the attack was again ineptly executed, this time probably due to Napoleon. The Guard failed, and the French morale collapsed. Furthermore, the Prussians were finally on his flank in full force, and the retreat became a rout.

The British lost 15,000 men, the Prussians 7,000 men, and the French lost 25,000 men plus 8,000 prisoners. Napoleon reached Paris on June 21st and abdicated on the 22nd. He surrendered to a British warship on July 15th.

Both sides have theater recon levels of 0%. Both sides have supply radii of 15. Both sides have supply levels of 33. The British have high replacement priority and the Prussians have low priority. (Note that neither side receives replacements, but this will ensure that most of the desertion losses due to the pestilence event go to the Prussians). The Allies have 85% Movement Bias. The French have 115% Movement Bias. The attrition divider is 40.

The French begin with a 50% shock bonus due to Napoleon, their enthusiasm, their experience, and their faith in the invincibility of the Guard. But if either Guard heavy infantry unit is destroyed (Grenadier or Chasseur), the bonus is permanently reduced to a 15% bonus.

Exceptions: If either unit is destroyed on the same turn as the objectives for victory at either Ligny or Waterloo are achieved (see below), then there is no shock reduction. Note that if the reduction is avoided due to either of these exceptions and either unit is subsequently reconstituted (very unlikely) it will no longer be subject to the destruction penalty rule.

The Allies receive a 15% shock bonus starting on turn 8. This reflects the fact that the French should primarily be facing Wellington instead of Blucher

Note that all the HQ units (Leaders) are denied reconstitution. And if a HQ unit is destroyed, the opposing side gains a VP award for the loss of that leader

In addition, if the Napoleon unit is destroyed, the game ends immediately with an Allied victory. If the Wellington unit is destroyed, the Allied 15% shock bonus is canceled, or revoked if already in place.

Note that each side has two supply train units and supply levels of 33. Enemy destruction of each friendly supply unit reduces friendly supply levels by 16. Thus, loss of one supply unit will reduce the supply level to 17 and loss of both will reduce it to 1. The supply train units cannot be reconstituted.

All units are placed in garrison mode on the two early-morning turns (3 and 7). This represents time sleeping. Also, there are storms from turn 2 through 7.

Note that Allied formation proficiencies are equal to the average of their respective unit proficiencies. But French formation proficiencies are 20% higher than their average unit proficiencies. French formations will therefore be less likely to reorganize.

The event variable is incremented for French capture of hexes in the Ligny and Quatre Bras vicinity. Specifically, the Ligny, Quatre Bras, St. Amand, and Genappe hexes, in addition to all hexes marked with an "L". Those hexes so identified that are adjacent to the starting front lines add one to the variable. Hexes further out add a number equal to their distance from the starting front lines. So St. Amand adds one, Quatre Bras adds two, and Genappe adds four, etc. Exception: Ligny adds three, instead of one.

But note that the variable is also decremented the same amounts by Allied recapture of these hexes. If this happens, the French will then have to capture them back again, to recover their contribution to the variable value.

Once the total equals eight, the French will be judged to have won the battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras. This will cause about 800 squads of Prussian deserters. This is effected with the pestilence event. Also, the French are awarded 10 permanent VPs. Finally, in games against the PO, this will cause a track change. Note that once the award has been triggered, no Allied recapture of the hexes can reverse it. However, in the unlikely event that the French player is unable to achieve this objective by the end of turn 10, the Allied player will receive a 10 VP award for winning the battle of Ligny.

After the Ligny award is triggered, the variable value is cleared and any remaining Ligny occupation events disabled. The variable will then be reused for the Waterloo battle. It is incremented 30 points each for Hougomont/La Haye Sainte and Papelotte, and is incremented 10 points each for Braine-l'Alleud and the two hexes labeled "W". Once the variable has reached 70, the French player will be judged to have won the battle of Waterloo. This awards him an additional 15 VPs. Again, Allied recapture of any of those hexes will require them to be retaken again by the French, but once the award is made, it cannot be revoked. Finally, if the French player fails to achieve this objective by the end of turn 10, the Allied player will be awarded the victory and VPs. Exception: if the Ligny objective was never met, no Waterloo award will be ever be made. Thus, the Allied player can, at most, only win one award (either Ligny or Waterloo).

Note that the game will automatically end at the start of turn 11, even with scenario variability selected. There is an "End Normal" event used then, to prevent extra turns.

The following "house rule" is mandatory. No units may ever dig-in. They must remain in mobile or reserve mode only. However, there is one exception. The British Guard unit (1st British Division - the one with the heavy infantry unit type) is permitted to dig-in in one hex only. That hex is the Hougomont/La Haye Sainte hex (6,6). It may not dig-in in any other hex, but it may dig-in in that hex up to full fortification level. Note that that hex is already at 100% entrenchment.

Napoleonic units did not dig in, or even take cover. They fought standing out in the open, and this rule reflects that fact. One high-quality unit could occupy the chateaux at Hougomont and La Haye Sainte, and the rule reflects that, too.

And the following additional "house rule" is also mandatory: No bridges may be blown by either side. There are no exceptions.

Note that night and pre-dawn turns are affected by the "Force Night Combat Proficiency". This is just a special characteristic of six-hour turn scenarios. The Allies are rated at 50 and the French at 33. This is due to the French deriving much of their strength from command and control finesse, which was harder to maintain during the night. As a result, the Allies will have their best chance to hit back at night, and the French are advised to make good use of the morning and afternoon. Napoleon didn't, and it cost him.

Finally, note that this scenario's scale (divisions at 2.5km/hex) is quite abnormal for TOAW. This could cause combat to be more affected by density penalties than odds. This new version attemps to address this by rescaling infantry and cavalry squads. Now, each infantry squad represents 100 men and each cavalry squad represents 50 men. This will reduce density penalties and add some Napoleonic flavor by amplifying artillery and cavalry strengths.

The OOB, and TOE were adapted from the Talonsoft "Battleground Waterloo" and "Prelude to Waterloo" wargames. The map was adapted from the SPI Quadrigame "Napoleon's Last Battles".

Note that I have used AT- teams to represent smoothbore musket squads, since TOAW has none. Since there are no armored units, their anti-armor factors will have no effect. Note that in this new version, I have also created a "Waterloo.exe" with the BioEd. This eliminates the AT factor of the AT-teams and gives some of the combat elements more appropriate names. Those changes will not affect game play and the scenario can be played with the normal TOAW executable without effect, but it will appear better if the Waterloo.exe is used.