Quatre Bras: Stalemate on the Brussels Road

About this board game

Quatre Bras: Stalemate on the Brussels Road is a two-player historical board game about the 1815 battle for the strategically important crossroads of Quatre-Bras, with an approximate playing time of 120 minutes.

Control of the crossroads allowed movement south-east along the Nivelles-Namur road toward the French and Prussian armies at Ligny. Wellington’s Anglo-Allied army needed to combine with the Prussians, as their united strength would have exceeded Napoleon’s forces.

Napoleon’s strategy was to cross into the Netherlands without alerting the Coalition, drive a wedge between its armies, defeat the Prussians, and then turn against the Anglo-Allied army. Although Coalition commanders had an overview of French pre-war movements, the opening stages of the strategy were highly successful.

• Players: 2
• Playing time: approximately 120 minutes
• Folio components: rules, a 17″ × 22″ map, and 100 counters
• Series: part of the Napoleon’s Last Battles Quadrigame

The historical battle ended as a tactical draw, costing Ney 4,000 men and Wellington 4,800. However, the Allies could not send forces to aid the Prussians at Ligny. After learning of the Prussian defeat, Wellington retreated north along the Brussels road, while the Prussians withdrew north-east toward Wavre.

Quatre Bras also invites consideration of the unanswered historical question surrounding d’Erlon’s I Corps, which engaged at neither Ligny nor Quatre-Bras. In the aftermath, Napoleon followed Wellington with most of his forces, leading toward the events at Waterloo two days later. Quatre Bras was also released separately as a folio game.