Let Waterloo come to you.

You may have heard–June 18th is the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.  Hundreds of thousands of history buffs, nerds, geeks and buggs* will gather in Belgium to watch 5000 enthusiasts and 300 bewildered horses reenact the battle.  My guess is that plenty of them are already there, drinking beer and eating frites. (With mayo, not catsup.  Because that’s the way the Belgians do it.  And a mighty fine way it is, too.)

Those of us who don’t have tickets are not out of luck. **  One of my favorite websites, Military History Now,*** is hosting a real-time virtual reenactment created by game developers Matrix Games and The Slitherine Group.  Eight hours of simulated nineteenth century battle on your computer stream–or at least as much of it as you can bear arrange to watch. That is some serious geek-ery.

Personally, I plan on having it on in the background while I work–the way my Grandpa Mahaney used to listen to the Cardinals while he worked in his shop.

Are you in?****

*My favorite typo ever. Why yes,  I am a history bugg. Aren’t you?

**  In fact, maybe we’re the lucky ones.  That’s going to be one big crowd.

***If you’re interested in “the strange, off-beat and lesser-known aspects of military history”, you’ll love it too.

****Here are the practical bits:

• Streaming is scheduled to start at 11:30 AM Central European Time (4:30 AM in my time zone), when the initial attack occurred.  Because that’s what a real-time reenactment means.
• It will be streamed via a TwitchStream channel.  (Don’t ask.  I don’t know.)
• Check  http://militaryhistorynow.com/ or MHN’s Twitter feed @MilHistNow for updates

A hat tip to friend and fellow history buff Scottie Kersta-Wilson for calling this to my attention.  I love Military History Now, but I don’t always read their posts the day they arrive. I’d have kicked somethng if I’d missed this.