Tucuman

If you've ever delved deep into the archives of this blog you'll know that from time to time I dabble in wargaming the South American Wars of Liberation. This has been an on-off project of mine for years, mainly off and mainly because I can't find a suitable set of rules with which to fight the battles.

A few weeks ago we played a game at the Staines Wargamers, in which we refought the Battle of Chrysler's Farm, and action in the War of 1812 fought between Britain and the infant United States. The rules we used are called 'Rocket's Red Glare', and, whilst written for gaming the War of 1812, are adaptable to any similar period and setting. And, in terms of weapons and size of battles, the actions in South America I am looking to refight are within the scope of the rules. In fact we've been using these rules for years, but I'd forgotten all about them until we played the game. Anyway, I ordered a set, and set about working out how to set up some battles using them.

A few weeks ago I tried out the 1817 Battle of Chacabuco using them. I'd tried this battle with other rules, so had something with which to make a comparison. 'Rocket's Red Glare' passed the test, giving an interesting game that followed history very closely indeed (much to the annoyance of the losing Royalist commander). Tonight saw my first chance to try out a new battle. I selected the 1812 Battle of Tucuman, as this was more of a straight face-to-face action than Chacabuco, and had more troops of all arms (infantry, cavalry and artillery) for both sides to use. It also featured the General Belgrano commanding the Patriot army.

We had time during the course of the evening to fight the battle twice. In the real battle the Patriots won despite General Belgrano quitting the field because he thought his army was routing. Their cavalry routed the Royalist left wing, then proceeded to roll up the rest of the line. This is pretty much what happened in the first game, except it was the Royalist right flank that was crushed. By the time their infantry engaged the Patriot troop, they had lost most of their cohesion and all of their enthusiasm. In the second game the Royalists attacked with more more vigour early on, and the Patriot cavalry was stunned into immobility. A rapid advance by the Royalist infantry, followed by a couple of crushing volleys saw the Patriots on the ropes fairly quickly. They fought back, however, and drove off much of teh Royalist infantry, but it wasn't enough to save them. The Royalist infantry that stood their ground did so with ferocity, and another volley was enough to take the fight out of the Patriots.

One victory for each side was a good result, even if they were both achieved as much by luck as by good generalship. When I have cleared my 'Hordes of the Things' painting backlog I will be looking at producing some more troops for my South American armies, so that I can try out some of the larger battles.

Needless to say, I took a few pictures. This one shows Royalist columns mounting a disjointed attack during the first game. Click on it to go to the full set of pictures:




The Tucuman scenario we played was taken from John Fletcher's 'Liberators!', a wargamer's guide to the campaigns. Highly recommended if you are a wargamer looking for a new and obscure period to play.
.