The Battle of Tuyuti, 24 May 1866

The Burrow reopened for business today after a long hiatus. What better way to kick things off than with an inaugural game with my newly finished (?) War of the Triple Alliance collection. 

Neil kindly prepared the scenario, provided all the paraphernalia and also umpired as we were using Bloody Big Battles, four out of the five players never having used them before. Shaun, Dave and John were the Uruguayans, Brazilians and Argentinians respectively. I took the Paraguayans ably assisted by Jon. An account of the real battle can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tuyut%C3%AD

Our plan was simple and pretty much mirrored the original plans. The difference was that in our version the Paraguayans managed to coordinate their attacks. The cavalry on the left and two small commands in the centre would throw themselves against the enemy to pin them in place while the vast majority of our forces launched a right hook through the scrub and wood to roll up the enemy left. Our reserves would come on in the centre and keep the enemy artillery occupied. I don’t think the Allies had a plan, and thanks to a fortunately low die roll the Allies were also caught hopping and graded as passive. The terrain was covered in wooded/scrub area, marshes and even a lagoon, which would hinder the Paraguayan advance but there was a secret track through the woods on our right enabling our men to move at full speed through the otherwise difficult ground.

So here are some pictures of the action.

The Argentinian corps facing our cavalry.

Masses of Paraguayan cavalry.

The Allied centre defended by lots of dug in artillery.

The Uruguayans.

I followed the plan and threw my cavalry towards the Argentinians. The sole reason was to pin what was a large portion of the Allied army and keep them out of the battle for as long as possible.

Our flanking movement emerges from the woods and drives off some Brazilian cavalry.

The Paraguayan cavalry made a second charge against the Argentinian line. Like the first one it failed.

The Brazilians trying to respond to the flank attack.

More Paraguayans leave the shelter of the woods and bear down on the Brazilians.

The Paraguayan rocket. It even worked…..once.

Jon’s troops just kept on coming, sweeping the Brazilians before them. The Allied left was turned and in danger of completing disintegrating.

Paraguayans assaulting the Brazilian line.

The mighty punch that was our attack on the enemy left had driven everything away. The artillery in the earthwork was hit and one battery destroyed. Unfortunately on the very last turn the Allies ejected them from the redoubt, this retaining this important feature.

Allied troops from the centre saved the redoubt and also halted the Paraguayan attack.

On our left the Paraguayan cavalry had been spent or destroyed but their sacrifice had kept the bulk of the Argentinians tied down. The infantry in the centre valiantly threw themselves against the redoubt and also d the Uruguayans in the centre and were eventually shot down, but not before destroying a Uruguayan infantry brigade. Our reserves were thankfully available so they too assaulted the Allied centre and almost reached the redoubt. 

So that was the end of that. We had played 10 full turns and had a result; it was an Allied victory but at much greater cost than in the real battle. The Paraguayans technically did better than their real forebears so there was something to hold on to. The army was pretty much crushed however, which was also true to life.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game and the rules worked really well. Everyone agreed. Thanks to Neil for organising it.

The only thing about the rules is trivial really, and easily overcome. I’m not a fan of removing bases but apart from that it ran smoothly and we all soon picked up the rules. Another game beckons, and perhaps the Paraguayans might win this time?  It might also be interesting to try the same scenario using Pickets Charge or Black Powder.