A quick bit of background, courtesy of Wikipedia:
The Paraguayan War (Spanish: Guerra del Paraguay, Portuguese: Guerra do Paraguai, Guarani: Paraguái Ñorairõ), also known as the War of the Triple Alliance (Spanish: Guerra de la Triple Alianza, Portuguese: Guerra da Tríplice Aliança, Guarani: Ñorairõ Triple Alianza Rehegua), was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It was the deadliest and bloodiest inter-state war in Latin American history. Paraguay sustained large casualties, but even the approximate numbers are disputed. Paraguay was forced to cede disputed territory to Argentina and Brazil. The war began in late 1864, as a result of a conflict between Paraguay and Brazil caused by the Uruguayan War. Argentina and Uruguay entered the war against Paraguay in 1865, and it then became known as the "War of the Triple Alliance".
After Paraguay was defeated in conventional warfare, it conducted a drawn-out guerrilla resistance, a strategy that resulted in the further destruction of the Paraguayan military and the civilian population. Much of the civilian population died due to battle, hunger, and disease. The guerrilla war lasted for 14 months until president Francisco Solano López was killed in action by Brazilian forces in the Battle of Cerro Corá on 1 March 1870. Argentine and Brazilian troops occupied Paraguay until 1876.
Mark did mention this stat yesterday at the game, although I note some recent academic works dispute this truly enormous casualty figure:
After the war, an 1871 Paraguayan census recorded 221,079 inhabitants, of which 106,254 were women, 28,746 were men, and 86,079 were children (with no indication of sex or upper age limit).
The worst reports are that up to 90% of the male population of Paraguay was killed, though this figure is without support. One estimate places total Paraguayan losses—through both war and disease—as high as 1.2 million people, or 90% of its pre-war population, but modern scholarship has shown that this number depends on a population census of 1857 that was a government invention. A different estimate places Paraguayan deaths at approximately 300,000 people out of 500,000 to 525,000 pre-war inhabitants. During the war, many men and boys fled to the countryside and forests.
And on that happy note, here are my pics of the game 😁
For some background on our version of the war, please see the scenario author Marks blog here 1866 and all that: Great Paraguayan War Game
Traditional view from Barrys spiral staircase!
The Paraguayan town, control of which was the reason behind this battle.
Some lovely 3d printed "big guns" defending the objective
View from the attacker's perspective - the eagle eyed may note, there are two more heavy guns than there were a couple of minutes earlier!
The forces laid out for their commanders
Brazilians
Uruguayans
Paraguayans
My command in march column to take advantage of a new rule Mark had introduced allowing fast movement if troops were not within 400mm of the enemy or 200mm of combat. Johns force can be seen in the top of the image, also in march columns
Pauls Argentinians in the centre, ready to head left to join up with John and me - our great tactical plan which soon proved to be less than great!
Initial deployment of the Paraguayans, which was a slight surprise to us - but we did not know Mark had stipulated they had to deploy between the two rivers, but could not all be inside the town.
Paraguayan troops emerge from the town to take up defensive positions along the riverbank
On the other flank, Rick led a column of cavalry and infantry forward to engage with the Allies right flank (Paul and the Argies)
My command arrived within artillery range of the Paraguayan troops and unlimbered their guns behind a boggy area, to prevent any sneaky cavalry attack by the enemy cavalry commanded by Chris.
The infantry continued to march around the flank ....
...... emerging from the jungle and pushing right up to the river to threaten the Paraguayan town
Paraguayan artillery took my troops under fire
Supported by the heavy position guns, which, it has to be said, look scarier than they actually were!
My infantry edged forward across the river, one unit in square in the face of nearby Paraguayan cavalry
To their left, sneaky Chris gambled on rolling a time and a half move and declared a charge with one of his cavalry units on the head of a column of my limbered artillery - luckily for me, he failed to roll high and had to move forward but not far enough to reach my limbered guns - phew!
I had the chance to unlimber and managed to halt the cavalry with combined infantry and artillery fire!
Meanwhile, Ricks command advanced inexorably against Pauls Argentinians
My cavalry were able to hit the leading Paraguayan cavalry unit and destroy them, before breaking through onto the second unit!
John rolled to give me some supporting fire ...... thanks mate, that was a great help!
The Brazilians who contributed the above to my cause.
Having destroyed the first unit of cavalry, my lancers broke through onto the second unit, unfortunately, they lost the melee and retired behind the gun line to lick their wounds
The victorious Paraguayan cavalry bravely did an "Into the Valley of Death" move .....
..... it worked out about the same as it did for Lord Cardigan et al!
Adios compañeros, off you fu ..... trot!
Ricks force clashed with a small Argentinian cavalry regiment, and sent them packing
A big, solid line of scarlet clad Paraguayans close in on the outnumbered Argies - oh dear!
In the centre, a lot of Allied troops are just milling around, it seems.
The clash on the Allied right flank continues apace
Whilst my infantry pressed forward, suffering casualties from both musketry and gunfire.
The Argentinians are gradually forced to give ground
As MORE Paraguayans appear opposite the Brazilians commanded by John!
Barry's Paraguayan infantry charges my battered units, the nearer of which is also Raw - the attackers are "assaltos" and get an extra dice for that in close combat - 5 D6 - 2 I think it was in both fights :(
On the other flank, Rick is squeezing Pauls Argentinians into an ever-shrinking area.
And Chris was blazing away at the Brazilians commanded by John - things aren't looking good!
Barry's victorious infantry assaulted across the river and destroyed another Raw Brazilian unit - suddenly, I had 1 battalion from the 5 I had started with
John struggled manfully to get his units into position to use superior volumes of fire power against Chris.
But Chris wasn't having a bar of it, and his Paraguayans charged across the river to engage in close combat!
At this point, Paul suggested we call the game and I rapidly concurred - if we had played another two hours, we might still have had sufficient forces to pull off a hard fought win, but we did not have another two hours and basically my force and Pauls had been virtually wiped out - I still had a "grand battery" of four rifled field guns plus the two units of cavalry - but only one battalion of infantry
A few random close ups from John that I could not work into my narrative above, seemed a shame to waste them!
Well, that makes it two losses from two games over three days - I think I will have a weekend off to recover! Might get in a solo game or two - at least I can't lose those :)
