Battle at "Arrollo Mojado"

The stage is set, a battle must ensue.

The warring factions meet in a small valley bifurcated by a small river.  There are thickets to one side and small hills on the other.

The units are followed by a company breakdown and points (fusiliers - grenadiers - cazadores)

Armies: 

Patriots (792 points):

Jose De San Martin                (204)
Artillery Battery (2 guns)            (88)
7^th Argentine (4-0-1)               (154)
8^th Argentine (4-0-1)               (154)
Militia (3-0-0)                              (48)
Militia (3-0-0)                              (48)
Granaderos a Caballo (2)         (96)

Royalist (784 points):
Jose Ordonez                           (232)
Artillery Battery (2 guns)             (88)
2^nd Burgos (4-0-1)                    (144)
Arequipa (4-0-0)                       (112)
Chiloe(4-0-0)                             (128)
Dragones de la Frontera(2)       (80)

Patriot Setup:

The patriots decide to form up the 7^th & 8^th Argentine Battalions in the centre of their line with the two militia battalions on their left flank and the Granaderos a Caballo on the right.  The artillery was deployed in a small hill to the left.

Royalist setup:

The royalists, having the river closer to them, decided to setup the 2^nd Burgos battalion in line on the centre, with Arequipa & Chiloe formed in column for a quick advance on their right.  The artillery setup on a small hill to their far right and the Dragones de la Frontera took the left flank.

The patriots begin the battle by deploying their artillery further forwards on the hill.  All infantry move forwards and fan out.  The Granaderos A Caballo advance but try to take cover behind the closes forest.  The royalists move forwards as well, Dragones de la Frontera manage to ford the river, Chiloe deploys in line, unfortunately, Arequipa does not and stays in column formation, with the patriot artillery staring down into it.

The royalists get stuck in the river.

Dragones charge Granaderos!

The royalists start the battle on a high note, Dragones de la Frontera successfully charge the Granaderos a Caballo causing a great deal of disorder without suffering much in return.  The Granaderos a Caballo fleed towards their commander, back centre of their lines with Dragones hot on their heels.  Arequipa took some damage from the artillery, the shock prevents its officers from deploying the troops, it remains in column.  2^nd Burgos tries to find a ford in the river, but fails.  Chiloe stands its ground and lets the Artillery have a volley, causing a few casualties and seeding some disorder in the battery.

Dragones take two volleys and the Granadero's charge.

                Seeing the Dragones in their rear San Martin orders the 7^th & 8^th Argentine to do an about face, fortunately for the cavalry the 7^th gets their orders mixed up and just stand their ground.  One of the militia battalions also turns to face the cavalry, evidently San Martin holds them in high regard.  Expecting a fierce volley the Dragones move to get away from the 8^th, almost making it, they take few casualties.  The Granaderos take prudence by the rains and keep moving away from the Dragones towards the cover of the militia battalions.

                On the far royalist side, by the river, 2^nd Burgos manages to start moving across the river, Arequipa finally gets their bearings and deploys in a line, while Chiloe keeps pouring fire into the patriot artillery battery.  The royalist artillery limbers up and begins to move to a more advantageous position.

                Unfortunately for the Dragones, the Patriots get first turn and they unleash a deadly volley into them followed by a charge by the Granaderos a Caballo who had wheeled around and rallied somewhat.  This destroyed the unit.  The 2^nd Burgos and Arequipa keep moving across the river while Chiloe keeps the artillerists’ heads down with some impressive fire.  The royalist artillery advances and sets up behind the river, in a more central position.

Patriot artillery is charged by Chiloe.

                Seeing the patriot artillery suppressed, Chiloe battalion seizes the opportunity and orders a charge, which succeeds in driving the artillery back with no casualties to Chiloe.  Unfortunately for Chiloe, the Granaderos a Caballo managed to get around their own troops and get a nice line on them.  After some musket fire from the Militia battalions the depleted Granaderos charge Chiloe, sealing their doom.  Chiloe repulses the charge and scatters the remaining horsemen from the field of battle.

                In the mean time, 7^th & 8^th Argentine kept pouring fire into Arequipa battalion.  2^nd Burgos, being fairly unscathed, kept moving up field trying to lessen the gap between it and the Argentine battalions.

Chiloe repels the Granaderos a Caballo charge.

                This is where we called the game.  Both sided took casualties, the patriots lost the Granaderos a Caballo and their 2 gun Battery, the royalists only lost the Dragones de la Frontera.  Looking at the remaining battalions, on the royalist side, Arequipa was on the verge of fleeing (only had 2 casualties left), Chiloe was about ½ dead and 2^nd Burgos and the artillery battery were pretty intact.  The patriots were much better off, neither 7^th nor 8^th Argentine had significant casualties and the two militia battalions were unscathed.

Ending positions.  The Royalist battery is to the left, behind 2nd Burgos & the river.

                Twas another fun game, the river proved to be a pain in the arse.  Looking back, 800 points seems to provide a good balance of units for a medium size game.  With setup the game took about 3 hours, again, we had to refer to the rules many times and we also changed a few on the fly. 

The royalist forces marching towards the inevitable.

Dragones de la Frontera before their epic river crossing