A Game…at Last!

Today we played our first game since January…well the Sunday group that is.

The lengthy interruption had two causes: the arrival of the Omicron variant with its subsequent restrictions and then some health issues with the owner of our gaming venue.

The game was a Great Paraguayan War scenario, sn opportunity to see my newly completed armies on the table.

Due to travel travel commitments (for work, pleasure and family) we were reduced to five players, two on the Paraguayan and three on the Alliance sides. 

The scenario was that the Alliance forces have landed behind a small Paraguayan fort on the Paraguay River, but the Allied advance has been poorly conducted and the three forces, Uruguayan, Argentinian and Brazilian became separated.

The rough sketch map below shows the deployment zones. The blue dots on the right show the limits of the  Brazilians, the Argentine troops are within the red dots, the Uruguayans in the green area and the Paraguayans within the limits of the black dotted line. The Paraguayans counted ten infantry battalions, five cavalry regiments, three field batteries five fortress guns. The Alliance counted 19 battalions, four cavalry regiments and six field batteries.

The Paraguayans decided to try to pick off the Alliance forces in detail, before they could unite and deployed forward, with their cavalry to the fore.

The Argentinians prepared to receive the onslaught.

The Brazilians advanced with unexpected speed.

Fearing the Brazilians would trap them in the open, the Paraguayans decided to fall back on the fortress, but threw their cavalry against the Argentine and Uruguayan troops to gain time.

But the attacks were repulsed and the Argentine cavalry came forward to exploit the situation. They routed the Paraguayan cavalry and pursued them. But the pursuers went too  far forward and were badly shot up by the Paraguayan infantry.

With the cavalry out of the way the Argentine infantry pressed forward on the right while the Brazilians formed up in the centre.

The Argentine infantry were soon engaged with two Paraguayan battalions in the woods along the river and were initially roughly handled. Then in a few mad moments two Argentine battalions delivered a devastating fire and destroyed one of the Paraguayan units. In desperation the other Paraguayan unit charged to try to break two disrupted Argentine units. They drove the Argentinians back, but failed to break them and in the next turn three Argentinian battalions blew them apart.

Meanwhile the Brazilians made it into the frontline.

Despite some initial success on the right, a round of devastating fire followed by a successful Paraguayan charge routed and destroyed three of of the five Brazilian battalions on the left.

Here the game was ended. The Paraguayans had not been driven from the fort and although the Alliance  artillery was in tact and the Uruguayans were still on the field (despite the appalling dice luck of their commander) victory was given to to the Paraguayans.

To finish off the post here are some random shots of the game.

Régiment Deux Ponts - Duexième Partie

This, the First Battalion of Régiment Deux Ponts, is the final unit I am making for this French AWI collection.

As tempting as it is to do the Régiment de Bourbonnais and the infantry of the Volontaires-étrangers de Lauzun (the only units of the French Forces in America under Rochambeau that I don’t have), I am resisting since I my original intention was to do four battalions and have already expanded that to six. On top of that this is after all really intended as a support force for the rather large American collections held by others in the group. But never say never…

Of course there has to be a parade!  

Paraguayan Fortress Guns - Part Three

Following on from my post last month, I have finished the remaining three gun positions for the Paraguayan fortress guns. These three are the three bastion positions. I have made each one as varied as possible in terms of the types of materials used in their construction, assuming that the poorly equipped Paraguayans would have had to use anything they had to hand.

And all three together.

And then all five pieces together, showing how the bastions fit in with the two recessed sections.

These are the final pieces in the Great Paraguayan War collection. Now I am ready for a game!

Värmland Jagares

The Värmland Jagare Regimente regiment presented here didn’t actually serve in the Finnish War, but I didn’t know that when I ordered them.

That said, the Karelska Jagare regiment present in the Savolaks Brigade wore a very similar uniform although they wore the standard top hat without the green crest. For a while I did consider converting the figures by whipping the heads off some line troops, but what would I do with 24 headless figures? I can’t abide waste like that.

So I have decided that the Värmland regiment will replace the Karelska regiment in my structure - when did historical accuracy get in the way of a good model soldier collection!

And here is the Savolaks Brigade on parade…

The whole brigade, including two batteries of the Savolaks artillery regiment

…on the left the Savolaks jâger regiment 

 covered by two companies of the Värmland Jägers

…and on the right the Savolaks Infantry Regiment
covered by the other two companies of the Värmland Jägers

This collection is rapidly coming to a conclusion with just four battalions and a few guns required to finish it. All of the figures have been purchased and are stacked in the queue.

The only outstanding item will be the mounted officers, that are not yet available…need to convince the Perrys to make them!