So, even before Lasalle came out I've been working on painting armies of the South American war of independence, the Andes campaign in particular, with the minis and materials from Greandier Productions. My armies are not yet ready, but being here in Buenos Aires one of our local gamers managed to get out his over 10 year old minis that he painted ( 1:72 scale ) for the Chile campaign.
Lasalle is probably one of the few sets of rules out there that fits these actions very well since the battles of the South American war of independence have the size of actions that one fights with Lasalle. Of course in this case we would call the rules "Necoechea", him being a renowned Argentine cavalry commander :).
So last Saturday we gave it a try, here is the after action report.
The battle is based on a what if scenario for the battle of Chacabuco. San Martin finished crossing the Andes with his army early in 1817, and in a fast action managed to engage and defeat a royalist army on Feb 12 before they could even be reinforced.
In this scenario we assume that the patriot army advances more cautiously giving the royalists time to bring reinforcements. The battle takes places in the surroundings of the Chacabuco farm ( instead of the original battlefield, slightly to the north).
The patriots advance on the farm in two divisions just as the royalists are about to take positions to await reinforcements from Santiago de Chile.
The patriot army took the role of attacker and the royalist took the role of defender ( the royalist chose the side of the table and deployed first). I did my best to get armies that would seem balanced.
-------------------------------The Armies----------------------------------
Patriot Army ......................................................
CiC: General Don Jose de San Martin
Central Division
Sub Commanders : Bernardo O'Higgins , Gregorio Las Heras
*No 1 Chilean Infantry Bt - amat/reliab/SK 1
*Converged Grenadiers and Cazadores (skirmishers) companies from bats. 7 and 8 in one unit - exp/valiant/SK 2
*No 7 and No 8 Argentine inf bats. - exp/reliable/SK 0 ( since their skirmishers are deployed )
* Three squadrons of Argentine Horse Grenadiers converged in one unit - large unit exp/valiant/shock/pursuit
* one horse battery of four light guns
Reinforcement Division:
Sub commander : Soler
*No 11 Argentine inf bat. - exp/reli/SK 1
*Cazadroes de los Andes inf bat. - exp/rel/SK 2
*one squaron of horse grenadiers + one squadron of the general's personal escort converged in one unit - exp/valiant/shock/guard
* one battery of horse artillery with two light guns
Royalist Army.........................................................
Chacabuco troops:
CiC: Mariscal Marco del Pont
Sub commander Rafael Maroto
*Chiloe/Talavera/Concepcion inf bats. - exp/rel/SK 1
*Converged grenadiers from all inf bats. - exp/valiant/SK 0
*Chillan inf bat - amat/rel/SK 2
*two skirmish bases from the valdivia battalion
* one battery of foot artillery with two light guns
* one unit of Dragones de la Frontera - exp/valiant/shock
Reinforcements:
* large unit of combined squadrons of Concordia Hussars and Carabineros de Abascal - exp/rel/pursuit large unit
* unit of Dragones de Chillan - amat/rel
* one horse battery with two light guns
( to be continued )






















