The Battle of Estero Bellaco, 2nd May 1866. Another great Perry Brothers battle. Part one

 The Battle of Estero Bellaco, 2nd May 1866

This battle really is a continuation from the last Paraguayan War game we played shown in an earlier post. Two weeks after the Allies (Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay) had crossed into Paraguay, they established a vanguard camp close to the Paraguayan positions. Nearly a mile behind the vanguard was the main Allied camp.

Marshal Lopez, the Paraguayan CinC and President, ordered reconnaissance in force (4000 infantry and 1000 cavalry) to attack the Allied vanguard’s camp, to disrupt and disorder the Allies. The Allies were off guard when the attack came. All three Allied contingents were represented in the vanguard. On the left flank four battalions of Uruguayans plus artillery, in the centre six battalions of Brazilians plus artillery and a cavalry regiment and on the right a small Argentine force of three infantry companies and a cavalry regiment.

For the game all but one of the Allied units started unformed (disordered) apart from one Brazilian battalion closest to the enemy. The unformed units had to be activated by rolling under their leadership before they could move; they could still fire but as disordered. Trophies were always in the forefront of Lopez’s mind so points were given for captured guns (3 points) and supplies (1 point); 4 points for a victory and 10 points for a major victory. We used Black Powder rules for the game.

As before Nick Eyre and Michael played the Paraguayans, eager for revenge after the last battle, while Dave Andrews and Rick Priestley again played the Allies.

The Allies placed their troops close to the camps in their historical positions. The Paraguayans could come on anywhere along their table edge although four gaps in the terrain were easier to move through.

The Paraguayans had the first move, as they were attacking, but were only allowed 12’’on for the first movement. After rolling all their brigades arrived on the table; two cavalry brigades and an infantry brigade under Nick took the right flank. Michael with two more infantry brigades took the centre and left flank.

Rick had one of the Brazilian brigades plus gun and a cavalry regiment in the centre along with the small Argentine brigade of an infantry battalion and cavalry regiment on the right. Dave’s command was the other brigade of the Brazilians and the Uruguayan brigade of four battalions plus artillery. In their first turn the Allies had mixed responses trying to activate units.

Nick’s cavalry now shot off up the right flank enveloping the flank and rear of Dave’s Uruguayans, much the shock of the Allied players! His infantry followed up but not quite as fast. Michael’s infantry in the centre quickly formed line and poured fire into Dave’s leading Brazilian battalion while the rest of Dave’s Brazilian brigade formed up. Michael’s movement on the left flank was hampered by poor dice so they didn’t move.

With only two out of four Uruguayan battalions formed (the smallest unfortunately), Dave stood his ground in line with the Battalion Libertad firing close range into the closest cavalry regiment. This with the help of one of the artillery pieces cut up the cavalrymen in quick order, but didn’t rout them. The small Battalion Independencia stepped back to cover the rear of the brigade again firing into their closest equestrian target. These two battalions became the heroes of the day. Infantry during this war still used square against cavalry, but they also, at times, used line, so it was up to the player to choose. The two battalions stayed in line as the threat of infantry assault wasn’t far off.

Michael’s ‘advance’ on the left was being severely hampered by Rick’s rifle and artillery fire from his Brazilians and Argentines. After a while Michael got his troops forward and deploying into line advanced close up and personal to repay Rick’s men in kind. Meanwhile Rick sent his Brazilian cavalry unit over to help the desperate Uruguayans, as Michael in the centre charged his infantry into Dave’s Brazilians after a brief firefight.

Nicks cavalry then struck home. The Battalion Libertad turning one regiment of cavalry, but the Independencia Battalion fell back through the camp just holding on. The Brazilian cavalry regiment made its charge at this point, but both adversaries falling back, damaged. During this combat the smaller Paraguayan cavalry brigade broke.

The hand to hand in the centre was partially vicious as Alan gave the Paraguayans the ‘Tough fighters’ rule allowing a re-roll on a failed attack. Also all Paraguayans were given stamina of 4, and the ‘Stubborn’ rule, allowing them to pass their first break test. However all of this came to nil as in the centre both brigades (both Brazilian and Paraguayan) broke and fell back.

For this game scenario Alan had secretly decided that when the first Allied brigade of the vanguard collapsed it would trigger the possible arrival of the reinforcements from the main camp. A dice was rolled to see if 1-3 Allied brigades could roll to arrive on the Allied baseline. Only one arrived first.

Unfortunately for the Uruguayans, Nick’s infantry on the right now made their move. Sending his infantry in in close support of his cavalry one battalion with a ‘follow me’ order charged a Uruguayan artillery piece in the flank, capturing it. As his cavalry went around the rear of the Uruguayan brigade, one infantry battalion hit the Battalion Florida to the front while a cavalry regiment hit the rear. This spelt doom for the Battalion Florida as well as the brigade. It was a heroic resistance but the remains of the brigade fell back towards the reinforcements which were now arriving en masse.

All of a sudden Rick’s two brigades broke, but even with 12 new battalions of Allies arriving, the Paraguayans had been victorious. As well as breaking the vanguard they had captured two guns and one lot of supplies a total of 7 points.