Maipo Again

I played another refight of Maipo this afternoon. With next door deciding to pressure-wash their driveway and the house over the road trying to offset the noise with some 'tunes' I wouldn't say my concentration was at its best, but I gave it a good go.

Here's the armies set up. I went for an ahistorical deployment, sticking the Chilean infantry on the Patriot right and the Argentinians on the left. The far left of the Patriot army was covered by the Horse Grenadiers. The Royalists were in a standard deployment; some infantry and artillery on the isolated hill, their cavalry covering their right flank and the elite infantry in the centre.

The Patriot plan of attack was to lead with the Horse Grenadiers, advance the Argentinians against the centre and hold back the more vulnerable Chileans, simply using them to cover against any advance by the Royalist left

It was a plan which relied on the Horse Grenadiers sweeping all before them. The aim was to inflict all of the casualties required to win on the Royalist right by setting up flank attacks. But first the Royalist cavalry had to be eliminated.

The Royalist cavalry held, and some of their infantry swung around to aid them.

The Horse Grenadiers fought their way out of the sticky situation initially, eliminating some Royalist cavalry ...

... but losing some Horse Grenadiers to the flanking infantry.

The Argentinian infantry was now in position and engaging the Royalists with musketry. However without the decisive cavalry attack coming in from the flank the Royalists held firm.

San Martin ordered an advance by the bulk of the Chilean infantry. Their columns drove back the Royalist left.

However the attack on the Royalist right was still stalled, the centre was basically unopposed and now the Royalists on the extreme left were advancing on the exposed Chilean flank.

San Martin ordered a bayonet attack down the line. This broke some Royalists, but the rest rallied and held.

The Royalist left counterattacked, and the Chileans were shattered, falling back.

Meanwhile the Royalist right held firm. The Patriots actually only had to destroy two more elements to win the battle, but couldn't quite finish them off.

The Royalist line reformed, looking as strong as ever.

One last Patriot attack failed to break them, and the loss of another element of infantry took them over their breakpoint, giving the Royalists the victory.

The Patriot plan was a bold one, relying on the cavalry winning quickly, and that didn't happen. Holding back the Chileans isn't a bad idea, as they are vulnerable to unlucky combat rolls. This is something I need to think about with these rules; militia can be very fragile and possibly too fragile. But changing it won't be as simple as I'd hoped.