Vilcapugio Again

I had another go at Vilcapugio today. This time both armies opted to advance and attack the other (a die roll determined this in case you were wondering).

In reality it ended up with a fairly bold Royalist attack, as the Patriots, hampered by low PIPs again, halted their advance to reorganise their line. The Royalists advanced in echelon, holding back their more vulnerable militia and leading with the regular troops.

The initial musketry exchanges saw the Patriots fall back ...

... but their cavalry regrouped and charged.

The Patriot cavalry will not feature in this report again after this photo.

With the Patriot right flank gone, the Royalists charged, ready to swing round and roll up their line. Belgrano ordered up his reserves to stabilise the situation, whilst ordering forward his left flank against the Royalist militia.

The initial clashes on that flank were inconclusive

But as Belgrano's centre held on against Pezuela's attacks in the centre, the Royalist right crumbled and then disintegrated.

Both armies were now close to breaking. Pezuela ordered one final push against Belgrano's centre.

It failed. The Patriots stood their ground, the artillery driving off Pezuela's horse and Belgrano rallying his infantry to defeat the Royalist infantry attacking them

Belgrano accepted Pezuela's sword.

This was a closer refight than the last one, and could have swung either way in the last bound Once again Belgrano's PIPs were poor at the start, as the Royalists attacked, but they improved in time for him to stage a comeback. Pezuela held off from using his Good trait (roll two dice for PIPs and pick  the best) and ended up getting a '1' on a critical turn. When he did use his ability it wasn't enough.