Chacabuco And Maipo For 'Dominion of Napoleon Bonaparte'

I put together these two scenarios for 'Dominion of Napoleon Bonaparte' last year, but they'd lingered, forgotten, in my drafts until now. They cover what are probably the two key battles in the struggle for Chilean independence.

Chacabuco (February 12th 1817)

Following the 'Reconquista', Spanish forces had re-established a harsh grip on Chile, forcing patriots to flee to Argentina. It was there that General José de San Martín, alongside Chilean leader Bernardo O’Higgins, conceived the audacious Crossing of the Andes.

Rather than a direct assault, San Martín led the Army of the Andes - roughly 5,000 men - through treacherous, high-altitude passes. This served as a massive feint, confusing the Spanish authorities about where the actual invasion would emerge. As the time the weary but determined Patriot forces descended from the peaks, the Royalists were scrambled and forced to make a stand at Chacabuco.

Patriots: 3 x Column Infantry, 1 x Elite Disciplined Heavy Cavalry (Horse Grenadiers), 1 x unreliable Column Infantry (Soler), 1 x unreliable Light Dragoons (Soler)

Royalists: 1 x Light Infantry, 2 x Fortified Line Infantry, 1 x Light Dragoons, 1 x unreliable Artillery, 1 x unreliable Line Infantry (Reinforcements from Santiago)

Patriots (Attackers)

Horse Grenadiers (ED), Column Infantry (U), Light Dragoons (U)
Column	Column	Column
Line (D)	Line (D)	Light Infantry
Light Dragoons, Artillery (U), Line (U)

Royalists (Defenders)

The battle began with a pincer movement. San Martín divided his forces into two divisions: one under General Soler and the other under O’Higgins. While Soler was tasked with a long flanking maneuver to encircle the Royalist rear, O’Higgins - driven by characteristic fervour - turned a distracting demonstration into a premature frontal assault against the Spanish lines.

The Royalists, led by Rafael Maroto, held a strong defensive position and initially pushed O’Higgins back. However, San Martín’s tactical patience paid off. Just as the Patriot centre wavered, Soler’s division appeared on the Spanish flank. A decisive cavalry charge shattered the Royalist infantry, turning a disciplined defence into a panicked rout.

The Royalists suffered over 500 dead and 600 captured, while Patriot losses were remarkably low. Two days later, San Martín and O’Higgins entered Santiago to a heroes' welcome. While the war for independence would continue for several more years, Chacabuco was the death knell for Spanish colonial prestige in the region

Maipo (5th April 1818)

The Battle of Maipo (or Maipú) was the decisive engagement in the Chilean War of Independence, effectively ending major Spanish control over the heart of Chile and securing the nation’s sovereignty.
Following the Patriot victory at the Battle of Chacabuco in 1817, the Royalists retreated to the south. However, the Spanish launched a counter-offensive under General Mariano Osorio, who successfully ambushed Patriot forces at Cancha Rayada in March 1818. This surprise defeat sparked panic in Santiago, as the Patriot army suffered heavy losses and retreated in disarray. Despite the chaos, General José de San Martín and Bernardo O’Higgins managed to regroup the remnants of the Army of the Andes and the Army of Chile. By early April, they positioned themselves on the Maipo plains, just south of the capital, determined to make a final stand against Osorio’s advancing Royalist troops.

On April 5, 1818, the two armies met. San Martín deployed his forces on a ridge, utilizing a strong defensive position.

 
Patriots: 4 x Column Infantry, 1 x Disciplined Heavy Cavalry (Horse Grenadiers), 1 x unreliable Artillery
Royalists: 1 x Column Infantry (Lights & Grenadiers), 2 x Line Infantry, 1 x Disciplined Line Infantry (Burgos), 1 x Light Dragoons, 1 x  unreliable Artillery

Patriots (Attackers)

Column, Horse Grenadiers (D), Artillery (U)
Column	Column	Column
Column	Line	Line
Line (D), Light Dragoons, Artillery (U)

Royalists (Defenders)

The engagement began with a heavy Patriot artillery barrage, followed by a fierce infantry struggle. The Royalist centre held firm initially, putting immense pressure on the Patriot lines. The turning point occurred when San Martín ordered a massive charge by his reserve divisions. This fresh assault broke the Royalist left flank. As the Spanish lines crumbled, they retreated to the Lo Espejo farmhouse, covered by the veteran Spanish Burgos Battalion, where a final, bloody resistance took place before they were completely overwhelmed.

The Patriot victory was absolute. Most of the Royalist army was killed or captured, including several high-ranking officers. The defeat destroyed the Spanish capacity to launch further large-scale invasions of central Chile, allowing San Martín to shift his focus toward the liberation of Peru. Maipo is a cornerstone of South American independence, marking the moment Chile’s status as a free republic became irreversible.

The Battle Of Southam for 'Dominion Of Cavaliers And Roundheads'

 

Way back when I was first dabbling with ECW games I played out a scenario for the action at Southam on 23rd August 1642. This is one of the earliest actions of the conflict, albeit a small one. With the orders of battle to hand, I have adapted it for 'Dominion of Cavaliers & Roundheads'.

Southam - 23rd August 1642

During the opening phase of the English Civil War, both factions scrambled to seize strategic territory. In Warwickshire, a local rivalry pitted the Parliamentarian commander, Lord Brooke, against his Royalist counterpart, the Earl of Northampton.

The conflict shifted from political tension to open combat on August 22nd, when King Charles I raised his standard at Nottingham and formally declared war. Wasting no time, Northampton moved to intercept Brooke’s assembling militia. Just two days after the King’s declaration, the opposing forces clashed near the small market town of Southam, marking one of the earliest skirmishes of the war.

Brooke had three regiments of foot to Northampton's one, outnumbered the Royalists three to one in artillery but was outnumbered himself in horse. The Royalists formed up with their backs to the River Itchin with the Parliamentarian force on a hill opposite them. The Royalists had 300 foot and around 800 horse, whilst Parliament had 3000 foot and 400 horse.

Parliament: 2 x Cavalry, 1 x Musketeers, 1 x Reinforces Musketeers (Larger Unit), 1 x unreliable Musketeers (raw unit), 1 x Artillery

Royalists: 1 x Elite Cavaliers, 2 x Cavaliers, 1 x Pikemen, 1 x Dragoons, 1 x unreliable Artillery

Parliament (Attackers)

Musketeers (D), Musketeers (UR), Artillery
Cavalry	Musketeers	Cavalry
Cavaliers (E)	Artillery (UR)	Cavaliers
Pikemen, Dragoons, Cavaliers

Royalist (Defenders)

The action commenced at 8:00 AM with an ineffctive Royalist cannonade. The Parliamentarian artillery proved far more lethal in response; their return fire ploughed directly through the Royalist infantry, causing significant damage and claiming the lives of several riders and horses.

As the Parliamentarian horse advanced into the valley, the Royalist foot soldiers found themselves unable to withstand the relentless hail of shot and began a retreat. 

Cavalry engaged between the two forces. Lord Grey led the Parliamentarian assault with "very thick and hot charges," exerting a level of pressure the Royalists could not contain. Eventually, the Royalist cavalry broke formation and fled the field, conceding the day to the Parliamentarians. Due to his inferiority in cavalry Brooke did not order a pursuit.

Design Notes: Parliament has artillery to cover their centre, whilst the Royalist guns are pushed to the fore and cannot be relied upon. If the Royalist horse can be contained, Parliament should win this with the strength of its foot. One Parliamentarian regiment was larger than the others, hence the D rating. To grant this another regiment was downgraded to UR - unreliable troops wouldn't be out of the question at this early stage. However if you feel that this detracts from Parliament's performance, drop the D and UR rating and just make their reserve foot 2 x Musketeers. To reflect the Royalist's lack of foot you could drop the unreliable status from their artillery (since it's already pretty vulnerable) and give it to the dragoons instead who were really only a detachment of musketeers. 

Dominion Of Cavaliers And Roundheads

A couple of months ago I was very excited to see that there is a ECW-specific set of rules in the Dominion series - Dominion of Cavaliers and Roundheads. Regular readers will know that for the past year I've been using the Pike & Shot version, as that has ECW stats in it, and made a few minor adaptations to better reflect the conflict. So I was interested in seeing how a specific set of rules would approach things.

I was generally impressed. Obviously it follows the standard Dominion format; armies of 3-7 units, simple troop types and the standard Elite/Fortified/Unreliable modifiers. In this case we have Artillery, Dragoons, Cavaliers, Cavalry, Musketeers, Pikemen and Highlanders. Foot are assumed to be mixed pike and shot, but the division between Musketeers and Pikemen is based on their emphasis. The Royalists tend towards Pikemen, whilst the better equipped Parliamentarians emphasise Musketeers. Cavaliers are used for Royalist horse; they are more aggressive against other horse, but prone to uncontrolled pursuit. Dragoons get to shoot, but in certain circumstances they skirmish, for which there is a special rule. Artillery is best used from the reserve. 

In terms of rules there's a nice mechanism for making cavalry unpleasant on the flanks when opposing foot. And there's an interesting optional rule in rallying where you drop all extra traits and rally a unit as a base unit instead, which makes things a lot simpler. 

There was only one thing I didn't like. It uses what I think is the original combat resolution system, where each turn you make combat rolls in all three sectors, then fill in gaps from the reserve. There's no alternating player turns, or choice of where to fight. Stephen has rightly pointed out that this reflects the relative lack of control a commander had over the battle once the armies were deployed and stuck into each other. Unfortunately it also makes for a dull game. There's not a lot of decision in the Dominion games as it is, and this takes away a good proportion of it. However there's no reason why you can't use one of the activation systems from another set of rules instead. 

To finish off  this run-through of the game there are 28 scenarios covering key battles of the era. All the ones you'd expect are there, and some of them are very interesting indeed. 

So how does it play? I've played a few of the scenarios, and having now got the mechanisms sorted I thought I'd document one for you. Not in detail though.

I abandoned the activation system in the rules and used the one from Dominion of Napoleon Bonaparte instead. This uses alternate turns with fighting in one sector only. It has a random element as to which sector is selected, but also a chance of allowing the player to make a choice. It's a nice balance between uncontrolled battles and the player getting some agency. 

One of my standard test-beds for my ECW Portable Wargame was First Newbury, which is a nice head-to-head fight between relatively equal forces. So I set up the First Newbury scenario from the rules as a simple example. Here's the set-up, looking at it from behind the Parliamentarian right flank. We can see the horse of both sides facing off on Wash Common*, Parliament formed up around Round Hill in the centre and Royalist horse facing Parliamentarian foot in the enclosures near the River Kennet. I put on some houses to represent Newbury.

Black counters show elite units (the Royalist horse) and brown counters show steadfast units (some of the Parliamentarian foot - the Trained Bands)

Parliament won the cavalry fight on Wash Common. Orange counters show destroyed units. 

And to make matters worse, the Royalist foot was thrown back in the centre. 

On Wash Common Parliament's horse continued their rampage, turning the Royalist flank. The white counter shows an unreliable unit. Why is it unreliable? It's one of the period specific rules in play. 

And the horse kept going, rolling up the Royalist army in what was a rapid defeat for the King's army. 

I set it up again. At first the fighting on Wash Common was inconclusive. 

But the Royalists soon swept to victory and managed not to ride off in pursuit. 

In the centre and on Parliament's left the fighting settled into a stalemate. The Royalists pushed forward, but couldn't shift the steadfast Parliamentarians. But Parliament couldn't blunt the Royalist attack. 

In a reversal of the pervious game, the Royalist horse swept off Wash Common and into the Parliamentarian foot. 

Essex frantically rallied his panicking foot ...

... but it continued to waver and break. 

However eventually the position was stabilised. 

And then reversed as the Royalist horse broke, no doubt exhausted from its efforts. 

The stabilised Parliamentarian line faced a continued Royalist advance. 

The Royalist left fell back and the King failed to rally them. 

On the other flank the Royalist horse there had been trying to winkle the opposing foot out of their enclosures. At this key moment in the battle they succeeded, leaving Parliament's left exposed. 

But in the centre the Royalists were collapsing. The battle now hung on a knife-edge. 

But it was the agile Royalist cavaliers that swung into the centre to claim the win. 

To be fair this battle doesn't show all of the special rules in the game (no dragoons or artillery, for starters), but I hope this shows something of how a battle plays out. Controlling the flanks with your horse is important. The Royalists have more punch, but their lack of discipline can be a problem. 

I want to play through a few more scenarios, and then I will have a look at updating my random army generator to reflect this set. And then? maybe a campaign. But no promises. 

*Just on the south edge of Wash Common is the warren that was the original home of the rabbit protagonists of Watership Down. Watership Down itself lies a few miles to the south. 

Two Scenarios For 'Dominion Of Pike & Shot'

I put together these two scenarios last year but for some reason I forgot to post them.

The ECW one has probably been superseded by one in Dominion Of Cavaliers And Roundheads, but since I put in the work to create it for the pike & shot rules I'm not letting it go to waste.

 Winceby (11th October 1643)

The Battle of Winceby (1643) was a short but decisive cavalry engagement during the First English Civil War, fought on 11 October 1643 near the village of Winceby in Lincolnshire. It was an important Parliamentarian victory, helping to secure control of eastern England and boost the reputation of rising commanders like Oliver Cromwell.

In 1643, the English Civil War was still in its early stages. Control of Lincolnshire was hotly contested. The Parliamentarian stronghold of Hull had resisted a Royalist siege earlier that year, and the Parliamentarians were now trying to secure more of the county to cut off Royalist forces in the north.

Parliament’s Eastern Association army, led by Earl of Manchester and including Oliver Cromwell as cavalry commander, was moving to take Bolingbroke Castle, held by Royalists. In response, the Royalist Northern Army, under Sir William Widdrington and Sir John Henderson, advanced to support the garrison and challenge Parliament's control of the area.

Manchester’s force included about 3,000 horse and 2,000 foot, while the Royalists had around 1,500–2,000 horse and some dragoons. The Royalists hoped to catch Manchester’s army while it was divided near Bolingbroke, but Cromwell’s cavalry quickly regrouped and moved to confront them near Winceby.

Royalists: 5 x Horse, 1 x Dragoons

Parliament: 2 x Elite Horse, 1 x Horse, 1 x Dragoons, 1 x Mixed Missile Foot

Royalists (Attackers)

Horse, Horse, Horse
Horse	Dragoons	Horse
Horse	Dragoons	Horse (E)
Horse (E), Mixed Missile Foot

Parliament (Defenders)

The battle began in the morning with both sides deploying mostly cavalry. The Royalists, positioned on slightly higher ground, charged first, but their attack was poorly coordinated. Cromwell’s Ironsides cavalry, supported by other Parliamentarian troops, counter-charged up the slope.

At the start of the engagement, Cromwell’s horse was killed, and he was briefly stunned, but he quickly remounted and rejoined the fight. His disciplined troopers broke the Royalist front, forcing them back in confusion. The Parliamentarians pursued aggressively, cutting down fleeing cavalry and scattering the enemy across the countryside.

The fighting lasted less than an hour, but it was chaotic and brutal. Many Royalists were killed or captured, and some fled for miles, throwing down their weapons. Parliamentarian forces claimed a decisive victory with hundreds of Royalist casualties, while their own losses were light.

The victory at Winceby allowed Parliament to capture Bolingbroke Castle and soon afterward take Lincoln. It secured Lincolnshire for Parliament and weakened Royalist influence in the north-east. The battle also cemented Cromwell’s reputation as a capable cavalry commander and laid the groundwork for his rise in Parliament’s military and political leadership.

The Dunes (11th October 1658)

The Battle of the Dunes (1658) was an engagement during the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659) and was fought near Dunkirk between a Franco-English army and Spanish forces. It was notable for its unusual setting - on sand dunes by the coast - and for showcasing the rising power of France under Turenne, aided by Cromwell’s England. It also featured former Royalist troops fighting veterans of the New Model Army.

By the late 1650s, the Franco-Spanish War had dragged on for over two decades. France, led by Cardinal Mazarin and Marshal Henri de Turenne, aimed to weaken Spanish control in the Spanish Netherlands. At the same time, Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate in England was eager to undermine Catholic Spain and secure commercial and naval advantages.

In 1657, France and England signed the Treaty of Paris, forming a military alliance. England would send 6,000 troops and naval support in exchange for control of Dunkirk if it were captured. Dunkirk, a Spanish-held port used by privateers to harass English shipping, was a strategic prize for both sides.

In May 1658, Turenne led a combined Franco-English force of around 15,000 men into Flanders and laid siege to Dunkirk. The Spanish, under Don Juan of Austria (the illegitimate son of Philip IV), quickly moved to relieve the city with a force of about 15,000–16,000 men, including French Frondeurs and English Royalist exiles under James, Duke of York (the future James II).

The Spanish hoped to lift the siege before Dunkirk’s defences collapsed. Turenne, anticipating this, prepared his army on the dunes south of the city to block the relief effort.

The battle took place on June 14, 1658, with fighting erupting on soft, shifting dunes - an unusual and difficult battlefield.

French: 1 x Elite Horse (Supported by Warships), 1 x Elite Melee Foot (English), 1 x Missile Foot, 2 x Horse

Spanish: 1 x Horse, 1 x Defended Horse, 1 x Defended Missile Foot, 1 x Missile Foot (French Rebels), 2 x Unreliable Horse (Foraging Cavalry)

French (Attackers)

Horse, Horse
Missile Foot	Melee Foot (E)	Horse (E)
Horse	Missile Foot (D)	Horse (D)
Horse (UR), Horse (UR), Missile Foot

Spanish (Defenders)

The English infantry, under Sir William Lockhart, led the assault on the Spanish right, storming their positions on the dunes with great ferocity. 

Meanwhile, Turenne’s French infantry and cavalry engaged the centre and left eventually pushing the Spanish back. The terrain made cavalry manoeuvres tricky, but the Franco-English eventually outflanked the Spanish and forced them into retreat, inflicting heavy casualties - over 1,200 dead and many captured.

The victory led to the fall of Dunkirk which was handed over to England as promised. The battle boosted the prestige of both Turenne and Cromwell's army, and it marked the beginning of the end for Spanish dominance in the region. Just a year later, the Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) brought peace between France and Spain, confirming France’s rising power in Europe.

Note: This scenario uses the Unreliable trait, which is not in 'Dominion of Pike & Shot'. If you do not have access to the rules for the Unreliable trait then simply drop one of the Spanish 'Horse (UR)' and make the other simply 'Horse'.

The Great Northern War In An Evening

Daniel expressed an interest in playing one of the Dominion games last night, so we had a go at my simple campaign system for the War of Spanish Succession, but using Great Northern War armies. The campaign system probably doesn't really replicate the politics of the GNW, but it was good enough to hang a series of games off of it.

I drew up a couple of sets of tables for generating both Swedish armies and their Russian or Saxon opponents. I decided that the campaign would start just after the Battle of Narva, with the Russians temporarily out of the war and with Charles XII attacking Augustus II in Poland/Saxony. There was a mechanism whereby the Saxons would give up the fight after a certain number of Swedish victories, at which point the Swedes would invade Russia and the tables would change accordingly.

To be honest I didn't feel that either the tables or the mechanisms were entirely satisfactory, so whilst I have them written up in a safe place they need a lot more work before I'll be posting them here. However they gave us pairs of armies for an entertaining evening's gaming.

Daniel was brave enough to take the Swedes, whilst I was their opponents - initially Saxon.

I'm afraid that my skills do not stretch to coming up with fictional names for battles in Eastern Europe, so I shan't bother. And you will also be please to know that I won't give you a blow-by-blow account of each battle either. 

The first battle tested the army generation tables thoroughly, giving Daniel but three infantry units, all of them elite and disciplined - a formidable but brittle force. My force was almost entirely infantry, with some supporting artillery. I defended. Indeed the rules weight the onus of attacker towards the Swedes as that's what they tended to be most of the time.

Some field defences in my centre did me no good at all, and in the first few combats the Swedes smashed their way through the Saxons.

However the Saxons came back, rolling a couple of well-times sixes to break the Swedish army and pick up a win, albeit not a decisive one.

Here's the final Swedish charge being broken by musketry.

I didn't try and create backstories for the battles, but we did interpret the various defensive bonuses into terrain for the look of the thing. In the second battle the Saxons were the attackers but still had their centre formed up on a village. In this battle they had help from Polish cavalry.

It didn't last long though. 

However teh Saxons prevailed again, and I started to build a useful hand of cards for the final reckoning.

The Saxons attacked in the third battle, with their wings anchored on rising ground. The Swedes were smashed again, losing their third battle in a row.

But the Swedes came back. In the fourth battle they were the attackers. We had them forcing a river-crossing against a inept Saxon defence ...

... and in a furious engagement ...

... the Swedes swept to a decisive win.

With a win under their belts there was a chance that the Swedes would now switch to Russia. They didn't, and instead continues their attacks, trying to take a fortified town by storm. I broke out one of my redoubts for this battle, which saw a small Saxon force well-entrenched. 

The Swedish assault made no headway and they continued their general trend of losing battles.

The sixth battle saw the Saxons defending behind a marsh and some rising ground.

The Swedes started well, with a epic cavalry charge pushing the Saxons off the hill. But their cavalry ran in to delayed Saxon reinforcements, and were thrown back in turn.

The Saxon cavalry then proceeded to roll up the Swedish army.

So far we had seem five Saxon victories, three of them decisive, against one Swedish win (also decisive). And yet still the Swedes kept coming. They attacked a Saxon position based on a fortified village.

And it all came together for them; for the second time the Swedes got a decisive win.

The seventh battle saw the end of the campaign, and checked our accumulated cards to see who came out best in the treaty. This is based on making the best possible poker hand from what you had. I'd picked up three kings early on, and had a nice full house off the back of it. However the last battle saw me lose one of the kings, leaving me with a king-high straight instead. Daniel had lost several battles so I reasoned his hand wouldn't be too great. In fact he had three eights and a couple of queens, so had the full house I'd just lost. Essentially the Swedish win in the final battle saw them prevent me from winning the campaign and gave the Swedes an unlikely victory.

And we never even went to Russia.

Thanks to Daniel for a great evening's gaming, and for such a dramatic finish to the campaign.

(Thanks to Caesar for the first photo in the post)

The Battles of Vilcapugio And Ayohuma

My previous posts covered a couple of victories for General Belgrano. The next two battles in this series were both defeats.

Vilcapugio (1st October 1813)

After the Patriot triumphs at Tucumán (1812) and Salta (1813), Belgrano advanced into Upper Peru (modern Bolivia) aiming to liberate the region from Spanish control. His Army of the North, about 3,500 strong, included veterans from previous battles, local militias, and reinforcements sent by the United Provinces.

The Royalists, now commanded by Pezuela, withdrew northward while gathering strength. Despite facing logistical challenges in the rugged Andean terrain, Belgrano hoped to unite with guerrilla forces under leaders like Vicente Camargo and Eustaquio Méndez to encircle the enemy. However, coordination problems, difficult mountain supply lines, and unreliable communications slowed the Patriot advance.

By late September, Belgrano took position near Vilcapugio, a plateau offering open ground for battle. He believed the Royalists were vulnerable and prepared to strike before they could receive further reinforcements. Pezuela, however, had regrouped and planned to attack first, aiming to break the Patriot army’s cohesion and morale.

Royalists: 3 x Column Infantry, 1 x Light Cavalry, 1 x unreliable Artillery, 1 x unreliable Elite Disciplined Light Cavalry

Patriots: 3 x Column Infantry, 1 x Elite Light Cavalry, 1 x Light Cavalry, 1 x unreliable Artillery

Royalists (Attackers)

Artillery (U), Column, Light Cavalry (UED)
Column	Column	Light Cavalry
Column	Column	Light Cavalry (E)
Column, Light Cavalry, Artillery (U)

Patriots (Defenders)

The battle began on the morning of 1 October. Belgrano opted for his usual cavalry attack on the flank, whilst his infantry contained the Royalist lines. Initially this worked, and another Patriot victory seemed likely. But at the moment of crisis the Patriot army lost momentum. This coincided with a unit of Royalist cavalry appearing in their right-rear.

Pezuela’s forces exploited the disarray, hitting the Patriot centre and left with coordinated infantry and cavalry charges. Patriot supply wagons were overrun, and ammunition shortages worsened the situation. Attempts to regroup failed as Royalist pressure mounted from multiple sides. By late afternoon, Belgrano ordered a retreat to avoid total destruction, leaving much of his artillery and baggage in enemy hands.

The defeat at Vilcapugio shattered the Patriots’ advance into Upper Peru and forced them to withdraw south to reorganise. Royalist morale soared, while Patriot forces suffered heavy losses in men and equipment. 

Design Notes

I have weakened the obligatory Patriot cavalry attack by not starting them in the reserve. But the Patriots can still win this one if the Royalist cavalry don't turn up.

Ayohuma (14th November 1813)

Following the defeat at Vilcapugio in October 1813, Belgrano retreated south to regroup his battered army. Morale was low, supplies were short, and many men were wounded or demoralised. Despite the setback, Belgrano decided to make another stand rather than withdraw completely from Upper Peru. He chose Ayohuma, near the town of Potosí, as his defensive position, hoping the open ground would allow for better manoeuvre.

The Royalists under Pezuela, buoyed by their recent victory, pursued aggressively with around 5,000 men, outnumbering Belgrano’s 3,000. They had better artillery, more cavalry, and the advantage of momentum. Pezuela sought to destroy the Patriot army completely before it could recover, while Belgrano aimed to hold his ground and protect the revolution’s foothold in the region.

In the days before the battle, Belgrano attempted to inspire his troops, appealing to their patriotism and promising reinforcements from local guerrillas. However, those reinforcements never arrived, leaving his force at a severe disadvantage.

Royalists: 1x elite Column Infantry (Flank Attack), 1 x fortified Line, 1 x Line, 1 x Light Cavalry, 1 x Artillery

Patriots: 4 x Column Infantry, 2 x Light Cavalry

Royalists (Attackers)

Light Cavalry, Artillery
Line	Line (D)	Column (E)
Light Cavalry	Column	Light Cavalry
Column, Column, Column

Patriots (Defenders)

On the morning of 14 November, Pezuela executed a flanking manoeuvre, approaching from higher ground to strike the Patriot right from an unexpected angle. It was suggested to Belgrano that he counter-attack this move, but he declined. Royalist artillery opened a devastating bombardment, softening up the Patriot lines.

Belgrano ordered the advance of his infantry and cavalry toward the enemy right flank, but they could not overcome both the rugged terrain in front of Pezuela's troops. To make matters worse, Belgrano' light guns were no match for the Royalist artillery. Belgrano was forced to retreat. The retreat quickly turned into a rout, with heavy losses in men, horses, and equipment.

Ayohuma was a crushing defeat, forcing Belgrano to retreat far south into present-day Argentina. The Royalists regained control of Upper Peru, ending the Patriots’ second campaign there. The loss damaged Belgrano’s military reputation, and command of the Army of the North would soon pass to José de San Martín, marking a shift in the revolution’s northern strategy.

Design Notes

Weighting this against the Patriots is quite hard. Putting their cavalry in the front-line and not giving them any artillery with which to support them helps. The Royalists front-line are mostly line to reflect them sitting in rough terrain receiving the Patriot assault. The Royalists have a full-strength artillery unit in order to reflect their total superiority. As an option try downgrading it to Unreliable, and adding Fortified to the left-flank Line. This will reduce the pre-battle bombardment effects, but make it harder for the Patriots to attack.