Tucuman – A Liberators HOTT Battle Report

Chris Harrod and I played my Tucuman Scenario for Liberators HOTT. I was the attacking Royalists trying to reach Tucuman. Chris had the Argentine Patriots. Nice little game let down my a bit of incompetence on my part. Victory to the Patriots.

The game also saw the christening of my new wargaming table and my new 1815 Liberators armies.

Deployment

The table was pretty simple. Tucuman in the corner. The Campo de las Carreras on the western flank – just some rough patches for visual effect but no game effect. And a couple of roads.

Deployment outside Tucuman
Deployment outside Tucuman

Chris deployed his patriots outside Tucuman.

Patriots just in front of Tucuman
Patriots just in front of Tucuman

I set up the Royalists in columns on the southern flank.

Patriots just in front of Tucuman
Patriots just in front of Tucuman

Given the deployment our plans were fairly simple. I was going to head down the flank and then wheel into face the Patriots. Chris was just going to pivot to face me. If I was lucky I’d get there before Chris had a chance to align to the flank attack.

Plans
Plans

The Battle

I launched forward up the flank. It would be a race against time.

Royalists launch forward
Royalists launch forward

Chris wheeled his left flank backwards (using individual moves).

Patriots left pivots backwards
Patriots left pivots backwards

I kept going.

Royalist columns advancing
Royalist columns advancing

Chris swung his right flank forward to line up with this left. Hmm, his line was looking pretty solid and my line, well, wasn’t a line.

Patriot line swings forward
Patriot line swings forward

I peeled off my artillery, and some support cavalry, to secure my flank and threaten the Patriots. Trouble is we were out of range. In Liberators HOTT artillery can shoot 1500 paces, i.e. 30″ on this table. That is a long way but not long enough.

Artillery almost in range
Artillery almost in range

Finally, I got to the pivot point and started turning my columns in towards the patriots.

Royalists start to turn towards Tucuman
Royalists start to turn towards Tucuman

And then I painfully started to form a line. Mainly because columns hitting lines in Liberators HOTT aren’t going to be so effective.

My artillery was finally in range playing on his line. The guns scored the occasional recoil.

Royalist line begins to form
Royalist line begins to form

Finally I was in line and facing his line. The lines marched towards each other and the Royalist guns continued to inflict recoils.

Battle lines close
Battle lines close

A brief musketry duel ensued. A few stands recoiled on both sides. One of his stands died.

Musketry duel
Musketry duel

However, the battle went to the patriot cavalry who charged the royalist infantry. Tristan threw himself into the combat but a 4 versus 1 dice result meant the cavalry defeated the infantry, killed Tristan and won the game.

Tristan ridden down
Tristan ridden down

Conclusions and observations

Chris played sensibly and took the game. I was pleased to try out my new wargaming table and also get part of my new 1815 Liberators armies on the table. Chris did, however, exclaim “Hey, those Royalist infantry have purple trousers!” It is true. And they did.

I didn’t play so well. I really must learn not to be overly ambitious in a DBA, HOTT or Liberators HOTT game. My plan was too ambitious for a game based on PIPs.

The whole thing about forming in column to quickly attack Chris’s flank didn’t really pan out. Columns are a bit faster when marching but can’t fight particularly effectively so have to expand into line and that takes PIPs. May as well just deploy in line and advance. This suggests some tweaking of the Liberators HOTT rules is necessary.

Aside from bad play the scenario seems to offer a good little game.

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