I was talking to John Fletcher and he mentioned most people who play Liberators choose the 1817-18 campaign, like I did. So I’m determined to refight other battles, hopefully all of them eventually. But to start with here is a catalogue of the scenarios.
March Attack
Battalion level Napoleonic Wargames Rules by Crusader Games.
Liberators Maps at Different Ground Scales
Different rule systems assume different ground scales. So I thought I’d show one scenario map, a Liberators scenario by John Fletcher for the Battle of Ica, at different ground scales. And suggest which Wargaming Rules suit each scale.
Converting from Liberators QPR to March Attack
I gave March Attack a go for Liberators when I fought Alternative Chacabuco. March Attack are a battalion level set of Napoleonic rules from Crusader Publishing. They appeal to me for a variety of reasons, not least because each unit is two stands, just like my big base armies.
But to do the refight I had to translate the orders of battle from Liberators QPR, the game I’ve used most for big battles in the Liberators period, to March Attack. The main issues are Troop Quality and Commander Ratings.
Alternative Chacabuco – A March Attack Battle Report
I quite like the Alternative Chacabuco scenario from Fletcher (2006). It isn’t historical but it is small and reasonably balanced so is a good choice to try out a new set of rules. As it happens I’ve been wanting to try out March Attack by Crusader Games for a while so once again Chris Harrod and I faced each other around Chacabuco Farm. Chris was the Royalists / Spanish. I was the Patriots / Argentineans. It was the first outing of my Liberators armies now they are all on Big Bases.
I’ll describe the battle and then make some observations on the game, March Attack and the scenario. The summary about March Attack is that the rules are optimised for Corps level actions and hence gloss over of details at the level of the manoeuvre unit (battalion, regiment). That speeds up the rules but at the cost of flavour that is significant for the small South American Wars.
Alternative Chacabuco – A March Attack Scenario
The Liberators supplement (Fletcher, 2006, p. 10-11) has an Alternative Chacabuco scenario. These are my notes for playing the scenario with the March Attack. See also the Battle Report.