Tucuman – A Bolivar’s Very Bad Day Scenario

Feedback from the guys was that Battle of Sipe Sipe (29 Nov 1815), although a good game, was too big for regular play testing of Bolivar’s Very Bad Day. So they asked for a smaller scenario with less terrain. The Battle of Tucumán (24-25 September 1812) seems perfect for this. Although the deciding battle in the War of Argentine Independence, it was a small scale affair with, in game terms, only 11 units on each side. It also features the a wide range of troop types and troop quality. And it has Gauchos. This scenario is based on my write up of the historical battle and how to wargame the battle. Bolivar’s Very Bad Day is my Liberators variant of Tilly’s Very Bad Day.

Historical Situation

Setting: San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina; 24-25 September 1812

The Royalists are trying to destroy a smaller and dejected Patriot army retreating in front of them. This will open the road to Buenos Aires and enable the restoration of royal authority throughout the Viceroyalty. Unexpectedly the Patriot general, Belgrano, decides to make a stand at San Miguel de Tucumán. The Royalist general, Tristan, choses to outflank Tucuman and approach from the south-west. Belgrano spots the manoeuvre in time and manages to redeploy just in the nick of time. The battle is fought just outside the city.

See also my full description of the Historical Battle.

Map/Terrain

The table is 30 x 30 TUM (4′ x 4′ with Big Bases). This is Map 1b of the three options from my notes on Wargaming the Battle of Tucuman.

The key features are:

• The edge of the city of Tucuman; this is the size of a small village as I don’t want the city to dominate the game
• The Campo de las Carreras. This was an area of “rough and uneven terrain” but seemed to have no effect on the battle so I would only represent it for visual effect.
• A dirt road leading to the city.

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Pre-game set-up

There is not much to do here as most of it is given by the scenario:

Pre-game 1. Agree game size – Big
Pre-game 2. Recruit army and organise commands – given by scenario
Pre-game 3. Scouting – the results of scouting are factored into the scenario
Pre-game 4. Determine attacker – Patriot
Pre-game 5. Place terrain – given by scenario

So you start here …

Pre-game 6. Deployment
Pre-game 7. Bombardment

Patriots (Defending)

Deploys first and takes second turn.

Objective

Destroy the Royalists.

Forces Available

Commander Attributes:

• Hesitant[-]: -1 modifier to initiative roll
• Predictable[-]: Factored into the deployment order
• Inspirational in a Crisis[+]: Once during the battle restore the resolve of the attached unit to its original total during the rally phase
• Irresolute[-]: Once in the game, in a turn in which any units under this officer’s command routed, the enemy gets a free commander casualty roll against the general during the army morale phase; hit on 6 but with a modifier of the number of friendly routed units so far in the game.

Deployment

Deploy first in the blue box.

Deployment order is Patriot infantry, Royalist infantry, other Patriots, other Royalists.

Reinforcements

None.

Royalists (Attacking)

Deploy second and takes first turn.

Objective

Destroy the Patriots.

Forces Available

Commander Attributes:

• Unconfident[-]: The army breakpoint is one unit less than normal e.g. army of 16 bases has a 6 breakpoint, this goes down to 5.

Deployment

Deploy second in the red box.

Deployment order is Patriot infantry, Royalist infantry, other Patriots, other Royalists.

Reinforcements

None.

Victory Conditions

First side to destroy 1/3 of the enemy army wins.

The onus is on the Royalists to attack. So if neither side destroys the enemy army within 10 game turns, then the Patriots win.

Scenario Specific Rules

The Royalist Supply Train is simulated by a rabble and comes with some special rules

• If lost the Supply train counts toward breakpoint as normal (optionally it could count as two to make it more significant)
• “Defeat” in combat by the Supply Train does not indicate the enemy is destroyed, merely that they are occupied in looting so other wise unavailable.

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Notes

Nominal unit size: Infantry base = 200 men (Battalion = 400 men); Cavalry base = 100 men; Gun base = 4 cannon/howitzers

Historically the Patriots looted the Royalist supply train so I thought it worth including some special rules to cover this.

The Royalists were tired when they reached the field of battle. I’ve ignored this because Tristan is unconfident which makes the Royalist and Patriot breakpoints equal despite the fact the Royalist army is marginally bigger. I think that is enough of a tweak to balance.

The Campo de las Carreras was an area of “rough and uneven terrain”. I’ve opted to include this solely for visual effect. But if you want to give it a game effect then this area has to be “difficult”. Note: Baggage train and artillery should not be able to move in difficult unless along a road.

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References

Fletcher, J. (2005). Liberators! Volume 1: The War in the South. Grenadier Productions.