by Paul LaFontaine, 8 March 2026
Three players participated in the fourth Print n Play game. The scenario was a historical battle fought in Peru during the Latin American wars for independence. Player Soldiersteve commanded the Spanish Royalist (Red) forces, player AaTeWe and Gareth commanded the Patriot (Blue) Forces.
All players and umpire had physical sets at their locations and the umpire reports were pointers so the players could keep the situation on their own maps.
Setup was smooth and everyone had their materials ready.
AaTeWe as the Patriot commander emerged victorious, though Soldiersteve executed a technically solid defensive plan that was undone by a combination of poor luck and superb timing by his opponents. Gareth, a new player to the format, performed well with dispatches and tactical maneuver. Everyone reported enjoying the game.
The Problem
In this problem the Royalist force is outnumbered and the forces brittle as they are recently conscripted. The Patriot force must ensure they use near perfect timing to coordinate their attack and bring all their forces to the point of decision simultaneously.
Royalist (Red) Briefing
You are commanding the Royalist Army as Brigadier General Domingo PIo Tristan. You are sent to Upper Peru to defeat the rebel Belgrano then move south and consolidate the territory of Argentina. You have been unable to defeat Belgrano in two previous engagements, first at Las Piedras, then Tucuman. You have rebuilt your force for the next encounter, which is to take place at Salta on January 20th, 1813 and expect the enemy to come from the north:
most images can click to enlarge
You must deploy all forces south of the red line. Your mission is to destroy the force of General Belgrano.
Patriot (Blue) Briefing
The Patriots send General Manual Belgrano to rebuild the Northern Army in Peru. A Royalist Army under Brigadier General Domingo PIo Tristan was sent to the region to defeat Belgrano then move south and consolidate the territory of Argentina. Belgrano was able to best but never defeat the Royalists, first at Las Piedras, then Tucuman. Belgrano prepares his forces and the Royalists rebuild for the next encounter, which takes place at Salta on January 20th, 1813. You expect the enemy to be defending the town of Salta:
You must march in from the northern edge of the map. Your mission is to destroy the Royalist forces.
0800
Patriot Commander Soldiersteve chooses to not deploy in town, and instead moves to the more defensible hills in the east (1). Royalist Commander AaTeWe takes command the screening cavalry (2) as Gareth commands the Royalist infantry (3).
Soldiersteve wants to determine the composition and location of the enemy force so his sends his cavalry out in two groups along potential routes of enemy march. AaTeWe and Gareth want have been briefed the enemy are in Salta, so they march in that direction.
0900
Soldiersteve observes cavalry force coming his way (1) as Gareth brings his units in line with the report of enemy cavalry to the south (2). AaTeWe has split his cavalry into two groups, one sent east (3) to cover the flank and the other sent south to drive in the enemy cavalry they have spotted (4).
Both commanders now have indications where the enemy force is, but Gareth of the Patriots does not. AaTeWe and Gareth communicate well to inform Gareth of the situation. Soldiersteve wants to lure the Patriots to the hills to try and attack him where he has the advantage.
1200
Several turns have elapsed. Soldiersteve tried to pull in both of his cavalry forces, one in the north (1) and one in the south (2). The northern cavalry has been threatened by the enemy, the southern cavalry is pursued by a force of enemy 4 times its size and caught, losing horsemen. It is too much for them and they flee east. Some of the Patriot cavalry, their blood up, chases them east and out of the battle..
Gareth turns his force in column east (3) as the Patriot command now realizes they must attack the Royalists in the hills. Both AaTeWe and Gareth do a good job communicating with dispatches.
1400
Two turns later, Gareth has brought up his force (1) to prepare for the assault. AaTeWe has places the main force of his cavalry to the north (2) having acted as a screen to ensure the infantry comes up. Both Gareth and AaTeWe planned their attack for the same time, which was key to solving their problem. AaTeWe also hid two cavalry in the hills south (3) for use as a spoiling force later.
Soldiersteve has moved down the slope pulls his cavalry to the south (4) to act as a flank guard that will be play an important role in the defense later. We are lined up by this turn for the combat portion of the scenario.
1500
AaTaWe pushes his cavalry across the creek (1) while Gareth conducts an assault on the hill (2). The southern end of the Soldiersteve’s line is pushed back (3) while the northern infantry assault (infantry labeled 13) is beaten back by artillery fire (4).
The slight offset of artillery plays a role here. The Patriot artillery supported the southern assault, the Royalist artillery beat back the northern assault. The fact that the Patriot southern force (infantry labeled 12) is larger is a key detail. It means a larger Patriot force was able to attack while supported and unsuppressed.
1600
AaTeWe’s cavalry and Gareth’s infantry attack simultaneously on the north (1) and south flank (2) of Soldiersteve’s force. The northern attack is successful as a commander on the end of the line is killed and the soldier demoralized. The southern attack stalls as Soldiersteve’s placing his remaining cavalry there broke up the momentum (3), even though AaTeWe had brought up the hidden cavalry.
All three players commanded well. There were no bad moves here as the Patriots coordinated their attack and the Royalists used the ground to their advantage as much as possible. The iron dice of war intervened here. The killing of that commander on the northern end of the line create instability in Soldiersteve’s entire line as now both sides of the line have been disrupted.
END OF SCENARIO
Soldiersteve, his line collapsing, chooses to defend honorably to the last on the hill. The veritable Custer of Peru, he and his men are surrounded and overwhelmed. The battle ends with a decisive Patriot victory.
Historical Outcome
This scenario is based on the historical Battle of Salta. In 1813, the Royalist Commander, General Tristan, lined his forces up north of the town of Salta on the plain. His infantry was on the right his cavalry on the left. He had just brought this force together and his men were mostly new conscripts. He needed them to stand together due to their inexperience.
The Patriot commander, General Belgrano, had twice before prevailed over Tristan and planned to do so again. He placed his infantry on the east end of the line and cavalry on the west.
Historical Opening Positions
The Patriot cavalry conducted a charge in the west, hitting that end of the line and driving off the Royalist cavalry. The Royalist infantry, seeing the cavalry driven off and their flank exposed, panicked and routed. The Patriot infantry then moved in and the Royalists collapsed. Of 3,400 soldiers in the Royalist force, around 600 were injured or killed and the remainder surrendered and made prisoner. The Royalist army in Peru was eliminated, cementing the status of Belgrano as a hero of Argentina and giving the cause of independence momentum.
Conclusion
Most of the battles in the Latin American Wars of Independence were very simple in construction. One line will charge another. The operational maneuvering was more interesting, but I wanted to introduce the war and period. This game demonstrated that even a simple line vs line attack can be made an enjoyable contest by engaged, skillful players.
This is another of a series of Kriegsspiel AARs very similar to the events in our Wargame HQ at the Origins Game Fair.
I was testing a simpler way to track unit statistics as these games are fast and furious. From the first turn (20:25) to the last (21:35) we conducted 9 orders cycles in 70 minutes, for 8 minute turns. This included dispatches between friendly players for Blue.
When operating at speed, tracking in the umpires head can get jumbled. Remembering the casualty level of the two cavalry squadrons detached for scouting duty gets muddled with the number of cannon rendered inoperative. Infantry units rout and take casualties at different rates, and the players Some form of unit tracking is needed, but it must work at speed.
For this game I created a unit tracker using blocks from an additional set. Each red or blue block indicated a reduction in capacity. Not necessarily “damage” but a steady move toward a loss of cohesion to the point that unit would retire from the field.
You can see the result though I did not add enough blocks to the blue side. It was fast and kept me informed of the units status. Moving from the board to the sheet was not fully effective though as I was not seeing “effectiveness” intuitively on the map. More experimentation to be done. More to test!
The format continues to improve. Thanks to Soldiersteve, AaTeWe, Gareth and guest spectator Hellcat6 for joining!
We’ll see you out there.
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Very good choice and a fairly “simple” battle – simple as battlefield is hemmed in bordered by the geographic features. Simple and often forgotten conflict with notable crossovers with the War of 1812 in the naval aspect.
Interesting choice by the Royalist force. Was expecting an attack catching the Loyalists in march column similar to Wellesley at Salamanca.