"The Great Paraguayan Question" Topic

Well, questions, anyway.

1) What small arms did the armies use in this war? I recall vaguely from my reading in college (more than two decades ago) that the Paraguayans used smoothbore muskets and the Triple Alliance used mostly rifled muskets or even better weapons, but memory is creaky.

2) Similar question about the artillery -- if memory serves, the Triples used artillery similar to late-war Union artillery (mixed smoothbores and rifled artillery), but the Paraguayans were using old smoothbores from the early 19th or even 18th centuries.

3) What percentage of the Paraguayan foot would have been in the full service uniform with actual pants, what percentage in the kilt and poncho, and finally the loincloth?

4) I remember there being an issue with the Freikorps castings being in bad shape a few years ago – have the molds been improved in the interim? (I know there's only one pose for each troop type, BTW.)

Saginaw may suggest I join the Yahoo group, and I will if I remember when I'm home! (Can't do it from work, as I'm blocked by websense.)

TIA

(TMP bug attack deleted)

I should mention that I'm talking about the earlier phase of the war here, when set-piece battles were still being fought, and maneuver warfare was going on -- before the "siege of Paraguay" set in, and certainly before the guerilla war. Thanks.

Larry,

You should join the SACA Wars yahoo group. These questions have been asked their by myself and answers were given. Good bunch of chaps. There are also some file downloads there that would help.

Take a look at the Freikorps range for this War. It mentions the types of arty that each side used.

Where's that? Freikorps is owned by QRF now -- I don't see any reference to which guns to use on the QRF page.

Yes, I mentioned the Yahoo group in my message.

hmmm, they used to. Hang on, I created a database on the group and listed the guns needed…let me dig that up…

ACG10 Argentinean 6pdr M1841 (from American Civil War range)
ACG17 Brazilian 12pdr Whitworth muzzle-loading rifle (from American Civil War range)
ACG18 Brazilian 12pdr Whitworth breech-loading rifle (from American Civil War range)
FUG01 Brazilian 4pdr field gun (La Hitte – from Franco-Prussian range)
For the Paraguayans you can use about anything.

I know you mentioned the group, my point was simply…JOIN! :)

For early war battles, all the regular Paraguayan infantry would have been in uniforms, as the war progressed more and more units wore have been moving to the kilt, and then the loincloth.

Ok, I'll join already.

Thanks for the information on the guns.

For the Paraguayan infantry, how early do you mean by early? Just 1865? Or do you mean until Tuyuty, or some other time?

BTW, any feedback on how the castings from QRF now look would be appreciated. They were supposed to be pretty rough when I last checked a few years back. Thanks.

4) I remember there being an issue with the Freikorps castings being in bad shape a few years ago – have the molds been improved in the interim? (I know there's only one pose for each troop type, BTW.)

Yep, we remoulded the whole range.

The range is listed here, although it is sadly short of photos at the moment: link

Geoff

Larry, please take Darryl's suggestion as an invitation to join the SACAWars Yahoo group. You won't be sorry that you did!

link

Good luck!

And that goes for anyone else interested in the wars in Central and South America. C'mon in!

:-)

Larry, by the time of Tuyuti I would say you could start mixing in figures with the kilts and even a few with loinclothes, but there would still be a decent mix of regularly clothed Paraguayans.

Thanks Darryl.

I joined the yahoo list. Man, that's a quiet list.

It is quiet at times. So post a message, might get some things shaking!

I just checked Wikipedia for the musket info, but it appears that Paraguay has been deleted.

Paraguay isnt really a popular country so it likely got removed

LOL!! Well-played, WeeSparky and Big Miller Bro!!

Thanks for the info Brian. BTW, how are those rules? I've heard of them but don't have many particulars. What's the scale?

My thought was to paint forces to playtest for Phil Barker's uncoming DBM-like rules set, "Horse Foot Guns," but I am certainly open to suggestion. The only problem seems to be the lack of pose variety in the only line of models for the war.

Thanks katanas, I'll take a look.

The scale of Fields of Honor is variable, from company up to regiment IIRC. The work Brian did for the GPW is very complete and well done, and because of it I purchased my own copy of FoH so I could use his lists.

Brian,

Indeed I was, especially after I got my copy of FOH! :) Seriously, even before that I was able to get the gist of what each unit could do, how they were rated, and what they were armed with.

Hello friends,
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BoB is a wargame system dedicated to War of the Triple Alliance.
This is our Fanpage on Facebook – link
Take care!

"Borders of Blood is a well-presented set of wargames rules, specifically for Wargaming the Parguayan War of 1864 – 1870, dovetailing almost exclusively with the War of Triple Alliance figure range by Perry Miniatures.

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Joe Smalley review on Wargames Illustrated

link