Riachuelo 1865 Wargame: South America's Largest Naval Battle

This week on Little Wars TV we set a course for South America in the summer of 1865! Paraguay is engaged in a bitter, bloody war of expansion against three regional rivals. Today we wargame the Battle of Riachuelo, the largest naval battle ever fought in South America, set during "The War of the Triple Alliance." Can the Paraguayan fleet pull off a surprise attack on the Panara River, or will the Empire of Brazil hold the river?

We're playing the game with 1/1200 miniature ships on a 6'x8' tabletop using Tom's homebrew naval rules for the age of steam and iron warships. It's a fantastic wargame played in an under-appreciated historical conflict. The War of the Triple Alliance last more than 5 years and would prove to be the deadliest war in South American history. Explore this fascinating chapter of history with us on the tabletop!

SPITHEAD MINIATURES (1/1200 ships)

EAST COAST IRONCLADS (1/1200 3d prints)

LONG FACE GAMES (3d prints)

Are there other dark corners of military history you think we should explore on Little Wars TV? Tell us your ideas in the comments! We do read them all. And if you enjoy today's wargame, why not subscribe and join our army of historical wargaming nerds? We'd love to have you.

[victorluizbaronejr]

We, Brazilian wargamers, were very happy to see the Battle of Riachuelo so carefully portrayed. The War of the Triple Alliance is a fascinating and terrible conflict. May we always remember it at the game tables so that it never happens again in real life. Hugs from the Borders of Blood system team, a wargame rule developed in Brazil for the period. Keep up the good work.

[moblinmajorgeneral]

The War of the Triple Alliance is underrated for wargaming. Good choice.

[Valuepak]

South America is a very undercover and underrated part of history. Thanks for covering it, I'm excited to watch!

[JohnLaudun]

For me the best part was the inclusion of the interaction among the players. It's great to see people being goofy with each other.

[yaitz]

Riachuelo! Such an underrated battle. I literally exclaimed out loud when I saw the notification.

[Gryfont]

Sort of in the same time period is the Naval Battle of Lissa (or Vis). Major naval sea battle involving ironclads and one of the last to feature ramming... would love to see that covered.

[babylonsburning]

Great to see you guys back in action.

I never knew about this conflict, it isn't really of the UK radar I suppose. Our focus is always on Europe, Africa and Indian sub-continent.

Interesting subject and interesting game.
Thanks.

[Eruidraith]

The war of the Triple Alliance is such an insane conflict, reading about it is harrowing. Happy to see yall playing out such a great episode from that war!

[tiberiuscodius]

Fantastic! As an someone studying Byzantine history, it would be great to see you tackle something related to Byzantium - perhaps once Baccus's 6mm Byzantine line comes out? The Battle of Dyrrachium comes to mind, especially as you already have Normans from the Hastings game. Otherwise, perhaps Manzikert

[Gusseig]

Thanks for doing this! It was a big surprise to see the War of the Triple Alliance (or, The Paraguay War, as it is known in Brazil) covered in your channel. The war was a nasty, brutal and complex affair that left Paraguay in ruins. Brazil fared better, but in order to fund the war it accumulated a huge foreign debt that plagued the Empire until its end. Also, it may have been one of the reasons behind the discontentment in the Brazilian Army with the Brazilian civilian government, a feeling that festered until the military coup that ended the monarchy in 1889.

[rodneip]

This is really good. Thank you very much for going beyond the traditional. The Paraguay war was a huge conflict that has a lot of the elements players enjoy. Nautical battles, many land battles, coordination of armies from 3 different countries, a conflict that started army based and ended in a Gorilla warfare, inspiring commanders, etc.

[AUGUSTOOCTAVIO]

Amazing game! Greatings from Argentina! I will love see more battles from South America!!

[datcat]

The return of glorious revolutionary Ed! I adore this character, keep doing more revolutionary battles, whether the Russian Civil War or the Vietnam War, so we can have more of our "Dear and Glorious Leader"!

[ryaneble]

This was an amazing naval war game! Greg’s rage was definitely a highlight. I would love more Latin American history videos! Keep the good work guys!

[elliotlane]

Good choice perhaps look into some of the land campaigns of that war. Perhaps Spanish-American war in Cuba. Although l still say the Boxer Rebellion and seige of Peking would make a great muktiplayer game, but who will be Chuck Heston?

[kiwiwarlord]

I would love if you would do one in the great northern war. Or the swedish Danish war. The battle of Copenhagen is quite fantastic to read about. And the museum in Copenhagen makes it even better.

[jordancrump]

Fantastic! Would love to see some games on the filibuster wars of the 1850s—William Walker in Nicaragua is pretty interesting. The First and Second Battles of Rivas are particularly noteworthy.

[grahamfowler]

The Seminole war is a lesser known war here in the states.
Mexico has tons of conflicts that are super interesting, the independence from Spain and the Maximilian adventures stand out to me.

[leefisher]

I have embarked on the saltpetre war, using the ships from spithead and 10mm from pendrakon, having thoroughly enjoyed your game need to get them on the table! I would like to see you investigate the Swiss civil war of the 1840s.... I want to say November 1848.

[davidbarsdell]

Its amazing to see action in such an underrated period of south american history, the battle I would really like to see is the battle of Tuyutí, it is rarely known outside of south america but it is the bloodiest battle of the War of the Triple Alliance, another battle that would interesting to see is the battle of Avay, it was fought between the outnumbered and outgunned Paraguayan forces and the large Imperial Brazilian army led by the Marquis of Caxias, thank you so much for making this battle report and continue the good work!!!