It's Getting a Bit Chile: Tabletop Wargame Rules for Land Conflict in the War of the Pacific 1879-1884

Disappointed by generic rules for the mid to late 19th century "It's Getting a Bit Chile" was written to cover the War of the Pacific 1879-1884, between Chile and an Alliance of Peru & Bolivia. The War is also known as "The 10 Cent War" or "The Saltpetre War" as it was fought over taxation and mining rights in the Atacama Desert. Although not well known in Europe the War had long term effects in South America and its peace treaties were only finally implemented at the end of the 20th century.

The armies of both sides had learned a lot from the Franco Prussian War and were equipped with fairly modern weapons and European style equipment and uniforms. Their attempts to mirror European tactics were met with varying degrees of success as they came to terms with fighting with breech loading rifles and machine guns. The armies were small by the standards of European Wars or the American Civil War, making it a War that is reasonably easy to assemble forces for and refight on a tabletop.

The War is well served by excellent quality, readily available books in English (including an Osprey), and figure ranges in 10mm, 15mm and 28mm. The armies are colourful with an interesting array of uniforms. The Bolivians even had a cuirassier regiment! If you can't wait and want to read more of the background, the Wikipedia pages are very good.

The rules were written to be played on a squared grid, but also contain adaptations to play conventionally with measured distances. The mechanisms are original but simple to learn and make use of a Disorder mechanism rather than figure removal, so all of your figures stay on the table for longer. Because of the use of the grid the rules are suitable for figures in all scales and basing. Infantry regiments, for example, are made up of 4 bases. It is unimportant how many figures are on each base, - you could even represent units with 4 figures and play on a large chess board if you are short of space.

The rules include a short history of the war, a uniform guide, sample orbats, Regimental flags you can scan and use and unique characteristics for many of the well known commanders of the War. There's also a Bibliography and a list of manufacturers with suitable figures from 6mm to 28mm.

A bit obscure, perhaps? Well, it's the perfect opportunity to stand out in a crowd and do something truly different.

—description from the publisher