Mexican American War Game report

Hi all! I am back after a brief hiatus. We started our Mexican American War game last Saturday. It was a meeting engagement of sorts. The Americans victory conditions were to march through a town to continue to press the Mexican Army. The Americans, however, didn't know that their plan was discovered. The Mexicans in turn, organized themselves into a battle formation and began to move to block the American army at the town.

A little background here if I might. One of our gamers has painted up a beautiful Mexican army as well as Americans. They are 18mm figs and rather nice. The maker escapes me at this time. I plan on posting some pics of the battle soon as we will finish the game this Saturday. He added another Mexican militia brigade for this particular fight.

Overall, the Mexican army is not that good during this time frame. They have the numbers, look pretty, but overall, most units cannot fight that good. We use a homemade/modified from others, set of rules. The key thing about these rules is the firing. The poor firing for the Mexicans is reflected very well. However, they do have a few units that are very capable to standing up to the Americans. One particular unit is known as the Zapadores. This unit comprised of the cream of the Mexican engineers. They were trained as engineers, but were organized into a fighting unit that could rival any American unit.

Now back to the game report. I was nominated as El Supremo via my die rolling. So I split our army up into 4 groups as we had 4 players to cover the Mexican side. We had our magnificent cavalry covering our right flank. I had an infantry force of 3 regiments to the left of the cavalry, then my 3 regiments and finally the militia units to my left. We were moving North to South on the table, Americans obviously South to North.

I ordered our cavalry to try and flank the American column as they approached by following the West edge of the board. Our 2 groups in the center comprising of infantry were to advance and take up blocking positions. My group was to try and advance into the town. Our militia was to advance up the East end of the board as a distraction.

As the game progressed in the early stages, I managed to get my 2nd Light Regiment into the town and change them into skirmish formation. This is the only Mexican unit capable of this. They receive no negatives for firing or for morale checks while in this formation. The militia managed to make some progress up the eastern edge, and actually enter the town. The Americans also reached the town, but surprisingly did not initially enter.

My Zapadores and the 11th took up positions outside the town so as not to be forced into disorder and receive minus' for firing and morale.

While this was going on, the Americans brought up a cavalry regiment along the eastern edge. They slipped past the Militia and made it into our rear area as we advanced. He charged a Militia regiment, wrecking it. Continuing his momentum, he hit one of my artillery batteries, destroying it as well. This ended the American movement. Upon the die roll for the next turn, we as the Mexicans, won the die roll and opted to go first for the turn. I turned my Zapadores and I had another artillery battery ready to fire. The infantry group to my right managed to get another regiment involved to try and destroy the rampaging American cavalry! We unloaded our firearms and artillery into the massed unit and wrecked it as a fighting unit. They routed for a couple of turns, failing their morale. They were reduced to 1 stand. A morale victory for the Mexicans.

They Americans kept up a steady advance as expected. All moves/firing are based on actions the Regiment receives based on a die roll and the class the are rated as. A, B, C. C being the poorest. The Americans have no C's and the Mexicans have plenty. However, despite our handicap, we managed to move quite well.

On the right flank where our cavalry was located, things weren't so good. He had a hard time moving the cavalry. But when he did get 1 regiment to move, it charged a line of American infantry. Passing their morale which is a feat in itself, they closed in. Of course, the American line held and opened fire. They decimated the Mexican cavalry, leaving only 1 stand out of 8 to hopefully continue the charge. The Mexicans amazingly made their morale and closed in, sabre's at the ready. sadly, they were cut down with ease.

back to the center, the Americans managed to enter the town after showing the Militia men who were the better trained. The American Mississippi Rifles as well as a unit of volunteers cleared the Militia. On the Western side of the town, an American regiment conducted a charge of my 2nd Light. They were repulsed as the Mexicans let out an Ole!

The Mississippi Rifles and the volunteers moved forward only to be faced by the Zapadores. After a round of fire conducted from behind a stone wall, both sides survived. My Zapaores as well as my 2nd Light launched a charge and routed both units on the next turn. The 2nd Lights hit from behind and caught the American units in a pincer. While this was going on, my 11th Regiment formed column. On the next turn, they were able to get 2 actions. One of the American victory conditions was not to lose the supply train. The 11th, proceed to move their full move on their first action. With their 2nd action, they were within charge range of the American supply train! They charged! They lost a stand due to some accurate artillery fire, but would only fail on a 1,2 when rolling a d6 for a morale check. I rolled a 2! CHARGE OVER! They retreated back and currently pose no threat to the American supply train. I had the shot and took it. I would do it again.

The Mexicans were pressed hard, but are holding firmly at this time. We have several units to try and halt the American advance. We intend to do so this Saturday night! The final report will follow along with pics.

What's Up

Last week we didn't game, so a post wasn't created. However, this week our group will be conducting a Mexican/American battle. We have done a couple games in this era with a win for the Mexicans and a win for the Americans. Overall, the Americans are vastly superior to the Mexicans during this period of history. However, gaming allows history to change. Of course, this is because of the die rolling involved in the game. I plan on offering a report as soon as we complete the battle. The one thing I do like about the Mexican/American war is how colorful the Mexican army was. They do look pretty on the table!

I made reference earlier to a Civil War campaign that we began roughly 2yrs ago. We recently completed the latest strategic turn for the campaign. I do plan on expanding on this in the very near future. As the Rebels, I believe I have been holding my own. We use a somewhat modified version of Warmaster for the ACW. We began the campaign using Fire and Fury. I do like those rules, but I wasn't too happy with the casualty results. We tried to modify them to give the game more casualty results, but this made the rules a bit more complicated. I found the Warmaster version of the ACW rules awhile ago, and they provide a fast and bloody result while gaming. In the past, I was for accuracy, but as I have aged, I believe games can be accurate as well as fast when gaming. The Warmaster version, modified a little by me, are a fast and bloody set of rules that provide our group with what we are looking for.

Down the road, I will post how we conduct the ACW campaign. The strategic rules as well as some pics and battle reports. The strategic rules are a short 4 pages and we use a homemade map.

Good luck in your games!

My Interest in Wargaming

My interest in war gaming began when I was in my early teens. But I have to say that I was always into military history, prior to my gaming. I loved to watch the movies Battle of the Bulge, The Longest Day, Anzio, Sink the Bismarck, Midway etc. I would read many books to further my knowledge.

My first real war game, in a sense, began with those plastic green soldiers, artillery, trucks and tanks. You know, the ones you could find in a grocery store, or department store. I see they are again being reintroduced. My uncle would come over and we would game. We would set all the pieces out and take turns picking them, going back and forth. Once the pieces were picked, we would set them up a good distance apart from each other. We would stand the infantry up, place our artillery, trucks and tanks, and commence throwing a clothes pin at them. Infantry were killed if they fell on their bellies, wounded if on their backs; vehicles were knocked out if the were flipped. Same as the artillery guns. My younger brother and I continued this as a hobby if you will, while we both had the chicken pox. My how I have advanced into my gaming career.

As I grew a little bit older, I noticed our neighbor would have several visitors on Saturday nights. I didn't pay too much attention until I noticed they would seem to end up in my neighbor's basement. My buddies and I were somewhat curious as to what was happening, and we became somewhat peeping Toms. We would sit outside his window looking into the basement, wondering what was going on. We could see a rather large wooden table set up containing sand. They seemed to be measuring distances with rulers and rolling dice. It was fascinating in a sense.

As time went by, we would continue to watch, wondering what it was they were playing. Until one night, I was outside the window watching, and my neighbor came out and asked if I wanted to watch from inside the house. I quickly said yes, and was introduced to war gaming. Here I am, some 25 yrs later, writing about it.

I cut my teeth on micro-armor. Funny, because I always like tanks and WW2 was my favorite. My first models I ever bought and painted though, were modern armor. Now this was in the early 80's, so the Soviets were still a threat. This is what they were playing the night I was introduced into gaming. From there, I was introduced into my first campaign game as I became a country in a new campaign his group was starting. As they say, the rest is history.

We have played many a campaign since then. From ancients, to moderns. I have been involved in play by mail as well as science fiction. I do have a wide interest, which helps to keep me gaming. Once I tire of one thing, I can move on to another, and in time go back to what I tired of. Rules and games are always changing to try and keep the hobby fresh.

Now I game about twice a week, at the same house where I was first introduced to the hobby. I have gone to a few conventions, the furthest being Historicon in Lancaster PA. I have a friend who is a re-enactor for the Confederates and I try to get to the local re-enactment which takes place every September. All of this helps me to find new ideas and to keep the old ones fresh.

In time, I hope to get my daughter involved, but that will be her choice. War gaming isn't for everyone, but it is a fun hobby to be involved in. I love history and in particular, military history. This is a way for me to enjoy and express it.

WW1 Game Completed

The battle between the German/Austro-Hungarian forces vs the Russians came to a conclusion tonight. In a previous post, I gave a report of our game that started last week. Tonight, the battle raged on.

On the right flank, my flank, it became rather grim. My poor die rolling continued as the Russians rambled forward. I lost my 3 howitzers as the Russians charged. The Russians did take some losses in the brief fight, but not enough to turn the tide. Another Russian unit continued to move on and managed to eliminate 1 regiment of mine. They withered under numerous volleys of rifle and artillery, as well as several charges. One Russian unit finally broke by failing his morale to move. This was a brief victory until another moved in to take it's place.

The Russian unit that used boats and rafts to enter from behind my furthest right unit, only managed to make a brief appearance. That unit spent too much time holding it's position and when he finally moved, they were going uphill which slowed the dramatically.

One brief victory for my German flank occurred when a Russian unit conducted a charge and survived my rifle fire to continue with a melee. The Russian unit was coming uphill at my Germans. This caused him to suffer numerous negative modifiers. When we rolled, the difference between his roll and mine was great! In favor of the Germans! The Russians lost 4 stands and routed away. It was the best die roll I had in 2 weeks! Of course it was short lived because a couple of turns later, I was hammered with artillery and some rifle fire. I took some significant casualties, however, I did mange to advance and retake some rifle pits. My unit was down to 3 stands out of 12, but holding tough. I knew their days were numbered.

On the left flank, the Austro-Hungarians began to make their move. Though their units were of lesser quality, they continued to press their advance. Infantry and artillery deployed and began to cause casualties among the Russian cavalry, and manged to silence an artillery battery.

My German 2nd in command was driven from his gun pits, but still managed to continue the fight. Once driven, he counter attacked the Russians. The charge didn't break the Russians and he had to fall back. It was time for a strategic withdraw. This was to hopefully put the Russians back on the move to where we had an advantage. He manged to pull his artillery back before he lost them. He was down to 4 batteries. He withdrew to the town which was our main supply route.

With my flank lost and my 2nd in command withdrawing to a better position, the game was called. In the end it was a Russian narrow victory. The Russian goal was to find a weak spot and break through. He found it on my farthest right flank. The Russians took my high ground and held it. The game could have gone longer, but because it was only our 2nd battle with the new rules, we had enough information from our play test to call it.

Our goal was to stop the breakthrough and the Austro-Hungarian goal was to take the Russian supply route.

The rules used were Battles With Brusilov. These are based on the Fire and Fury system for the American Civil War. Of course they had some modifications because it was WW1, but they seemed to work alright. We have some questions and we need some clarifications, but a usable set of rules.

I hope to have some pictures soon to add to this report.