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Author Topic: ¡Viva La Camerone!  (Read 2014 times)

Offline CPT Shanks

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 275
¡Viva La Camerone!
« on: May 23, 2023, 02:38:50 AM »
La cafard at Sand Wars '23.

Mad Guru, Last Stand Dan, and myself ran the battle for Trinidad Hacienda de Camerone at Sand Wars '23 in Mesa AZ. While the play tests and an in depth battle report will be found at http://cameroneday.blogspot.com/?m=1 .  Here is a taste of the madness
Vive le Mort, vive le Guerre, vive le Légion Étrangère!


¡Viva la Mexico!


Jusqu'a la Mort!


These are not men. They are devils!

"welcome to the world of cascading failure"


Offline fred

  • Galactic Brain
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Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2023, 06:36:49 AM »
Great looking game!

What is the story of the giant hand?

Offline Mad Guru

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Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #2 on: May 23, 2023, 08:41:27 AM »
Thanks for the compliment, Fred!

While the hacienda compound was modeled 1:1 at 1/56th scale for 28mm figures (by the supremely talented Chris The Model Maker), the hand is modeled at 1:1 scale for full size humans!  It's a facsimile of the Wooden Hand of Captain Danjou, the officer in command of 3rd Company, 1st Foreign Regiment at the April 30th, 1863 battle of Camerone, when 3 officers & 62 men of the Legion fought a 10 hrs long last stand defending an abandoned hacienda compound against attacks by approx. 2,000 Mexican regular & guerrilla forces who were preparing to ambush a vital French convoy of gold, guns, and ammo, on the road from the port of Veracruz, during the "French Intervention" AKA: the “Maximilian Adventure."

The real prosthetic wooden hand of Captain Jean Danjou is believed to have been taken as a souvenir from the battle by an anonymous Mexican participant and later passed into the possession of a Ranch-owner of French origin named l'Anglais, in the state of Puebla.  In July, 1865, more than 2 years after the battle, l'Anglais sold it to a keen-eyed Austrian officer named Lieutenant Gruber, who delivered it to French high command, who finally returned it to the Legion.

In keeping with its status as their most prized relic, today it's kept in the Legion's "Crypt" alongside the flags of disbanded regiments in the museum at their headquarters in Aubagne, France.

Here's a pic of the real thing:



Sadly for the French players, our "Giant Hand" had no role in the game other than as an icon, and in keeping with that status we respectfully removed it from the table prior to commencement of hostilities!
« Last Edit: May 23, 2023, 03:21:56 PM by Mad Guru »
"We shall see what wisdom lies beneath my madness!"

Offline fred

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Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #3 on: May 23, 2023, 11:28:55 AM »
That is a very cool bit of history. Thanks for sharing.

Offline Marine0846

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Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #4 on: May 23, 2023, 03:35:51 PM »
Love the photos.
I really enjoy all the pics you have posted over the years. :)
Thanks for sharing.
Semper Fi, Mac

Offline Grumpy Gnome

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Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2023, 03:43:16 PM »
Love the photos.
I really enjoy all the pics you have posted over the years. :)
Thanks for sharing.

I quite agree! 👍
Home of the Grumpy Gnome

https://thegrumpygnome.home.blog/

Offline FifteensAway

  • Galactic Brain
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Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #6 on: May 23, 2023, 05:58:19 PM »
Very nice.

I played in Nick S. version of this at SBGC a couple months ago. 

Offline Mad Guru

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Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #7 on: May 23, 2023, 08:04:56 PM »
@Marine0846 & Grumpy Gnome -- you're both very welcome & thank you both for taking the time to say so!

@FifteensAway,

Soon after the game you mentioned Nick drove down to my place in SoCal to help me play-test this version, and then "Last Stand" Dan, CAPT SHANKS & I used the results of that play-test together with Nick's experience from his game you played in to refine our rules modifications to TMWWBK for the version we ran this past Saturday.  We've already thanked Nick for his help but now I can thank you too!

It looks like we'll be bringing our version of the game to HMGS-PSW's annual MINI-WARS convention on October 14th & 15th at the Double Tree by Hilton in Buena Park, located at 7000 Beach Blvd., Buena Park, CA (approx 10 mins. drive from Disney Land in Anaheim).

The convention website isn't live yet so nothing is official yet, but I assume we'll run CAMERONE "Not Men but Demons!" on Saturday Oct. 14th from 10am through 5pm with a lunch break somewhere in between.

I know it's not your neck of the woods but if you can make it down to the Southland it would be great to meet you in person!

-Ethan AKA: Mad Guru

PS. CAPT SHANKS: You were fast to the draw on this post my fellow GM friend -- or should I call you... Sous-Lieutenant Maudet???
« Last Edit: May 23, 2023, 08:11:28 PM by Mad Guru »

Offline Emir of Askaristan

  • Mastermind
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Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2023, 10:47:22 PM »
What a wonderful looking game for a neglected and colourful period.

Very interested in your mods for TMWWBK. Can you share them?

Offline Stryder

  • Assistant
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    • Dirt Miniatures
Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2023, 02:47:52 PM »
This looked like a great game sorry I couldn't join due to running the Paint and Take table this weekend. Hope I can play in the future! Thanks for running such an interesting game! the board looked amazing!
"I came, I saw, I gamed - Veni, vidi, lusimus"

Offline FifteensAway

  • Galactic Brain
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Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #10 on: May 24, 2023, 09:52:02 PM »
Thanks, Ethan, but I wasn't the only one playing, Pete and a younger man (Kevin?) and another regular whose name is escaping me (Brad???) all participated.  I drove down from Sacramento to give the rules a try.  Being retired now and with a hybrid to drive, I can justify doing so once in a while - especially if they do another Indian Mutiny game.

PSW is a very remote maybe.  I am going to the con in July in Clovis and will attend the Sacramento convention around Veteran's Day - and maybe, if it happens - the Dave Partak convention in Auburn next January.  If PSW has enough games of high interest, I might give it a go.  Already opted out of Enfilade this year because not enough games of interest.

It would be great to meet in person, though.  I hooked up with Richard, aka WarIn15mm, last year at Brookhurst while we were down to take an adult niece to Disneyland.

Maybe we should start a West Coast LAF members meet up?!  That could be fun.  The Clovis convention would be a good place since it is closer for LA folk and not too far for NorCAl folk - and might even get Reno, Las Vegas, and even Arizona folk.  It is a great facility with hotels and restaurants nearby - and good A/C.   What do you think?

Here is a link to the convention: https://www.vetgamefest.org

- Greg

Offline Mad Guru

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Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #11 on: May 25, 2023, 04:21:11 AM »
Emir of Askaristan,

Thanks & yes, I will definitely post all the mods we're using, after we do another pass on them incorporating lessons learned from the version of the game we just ran.  I'll put them up on my Maiwand Day and Camerone Day blogs, and I'll post a link to them here in the Colonial section of LAF.  But, just because you asked, I will break with protocol and share IMHO the most important TMWWBK rules mod we used, which came courtesy of Nick Stern and the South Bay Gaming Club up in San Francisco.  It's a new Action called "RALLY WITH ELAN" which enables a unit that succeeds in rallying from being Pinned to then perform another action in addition to said Rally on the same turn.  If you're familiar with TMWWBK then you'll know how significant a difference this modification can make to game play.

Javier,

Thanks for the compliments!  I share the credit with my co-GMs "Last Stand" Dan and "CAPT SHANKS" Shawn, and if you come to MINI-WARS in Buena Park this October we'd love to have you as a player when we run the Camerone game again!

Greg,

Don't worry, if I had contact with those other guys -- here on LAF or someplace else -- I'd thank them too!

I remember mentioning the idea here of a California LAF get-together years ago -- probably in 2014 or 2015 when I was prepping the terrain for my Second Afghan War Battle of Charasiab game -- but nothing ever came of it, unfortunately.  Maybe we could call it CLASH! -- "California Lead Adventure Shebang"?

RE: War In 15mm, I envy you as I've always wanted to meet up with him myself (despite his and your sad devotion to the WRONG scale!).  I have no excuse for not doing so since he & I must live within easy driving distance, at least in terms of us California drivers -- after all, I drove 400 miles to Mesa, AZ + 400 miles back to bring a game to Sand Wars this past weekend!

The Clovis location sounds promising in terms of being kind of a "halfway" point between you & Nick & your compatriots up North and me & mine down South.  I just checked the convention website and I couldn't find a deadline for registering games.  Unfortunately the best I can probably do this year is show up as an attendee -- with no epic game in hand, or packed into my vehicle -- as I promised my wife that after the Mesa con I'd spend all my "free time" this Summer taking care of some projects at our house... but you never know.

Maybe you or I should start a new thread asking if there's interest from any/all California-based LAFers... see what the response is... and go from there?
« Last Edit: May 25, 2023, 04:37:34 AM by Mad Guru »

Offline FifteensAway

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 4608
Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #12 on: May 25, 2023, 01:48:48 PM »
 lol lol lol

Well, I have added a couple of 10 mm periods to my collection!  And Richard of WarIn15mm has about a third of his galleries on his website devoted to that steroidal scale you are enamored with!   :D

I actually have in my possession a small collection of 28 mm (and some smaller 25 mm) from a couple of local gamers who passed away in the last couple years.  Kept more for the nostalgia than anything else but they might find their way to a game table with some friends.  I do keep them isolated though - don't want them infecting the rest of the collection.  ;)

I will post something about a West Coast LAF meetup on the general discussion board.  And include CLASH as a possible - though I think opening it up to a wider geography might work better.

Offline CapnJim

  • Scatterbrained Genius
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Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #13 on: May 25, 2023, 03:43:26 PM »
Great battle and report.  I like the addition of the hand - very appropriate, given the lore of that relic...
"Remember - Incoming Fire Has the Right-of-Way"

Offline Umra Khan

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 306
Re: ¡Viva La Camerone!
« Reply #14 on: May 26, 2023, 08:51:34 AM »
Huzzah !!!!!!!!
Great game my friends, I would have liked to have been there.

 

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