The Mexican RevolutionOn March 16, 1914 Pancho Villa and his Division del Norte began the march towards Torreon, the next step towards the capital of Mexico City. Leading his advance are troops from the Zaragosa Brigade. A small troop under the leadership of Lt. Primativo Ortega (me!) is assigned the task of following the railroad looking for Federal traps and ambushes. A small village comes into view and it's defended by several Federal squads. Unknown to him, these troops are experienced Federal troops and not the usual conscripted riff-raff. These soldiers are under the leadership of Lt. Juan Hernandez (my cousin David).
Huerta Federales:
Lt. Hernandez (Hero) (Preacher: +1 morale)
1st Infantry Squad (7 Veteran troops)
2nd Infantry Squad (7 Veteran troops)
MG Team (5 Trained troops + Sgt. Avila (Leader))
Division del Norte:
Lt. Primativo Ortega (Hero) (Stealthy: requires check to shoot him when he's not in a unit)
1st Villista Squad (8 Trained troops + Sgt. Fuentez (Leader))
2nd Villista Squad (8 Trained troops + Sgt. Garcia (Leader))
Peon Squad (11 Raw troops)
The Sleepy Village... with armed angry men!
Federale MG Position
1st Squad in a hastily built defensive position
2nd Squad with Lt. Hernandez supervising in the background
The Rebel troops approach the town
Knowing the Federal troops are already aware of their approach they drop all pretense of stealth and yell "Viva Villa!" and move at the double. The MG starts up first and then the rifles as the Villistas come into range. Lt. Ortega has to rally the poor peons after their first casualties from the MG fire. Raw troops are not the best to send into withering MG fire he soon learns. Too late to change plans now, he's rallies them onward with a yell of "Follow me!" The distance has closed and more rifle fire is exchanged. Both sides begin to thin a little at a time.
1st Villista squad is down to just four men.
Peons are using the hill to cover their approach
Suddenly the 1st Squad of Villistas (all 3 of them now) have had enough and make a panicked run for the rear. Sensing an opportunity to seize the advantage Lt. Hernandez sends out his 2nd squad in hopes of routing the rebels. At that same point, Lt. Ortega has had the same idea and attempts to rush the peons against the MG position.
The peons rush the MG position and stall
2nd squad demonstrates how to leave a battlefield in disorder
Federales head out to seize the advantage
Ortega shows why he got his promotion to lieutenant. He splits from the peons and finishes the charge by himself shooting one Federale dead and wounding their leader (and staying out of the MG's firing arch!).
Surely they will make me a captain for this!
Without the encouragement of a leader and sustaining harsh casualties after stalling in front of the MG the peons run away.
I need some tortillas after all this running!
Meanwhile the other Villista squad is flanked and charge by the Federales. They attempt to escape but are destroyed in the process.
Bayonets hurt!
Meanwhile, the brave Lt. Ortega has been dancing around the MG position making the MG ineffective and picking off the other troops. Only two remain and it is indeed the stuff of heroes, but having a second wound and an army fleeing the field he decides to make a run for it himself.
I'll be back... and with more men!!
The Federales can't resist the urge to fire pot-shots at the fleeing units.
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That was my 2nd game of T&T and gotta say it was a lot of fun. David was trying it out for the first time and was really impressed, so it was nice to have a second opinion on the rules. I'll have to read the book or FAQ and see if I can figure a couple of things we got confused on, but overall it went pretty smooth. I'm looking forward to playing my next game.
Lesson Learned:
We used the rule that hard cover adds a +1 on the wound roll. I think the rule works really well, but tougher to route out troops in prepared positions. Next time I would either add more attackers or add scenario objectives to force some of the defenders to move.
Thanks for reading.
Rod
Welcome, Guest. Please 
April 28, 2024, 01:10:27 AM
March 01, 2009, 04:23:54 PM