The US sets up spread across the board, abreast of the town and the salt marsh hexes in order to block the cavalry from exiting the west side. The machine guns set up in the town.

The Mexican army sets up with the infantry opposite the town, with the cavalry on the left flank. The plan is to take the town with the infantry while the cavalry exits the map.

The Mexican artillery begins by attacking the American field guns, but does no damage. The infantry approach the town, while the cavalry threatens the American right flank.

For the next hour-and-a-half (six turns), the artillery works on the center of the American line, next to the town, trying to open up a gap for the cavalry to pass through. The die rolls are not good, and the line holds.

The artillery then combines to attack the town, attacking the two occupied town hexes on the 21 column.

A note on the artillery: The scenario was written for the original rules, and I played it with the new rules. The new rules make the artillery more powerful, and may unbalance the older scenarios. The Mexican artillery, when all combined, could put three hexes of the town under bombardment on the 21 column (assuming one company in each hex). Panzer Grenadier players would kill for that kind of firepower.

On the second turn attacking the town, the artillery rolls a 12 and eliminates an infantry step in each of the two occupied hexes and disrupting or demoralizing most of the remaining units. Had this been Panzer Grenadier, the Mexican infantry could have moved immediately into the town. Unfortunately for the Mexicans, the artillery plan called for the bombardment to continue for several more turns. Having seen the destruction inflicted, they were not willing to attack into the town.

The Americans evacuated one of the hexes under bombardment and left only a good-order machine gun unit in the other. The artillery continued to pound the town (now on the 16 column).

The battle turned into a stalemate, with the machine gun in the town occasionally disrupted, but more often disrupting or demoralizing the Mexican infantry that tried to approach.

Finally, the barrage lifted and the Mexican infantry stormed the town. They managed to take one hex and contest another, with the Americans holding the remaining two hexes.

The Mexican cavalry tried to break through the line to depart to the west, but suffered a step loss and two other units demoralized as they tried to pass through. That left only a Captain and two companies to exit.

The final VP tally is 22 for the Americans, 8 for the Mexicans, resulting in an American Minor Victory.

Author	Tambu (United States)
Method	VASSAL
Victor	Mexico
Participants	treadasaurusrex
Play Date	2025-08-25
Language	English
Scenario	ChIn004

Let's see . . .

I might have had too much beer in this 4-session boondoggle against an opponent that is always on offense, no matter what kind of scenario we are playing - or how much beer he absorbs.

I deployed badly as the American commander, picked a miserable set of leaders, had no luck throwing combat or morale recovery die rolls, underestimated the Mexican infantry in street fighting. Basically, I made nearly every mistake in the book and lost half of my force trying to counter attack under very heavy fire.

Oh, and I lost my senior leader on the 7th turn.

What could go wrong, did go wrong. Proving once again the old saying, "luck favors the bold and prepared."