In my last battle with the American expedition into the Caribbean, I to a division's worth of volunteers against a reinforced battalion of Spaniards, dig in on a hill. It didn't go well. I drew the Americans again for this engagement, but this time it is a brigade of regular army against 2 battalions of Spanish regulars. Fortunately the Spanish regulars are placed out of the initial conflict.

The Americans are given 4 objectives, 3 offensive and the other defensive (as in keep casualties low). The first offensive objective is to take 2 bridges across a river. The bridges are held by a militia battalion and a squadron of irregular cavalry. The American difficulty lies in the constricted nature of the attack position. To force the bridges, the Americans are attacking from inside a river bend. Since the western bridge was the most vulnerable, I began my attack there.

My approach went reasonably well. Militia at the north bridge tried to disrupt my assault positions. Still, the full weight of 6 companies fell upon the defenders of the west bridge, demoralizing, then assaulting them be the regulars could arrive to help. The Americans recovered shaken units and streamed across the bridge.

Spanish regulars skirmished with the Americans in the woods. Taking a cue from Gen. Grant, I moved to the Spanish left, then more to the left, and to the left again. The Spanish were forced to fall back to avoid envelopment. As the Spanish line turned, my cavalry broke into the open and threatened to take town hexes from Spanish control.

The Spanish fell back toward the town and villages. The Americans forced the north bridge from both sides. With 2 companies in the open and a cavalry squadron running wild, the Spanish cause was looking bad. They did not have enough force to garrison the town hexes and cause enough American casualties in the time remaining.

The game ends in a minor American victory. 6 Step off the map, both bridges under control and only 4 steps lost.