We gathered for another morning in the basement, to finish off the Siege of Tecate. Last episode, we began the game based on the historic battle between the Baja California Division of the army of the Partido Liberal Mexicano, under General Leyva and attacking with 150 rebels against a detachment of 80 soldiers from the 8th Battalion of the Mexican Army. On the fist day, Chris, fielding the rebels, managed to drive to the outskirts of the town, though at the cost of many dead. Could he burn his way through Tecate, building by building, against John's Federal garrison?
John and Chris rolled dice to determine Turn Initiative to start the morning off. John rolled a one, Chris rolled a two. Chris began by attempting to rally his broken and fleeing 1st infantry, who had lost so many fallen comrades in the vegetable rows. The dice continued to be cruel, turning up a 2: the unit failed to rally, and retreated toward the crescent hill.
Chris decided to break his reinforcing infantry Group Three up into two sections, each with their own dynamiter. Group 3A, numbering around 18, remained near the headquarters group, in the orchard. Group 3B ran up behind the hill near the barn, to support the survivors of group two.
Group two themselves took cover behind the barn and the smoking ruins of the hayloft. To their right, their cavalry were charging along the border.
The second cavalry aimed to finish off John's second machine-gun crew. Half of the riders flanked around the customs house, prepared to attack the machine-gun position from behind.
The other half of the second cavalry, meanwhile, charged straight at the machine-gun, which was out of operation after a stick of dynamite killed the gunner in a previous round.
Unbeknownst to Chris, John had a squad of soldiers in the buildings behind the machine-gun post. These defenders on Overwatch fired out the windows at the cavalry. Two of the rebel horsemen charging the barricade were hit, as well as another behind the customs house.
The Second Cavalry had been reduced to less than half of their original numbers, triggering a morale test. Chris, perhaps predictably, rolled a 2, and the cavalry routed.
With Chris's movement phase over, it was John's turn to move. He ordered three brave soldiers to run into the cow pasture. John won the local initiative there and killed two of Infantry Group Two. The rebels fired back, killing one of the soldiers.
Next, the defenders of the white building shot into the backs of the fleeing 1st rebel infantry, killing four. John's outpost group, still clinging to the south edge of the field by the river, fired at the same routing rebels, killing yet another three.
Only one of the rebels in the garden remained.
Chris's attackers, riders from the Third Cavalry Squad, fired at the outpost group, killing one. Over at the hayloft ruins, two rebels by the stone wall fired across the garden, killing another outpost soldier.
John had stymied Chris's advance for yet another round, but the white building, which John had so effectively defended up until that time, was about to succumb to the flames caused by Chris's dynamite during the previous game day. John withdrew his soldiers by the river and from the white house back into town. There, the mass of John's soldiers got to work improving the defenses. They picked up the machine gun and brought it backward a few paces.
Next, they demolished the barricade across the road between the two doomed houses, and reassembled it directly in front of the machine gun.
Meanwhile, the routing survivors of rebel group one had fled through their comrades and reached General Leyva and his mounted headquarters section. Leyva attempted to rally the frightened insurrectos. Chris was forced to roll the dice yet again. He came up with a 5! The small group rallied in front of the crescent hill, and prepared to join with group 3A on a charge back through the field.
Round seven began with John winning the roll for initiative. He began to reorganize his defenders in the town, along the newly improved front line.
Soon, it was Chris's turn to move. He immediately charged his third cavalry group right up the shore of the river, toward the bridge.
Then, the dynamiter from group two flung his ordinance at the green house. Chris's estimated distance would have netted him a perfect throw, but he rolled a high number, meaning the explosive sailed too far. No matter, the dynamite landed directly in the center of the Federal first machine-gun team.
The blast damaged the gun, the green house and the barricade by 6 points, killed seven soldiers, and pinned four more.
Members of the rebel infantry group 3A ran up toward the hayloft, but soldiers in the green house fired on them, killing five, including the dynamiter.
Their comrades in group 3B hurried up the north flank, toward the barn, trying to keep out of sight of the soldiers in the green house and behind the fence beside it. Chris's headquarters section rode up as well, advancing into the trees by the river on the south edge of the fields.
When the time came to roll for local skirmish initiatives, John won the roll for the sector near his second machine-gun. His soldiers in the buildings and behind the barricades finished off Chris's fleeing second cavalry.
Down the road a bit, on the south side of town, the soldiers on the top floor of the tavern fired at the rebel's 3rd cavalry group, killing one. The rest of John's soldiers were unable to fire at the cavalry, as they were either pinned, or had their line of site blocked by pinned compatriots or obscured by smoke.
Two riders of the revolution fired at the pinned soldiers, killing one of them, and bringing Round Seven to a close.
Here is an overview of the battle at the beginning of Round Eight. Chris continued to throw all he had (infantry, horsemen, and dynamite) at Tecate. The PLM, nearing their final wave of available forces, were currently pushing the left end of the line with their Third cavalry squad, with the infantry mostly assembling in relative safety on the right edge, while flinging explosives at the hard points of the town.
John continued to hold the frontline, retreating only when buildings burnt down.
Chris won Round Initiative for the 8th Round. The survivors of the rebel 1st infantry group had rallied and for the first time that day, returned to the battle, joining infantry group 3A at the stone wall between the orchard and garden. The dynamiter of group 3A lit a match, but could not light the fuse.
The anarchists' headquarters remained on the woods on the edge of the fields, close enough to quickly send out orders and effect morale, but, hopefully, far enough removed from danger.
On the far side of the agricultural area, group 3B's dynamiter successfully lit his fuse.
Chris rolled to throw it at the green house. However, for the first time this campaign, when rolling to throw, a 1 came up, causing the dynamite to explode in his hand.
Luckily for the rebels, Chris had had the man run out away from his group, and no one else died in the accident. Six of group 3B were pinned there, though, behind the barn, for the following turn.
The movement phase finished, Chris choose to begin the skirmishes at the south sector, and won the initiative roll. Three riders from the third cavalry unloaded their rounds, killing one. The three riders continued advancing up to the wall, while their comrades moved around the smoking building to their right, killing two more soldiers.
John's soldiers returned fire. Two firing from the south side of the green house at near point blank hit one rider. The soldiers at the top of the tavern and others behind the barricade unloaded their rounds at the rebel Third Cavalry, killing five horsemen. The lone rider to the right of the rubble of the white house must have brought his lucky rabbit foot, as he survived a large volley from close range. The cavalry section, with their leaders in headquarters close behind them, did not break and flee. Meanwhile, one brave member of infantry group 3A crawled into the driver seat of the truck.
Chris won the initiative roll again for Round 9. He pressed his units up closer into cover. John's soldiers on Overwatch in the tavern and green house killed three riders from the third group and two infantry from the first rebel infantry group. Though greatly reduced, both rebel units under fire held firmly to their positions.
The dynamiter from PLM group 1 successfully lit his explosive and hurled it at the green house. It was a perfect throw, causing five damage to the building and lighting the house on fire. Group Two's dynamiter, not so far off, followed suit, but overshot the house. The projectile landed in the same spot hollowed out by the throw a few rounds prior which killed the machine-gun crew, and thus caused little damage and no casualties. The rebel infantry group 3B ran around the corner of the barnyard and up the north flank.
The second Federal machine-gun, now manned by a new crew-member, fired through the cows at the rebels behind the stone wall, hitting one.
Chris won the initiative roll for the center sector, and his brave rebel turned on the truck's engine. He rolled the truck slightly across the road, making more cover for the comrades. Meanwhile, the garrison in the green house realized the roof was on fire. The four soldiers in the first floor retreated into the town. As to the four soldiers on the second floor, however, the rules required one turn for them to descend the flight of stairs. After some disagreement and suggestions, we continued on.
Chris continued his streak of winning the initiative roll for Round 10. He immediately rolled for the fire damage to the green house, and the whole structure came down. Of the four soldiers trapped inside, two perished and two escaped.
Next, Chris ordered his battered first infantry group to sprint back across the same vegetable field where they had been nearly destroyed. They reached the relative safety of the burning rubble, joining the two surviving riders of group three there. On the other side of the smoke and the barricades, John's federals moved to better cover, while some reinforcements came up from the buildings of the town to join the line.
One soldier took up the machine gun, which John had forgotten about the previous turn. He would be able to fire in the next round.
The soldiers on the top floor of the tavern added another kill to their tally, and another rebel from the doomed infantry group one bled out in the garden beds.
The PLM infantry group two, huddled behind the truck and the ruins of the hayloft, conserved their ammo, which was in very short supply by then.
Group one still somehow had two dynamiters left, though one was likely from group 3A, some of whom reinforced group 1. One dynamiter failed to light the fuse, but the second took.
The rebel threw the explosive over the line at the machine-gun, but it sailed two inches too far.
It landed with a blast by the side of the small white house, killing three soldiers and suppressing six more.
The two surviving rebel cavalry riders from squad two moved up and fired over the barricades, killing two soldiers.
Even still, despite all of the explosions, fires, whizzing bullets, and fallen soldiers, the Tecate garrison from the 8th Battalion refused to abandon their defensive line.
On the northern edge of the action, Chris's infantry group 3B continued to creep along the stone wall. John's second machine gun targeted them, but it was a long shot against enemies in good cover, and only 1 was suppressed. The rebels fired from multiple points around the barn yard, killing two more soldiers. The soldiers returned fire, but failed to hit anyone.
And with that, our game drew to a close for the day. The guys fought out five tough rounds, which were just as evenly played as the five rounds of the first day. Once again, Chris caused considerable damage by flinging miners' dynamite at the army and the buildings they defended. Somehow, though, John had managed to keep his soldiers on the line, and keep both machine-guns in government hands, and usually operational. After losing many more brave rebels, Chris had only managed to gain the vegetable garden, and drive the soldiers out of the barnyard. This blood-soaked land could be measured in feet (or in inches, in this case).
John's Federals remained in control of the entire town (left standing), and while many of his soldiers were killed or pinned, they maintained a cohesive line, backed up by riflemen in the windows of many of Tecate's buildings. To my eyes, the town was lost to the rebels. The scenario stipulated that each ten rounds constituted one day, and though the historic siege lasted three days, I would have taken the opportunity provided by the cover of nightfall to retreat with what forces had survived.
But my friends like to fight to the last man! Chris still had faith in victory. His hope remains with the section by the barn, group 3B, largely unscathed and pushing on what looked like the weaker side of the government's forces. With survivors from group two holding the center of the rebel line behind the truck, and the remnants of groups 1 and 3A (let's just call them group 1) at the advanced position by the bridge, perhaps the rebel cause has some hope of victory after all. Stay tuned to learn the outcome of this bloody assault.
This game provided another opportunity to test and improve on the rules, for which I'm thankful to my friends. John noted that the rules would benefit from a clearer system of phases within each round. We thought about the morale rules, and in particular what should cause a unit to route. The current rules state that the death of a unit's commander (if required) out of range of another, or the loss of more than half of the original unit, would force a morale test, and a failure would cause a route. John and Chris suggested the loss of half the unit in a given turn would be a better alternative. John's frustration around losing two soldiers inside a burning building helped me rethink the movement penalty caused by going up or down stairs, or for vaulting a barricade. John suggested imposing limits on how many different groups within the same unit can fire one after another. For instance, if marching in a column, should the first line be allowed to fire then move out of the view of the second line, which could then fire and move, allowing for the third line to fire and so on? We will have to think through a proper workaround, because flexibility of movement and the ability to fire and flee are really important for a ruleset intended for battles involving guerrilla tactics. More to ponder, until next time!
