Here is an AAR for a game based on Scenario 6: Attack on the Hydraulic Works Camp.
As you can see in the scenario, this game had a few moving parts. First, José Cardoza and the rebels had to capture the camp from the Rurales guarding it. Next, the rebels needed to rally the camp workers together, and convince them to join the cause, while Federal soldiers arrived to stop them. Finally, the revolutionaries needed to escape the area to the south before the soldiers could stop them.
Here is a view of the table, looking south. The Colorado River runs down the table, just to the left of the camp with its 2 rows of tents. On the right, workers are digging trenches to reroute the river.
The Magónistas arrive in the Northeast corner of the table. Each corner has a marker number, and this is corner #2.
A group of Rurales guards the supply cache at the camp. Patrols of 2 officers on horseback prepare to set out for their beats.
Some workers mulled about the camp. Others work in the trenches. A couple of the workers I borrowed from my Telefonica diorama. The rebels split into two groups. One crossed the river to attack the camp from the east. The other ran along the edge of the table to capture the trenches on the west side.
The first group made it safely across the river, and very quickly came into range of a mounted Rural patrol. The two sides traded harmless fire across the water.
The second group reached the trenches where the workers were digging a new canal bed. Another mounted patrol faced them across the trench.
The other three patrols rode south, away from the action.
Cardoza's first group rushed across the river, as the two sides fired at each other.
The insurrectos quickly surrounded the mounted patrol, while their comrades continued to exchange shots with the Rurales at the supply cache.
Four officers fell, but they also killed five of the rebels, and refused to surrender the camp.
On the other side of the work camp, the mounted patrol in the ditch landed their first two shots, but as they attempted to reload, the insurrectos charged forward and overcome them. Workers in the trench fled back toward the camp.
Meanwhile, two more mounted patrols heard the gunfire, and raced back to camp to support the officers at the weapons cache. Losses were mounting now on both sides, but neither broke.
The Rurales attempted to take better defensive positions, but time had run out. The second group of Magónistas reached the other side of the camp. Caught in a crossfire, the Rurales fell or fled.
The Liberals took the camp, but time was not on their side. The survivors regrouped into 3 sections, while José Cardoza delivered a speech to the gathered camp workers.
Not knowing where the incoming Federal soldiers would appear, the three action groups raced out to take up strategic positions. The first group marched to the grassy hill at the north of the table, taking positions in the trenches on the hill. A second group headed toward the west side of the table. They split themselves up as well, with half moving into the woods north of camp, and the other half taking the rocky ridge on the west edge of the table.
The third group rushed south, climbing the mountain in the Southeast corner of the table.
Back at camp, Cardoza slowly convinced the workers to abandon their toil and to fight, instead, for their freedom. The defensive groups reached their positions. Here's group 1:
Group 2a:
Group 2b:
Group 3 reached their positions last, atop the southern mountain.
As workers at the camp joined the revolution, they constituted a 4th section of Cardoza's force. Only the camp boss refused to join, predicably, pictured below in the black and white suit.
Leaving the boss to fend for himself in the desert, the new 4th section loaded all of the supplies into trucks.
The rebels were now as ready as they could be for the oncoming onslaught.
Unfortunately for the Liberals, the government side rolled a 6 on the predetermined turn, bringing 6 platoons onto the table.
This fact will be of little solace to Cardoza's 1st section, dug in up on a hill with three enemy platoons on each side.
The rebels on the hill held out as best they can, knowing the sound of gunfire would alert their comrades behind them. Meanwhile, two more government platoons headed south on either side of the table. The western platoon used the trenches to flank the rebels in the woods.
The rebels on the north side caused a few casualties, but by the next turn, they were fleeing back toward the camp as soldiers shot them down from behind.
They must have felt dismayed as they neared the camp, seeing the workers were still loading the trucks and their leader, Cordoza, was still amongst the tents.
Cordoza read the writing on the wall, however, and the fourth group fled south, but not before putting the torch to a few of the tents. Group 2b also set off south, along the western edge of the table.
They left the boss, standing in the middle of the burning camp, watching his workers run off with the rebels, vehicles, and all the supplies.
Group 3, dealing with the rough terrain, finally reached the south of the mountain, and discovered there the final Rurales mounted patrol.
Back in the north, a Federal platoon caught up with group one, and fired at them through the trees.
The chase was on. The soldiers rushed after their quarry.
As the other Liberal groups neared the south end of the table, the survivors of group 1 and 2a had just reached the camp.
The soldiers arrived at the camp right behind them.
On the south edge of the table, group 3 descended on the last Rurales patrol, preventing the officers from blocking the retreat.
The Federal soldiers are coming into range.
The rebel stragglers, hearing the hoofs thudding behind them, made for a line of dead trees.
They took cover behind some fallen logs and prepared to face the cavalry.
The Rurales charged in the face of the rebel fire. The officers killed one rebel.
The rebels responded, however, and destroyed the mounted section.
In the meantime, though, more platoons of soldiers caught up.
The last section of rebels fled toward the edge of the table again. And once again, their pursuers caught up and they were forced to turn and fight. By this time, the bulk of Cardoza's force, including 10 new recruits and 2 truckloads of supplies, had escaped to safety.
In the final exchange of fire, four more rebels fell, but they took out five more soldiers.
At the start of the next round, the five remaining rebels left the table to join their comrades heading south through the desert.
All told, the raid on the Riverworks camp was a moderate success for the rebels. While they gained 10 new recruits from the workforce there, they lost 9 in the initial attack, 5 while fleeing the soldiers, and an additional 5 while facing the Rurales cavalry and vanguard of soldiers at the end of the game: 19 casualties in all.
On the government side, the entire group of Rurales guarding the camp, besides 4 taken prisoner, fell in the sand. The rebels made off with the supply cache, and about half of the tents in the camp were destroyed by fire. Cardoza's band remains at large, armed, and dangerous
The game lasted 13 turns. I imagine, had I had more than 120 government forces to throw into the game, odds are one of the platoons would have ended up at marker 3 or 4, making Cardoza's escape much less likely. Rolling a dice to determine how many workers joined the rebels each turn worked out well in this game, and, as raiding work camps and mines for recruits was a common tactic on the part of the Magónistas, I'll likely employ this mechanism in future scenarios, too.
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