I've been reading through the Fistful of Lead: Viva la Revolucion! scenario supplement and working out how to put together a starting force for both the American Punitive Expedition and the Villistas. An obvious scenario to kick things off would be Scenario 10: Patton's First Fight. This represents the raid by Patton and his foraging party on a ranch where one of Villa's top commanders, Julio Cardenas, was staying, leading to a brief but bloody skirmish in which the rebels were killed. It's a small scenario with limited forces, so perfect as a beginning to a larger project.
The 20mm forces required for the scenario I already have from Shellhole Scenics, including a squad of ten US Infantry and a contingent of six Dorados, the elite cavalry unit of the Villista forces, the latter both in mounted and dismounted form. In the raid, the small force of Cardenas actually made a run for it on horseback, charging out of the gateway of the ranch in an attempt to getaway. The scenario only has them on foot defending the ranch but I might as well paint up the mounted figures too. I think I may also have a couple of die cast toy vintage cars for Patton to arrive in?
The only thing I need is a terrain square and a suitable 20mm scale ranch house with a surrounding wall, as I already have some desert scatter terrain and can improvise a two foot square board. This can actually be little smaller as the scenario assumes that you will be using 28mm figures, so I might scale it down to 20'' or so? The ranch can be found in the Blotz 20mm Middle Eastern range, which has a couple of suitable buildings, both with lift-off roofing. These could be used as they are, with one only needing the addition of a small outbuilding to be spot on, although I could change the position of the main gateway to match the scenario plan.
This is definitely a manageable project and would be a good place to start!
Have you played the rules before? I'm assuming they are quick and easy. The figures look just fine you'll need some catus, and the theme music to the Magnificent 7 http://thundermesaminingco.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/building-better-cactus.html
ReplyDeleteYul Brunner version obviously.
Yes I have played the rules a lot. I have some cactus too. Just need the theme music!
ReplyDeleteThis may be just a tall tale, but I've heard that Patton strapped a couple of the dead Villistas across the hood of his car, as though he had just been deer-hunting! Very tempting to create such a model...
ReplyDeleteChris
No, absolutely true apparently!
ReplyDeleteI ran this a couple of times. The Villistas kept getting away on the horses! So it became more of a siege game. Let me know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteWill do. Looking forward to playing it through a few times.
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