The Fight at La Trinidad Hacienda

The view from the West prior to the struggle commencing, with the North to the left and East at top...

The First round on the West. saw one Juarista unit fail to activate, while two further units fired at long range...ineffectively. Three did succeed in charging towards the FFL positions. The two FFL units manning the demolished gates fired very effectively, dropping 8 Juaristas! That unit succeeded in passing both Pin tests!

Meanwhile, on the Northern side, one Juarista unit failed to activate while the second drew first blood on the French, dropping a FFL in the Hacienda. The small group of FFL inside, got revenge by nailing one Juarista inside and outside...

Finally on the East, again, one Juarista unit failed to activate, while the remaining two charged the gap in the wall. The FFL fired and got three more Juaristas...

Round Two saw two Juarista units in the West, fail to activate. The remaining three continued their charge, with one reaching cover of the wall. The FFL dropped five more Juaristas...

In the north, the Juarista unit recovered from its Pin, only to lose another casualty and become Pinned again! The Juaristas in the Hacienda, got one more FFL who missed any hits on the unit inside...

Ending the Round, on the East the Juarista unit recovered from its Pin, while one failed to activate. The final unit charged close to the wall. The FFL nailed three more...

For the Third Round, in the West, two of the Juaristas failed to activate! One fired again ineffectively while the three remaining units charged, but killed only one FFL in melee. The FFL devastated their enemy this round, dropping 11 Juaristas including two officers...

Over on the Northern front, one Juarista unit recovered from its Pin, while the second in the Hacienda took down one FFL while losing one of their own...

On the East, one Juarista unit failed to activate (even though they were safe from French fire close to the wall!). Another charged towards the wall while the third (only two men left) retreated to the trees. The FFL successfully eliminated three more Juaristas...

Round Four in the West saw a Juarista disaster as one unit simply broke from the battlefield!(second photo)  One further unit was completely destroyed and two others failed to remove their Pin! The only good news was the last unit charging successfully only to be driven off, (on left) but with no casualties. The FFL suffered no loss...

A little better result on the North, as The Juaristas outside the Hacienda, charged into melee. While they lost two and were driven off, they brought down another FFL (This FFL unit has lost four men!)...

And in the East, two Juarista units charged into melee, one following the other (just as the commander wanted), however they inflicted on one FFL casualty while they lost 4, and were forced to retreat...

Round Five began on the West side with two Juarista units failing to activate while another recovered from its Pin.  The FFL managed to inflict two more casualties...

In the Hacienda in the North, one Juarista recovered its Pin outside, however, the FFL inflicted four casualties on the unit inside...

The Eastern sector was basically inactive, while one Juarista unit failed to activate and the second recovered from its Pin. The FFL volley failed to connect at all!

Round Six in the West saw the Juarista commander frustrated with all of the Pins. Two failed to recover and the third failed to activate! Only the single Juarista fell back to regroup...

In the North, the two Juarista units merged as they regrouped for another assault...

The Juaristas finally found some success in their assault, this in the East. While one unit failed to activate, the other close to the wall used its cover to rush the smashed gate. Although they inflicted only one FFL casualty, they suffered none in return and so pushed the FFL away from the barricade and they stormed inside! The French volleyed on their activation and dropped three, but the Juaristas didnt flinch...no Pin, and whats more, they did not fall back out of the compound! The next round could be critical...

Round Seven in the Northern sector saw one Juarista unit fail to recover its Pin while a second, charged the northern gateway and dropped one FFL but lost four (inc one officer) in return and was forced to retreat.

The FFL fired on the two small Juarista units and wiped out all three of the remaining men (bottom center).

In the North, the Juarista unit charged into melee in the hacienda, eliminated two FFL vs losing one. This forced the FFL into retreat with a Pin! The FFL unit on its turn did recover its Pin...

Finally in the East, it looked like the Juarista good luck from the previous turn was about to turn when the FFL received the first activation. It only needed a roll of five...and the French threw a four! No activation! But then the Juarista charged, losing four while the FFL lost two. The Juaristas were forced to retire and received a Pin. Oh well...

 Beginning Round Eight, there wasn't really a lot left for the Juarista commander to do. The unit protected by the wall did recover its Pin (upper left)  and the second fell back towards the trees (lower right) . The FFL simply moved one man from the reserve to each of the units guarding the gateways...

The fighting within the hacienda saw the Juarista unit forced to retire with a Pin, although it did recover on its turn...

Finally, in the East, the lone officer recovered from his Pin while the second failed and continue to retire. (upper left)..

At this point, the Juarista commander decided to call off any further attacks until his men could be regrouped and reinforced, and so the fight came to an end. As did occur historically, the Juaristas lost heavily (over 60 figures) while the FFL lost only 11. It was a fun engagement.

The French Foreign Legion at Camerone

65 Legionnaires and officers were present of La Trinidad Hacienda. 

On the left is Captain Jean Danjou (with the false left hand painted white) commanding the FFL force. He had volunteered with the regular officer down with illness. Next is Lt Jean Villain and finally Lt Clement Maudet. In fact all three officers had volunteered replacing missing men.

At center is Sgt Major Henri Tonei, flanked by two legionnaires.

Some more legionnaires. As before, there is a mix of Old Glory, Foundry and Gringo40s.

Next up, the Battle!

1863,Battle of Camerone

Having been at home for the better part of three months, I've been investing in numerous areas that have always interested me. The previous postings regarding Battle of de Bexar, leading up to the Alamo is one. Next up is the famous engagement between the forces of President Juarez, and the 3rd Co, 1st Battalion, French Foreign Legion.

The battle was fought at the La Trinidad Hacienda, on the road to Puebla from Vera Cruz. This view is from the north across the road the French convoy was using. (the reason for the FFL being here in the first place)...

Now from the East...

There was one gap in the wall on this side, with two gates (w/o doors) on the west. The French had also occupied the NW corner of the Hacienda. Unfortunately for them, the Juaristas had already taken possession of the rest of the building.

Now we have soldiers of Juarez. The miniatures come from Gringo40, Old Glory, and Foundry...

The Legion will follow...

Texican Reinforcements

Following are photos of some Old Glory Texicans to garrison my Alamo, hopefully this June...

inc the 'Big Three'...

Battle of San Antonio de Bexar, pt II

During the night following the first day's fighting, both sides consolidated. Two Mexican Cos were grouped on the west (left center), one Co routed during the night, another held their buildings at top center, while the last reformed in the courtyard of the Governor's Plaza (top right)...

The Texicans occupied several buildings (Greys in center) along the western edge of town, and one at NW corner. Fourth Co occupied a couple of small buildings north of town ) center right)...

After two hours of fighting, (and some horrible die rolls by the Texicans!) one Mexican, one Greys, and x3 Texicans have been shot down, with the largest Texican Co remaining, in retreat! (bottom center of photo)...

It took nearly the whole day for the Texicans finally to secure the next building (top right), but with one company being routed off the board and two others down to only a handful of men, the fight came to an end. Can see some necessary alterations to the rules to fit this scenario better, but thats what this was all about!

Here are some closeups of the Esci Plastics i finally painted after several decades of sitting on the shelf. First, Mexican Infantry...

A few Lancers...

Dismounted Presidio Cavalry...

And Mexican Artillery...

The New Orleans Greys...

Finally, the Texicans...

 Just arrived from Old Glory, i will post some photos of their Texicans as soon as I paint up a few. Stay healthy and safe til then!

Battle of San Antonio de Bexar

While I'm waiting on receiving a fantastic looking model of the Alamo, I decided to use several boxes of Esci plastics I've had sitting on my to-do shelf and recreate this fight that took place before the famous siege. Not being able to get together with the gang, I played this out solo using The Men Who Would be Kings. While not actually set up for this time period, already using it for another project, Rorke's Drift convinced me to give it a try.

The view is from the North looking over the Main Plaza to left, and Military Plaza on the right. Two groups of Texicans seen to the right side with the various Mexican companies manning the barricades and rooftops...

This is from the quiet eastern edge of de Bexar with Mexican cavalry, artillery and infantry all pictured. The Texicans are attacking from the NW, top right of photo...

Turning now to the view from the south with two dismounted Presidio companies shown at bottom...

Finally, the view from the West, NW, where the Texicans are making their move. Two units of the New Orleans Greys are nearing the buildings at left, while the rest of the Texicans (some three more units) are on the left edge...

After several volleys have chased off two Mexican cos, the New Orleans Greys are preparing to assault the NW buildings...

A section of Mexican artillery has moved up to the northern barricade as the company that had originally held this line had retired...

Taking an opposite view as the previous photo, shows two Mexican cos which had been driven from the barricade and rooftops while a third company on right has been trying to move up in support. Unfortunately for the last two turns, the company has failed its command roll!

to be continued...Mexican reserves beginning to move towards the west...

The New Orleans Greys have taken the NW houses while the Mexican Co tries to unpin. The Mexican Co to the left has taken casualties, but continues to hold...

To the south of the Greys, Texican infantry and artillery have cleared a barricade...

To the north, even with casualties suffered, the Mexican Co here deals out three hits on the Texican Co, and it fails twice to unpin (The red caps each reflect a pin; units may only try to rally at that stage!)...

The Mexicans that were forced from the NW houses (center of photo) regroups, but finds themselves exposed to the Greys above. Initiative will be critical here!

The Mexicans do get the first card (initiative) but the pinned company fails and gains yet another pin after losing to the Texican fire from the Greys above! The Mexican Co (center) does pass its orders test and moves closer in order to fir upon the Greys (max 12")

After suffering three (!) casualties from the Mexicans atop the wall, (but succeeding in passing the Pin test of 10!) the Texicans here move to cover afforded by the outlying buildings...

With the Mexicans wining the race to man the barricades, this Texican Co takes cover. Getting caught in the open could be devastating...

Dusk is now quickly falling (turn 11 of 12). To be continued....