Good eye -- yes, the Legion is indeed represented at 1:1 scale, though the hacienda compound on display is a little small -- walls 24" square rather than the 28"-30" they should be in 28mm scale.
Yes, I also love those trees! They are expensive, -- at least IMHO -- but I felt they worth it for the Maiwand layout. They're ASPEN TREES from an American model railroad scenery company called Grand Central Gems. Unfortunately I can't post active LINKS here in the comments section, but you should be able to copy and paste the link into your browser...
In last week's battle, we went most of the way through 2 waves of Mexican attacks, with the Legion inflicting a little under 80 casualties during each wave. As the actual Mexican attack incurred approx. 300 casualties, we were on track with a somewhat historically-accurate casualty rate. I know that by next April 30th, I will not have 2,000 Mexican troops to throw at the Hacienda, but as you suggest, "recycling" Mexican forces makes it possible to throw close to that number of attackers at the Legion over the course of the battle. The rules we played are organized around "THREE WAVES" of Mexican assaults, so in order to reach 2,000 troops, you would need at least 600 Mexican infantry and/or dismounted Cavalry, which would then divide up against the wall sections into approx. 150 figures apiece. Off the top of my head, that seems like an impossible situation for any Legion defenders to survive even a single assault, unless the Mexican morale is incredibly brittle (easy to break after suffering very few casaulties).
I think you can get away with only 400 Mexicans, or even 300, and still have a good game, with the Legion struggling desprately, and RECYCLING MEXICAN CASUALTIES to form the next wave of attackers.
So... I really haven't answered your question, but I suppose I do plan on fighting the battle at 1:1 scale, even on the Mexican troops front, but with the supposition that a chunk of the quoted 2,000 Mexicans never actually waded into the actual fight, as someone had to be watching the road in both directions for signs of French reinforcements, and someone had to provide security for Colonel Milan and his staff, and someone had to guard the field camp he set up, as well as the hospital he had set up in the abandoned Inn, and someone had to be on picket duty watching the surrounding woods, etc.
If you take all that into consideration, let's say... there were 1,800 Mexicans who actually attacked the hacienda at any given point throughout the day, or approx. 600 in each of the 3 assault waves which the structure of this particular rules set provides. 600 Mexicans is a lot of figures, but not an impossibly outlandish number, and we could still take it down a notch to 1,500 all told attackers, making for only 500 Mexican figures per assault wave -- which still leaves the Legion outnumbered TEN-TO-ONE when they're at FULL STRENGTH.
It will be a rough battle. The Legion will have the advantage of being stationary and in cover verses the Mexicans advancing over open ground into their guns.
I think the 500 Mexican models will be enough for each wave. I think a good way to model the fight is for the French to inflict enough casualties to the Mexicans to make them withdraw. I am not really familiar with the detailed events of the historical battle, only the major events in the Legion story told on Camerone day, so I am just making suggestions.
Great to see the first of the figures arrive. Company strength looks like a ratio of 1 to 1?
ReplyDeleteThe trees that line the road look good, who makes these if you don't mind me asking? (also who makes the grass tufts?)
Figures and terrain look superb.
Thanks for the compliment, Silver Whistle!
ReplyDeleteGood eye -- yes, the Legion is indeed represented at 1:1 scale, though the hacienda compound on display is a little small -- walls 24" square rather than the 28"-30" they should be in 28mm scale.
Yes, I also love those trees! They are expensive, -- at least IMHO -- but I felt they worth it for the Maiwand layout. They're ASPEN TREES from an American model railroad scenery company called Grand Central Gems. Unfortunately I can't post active LINKS here in the comments section, but you should be able to copy and paste the link into your browser...
General Google search:
http://www.internettrains.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=IT&Product_Code=GCG-T15&Category_Code=
...and on sale here:
http://www.grandcentralgems.com/scale-model-trees.cfm
What ratio do you plan to field the Mexicans with? or Doo you plan to use revolving units onto the table?
ReplyDeleteColKG
Good question, Colonel Killgore.
ReplyDeleteIn last week's battle, we went most of the way through 2 waves of Mexican attacks, with the Legion inflicting a little under 80 casualties during each wave. As the actual Mexican attack incurred approx. 300 casualties, we were on track with a somewhat historically-accurate casualty rate. I know that by next April 30th, I will not have 2,000 Mexican troops to throw at the Hacienda, but as you suggest, "recycling" Mexican forces makes it possible to throw close to that number of attackers at the Legion over the course of the battle. The rules we played are organized around "THREE WAVES" of Mexican assaults, so in order to reach 2,000 troops, you would need at least 600 Mexican infantry and/or dismounted Cavalry, which would then divide up against the wall sections into approx. 150 figures apiece. Off the top of my head, that seems like an impossible situation for any Legion defenders to survive even a single assault, unless the Mexican morale is incredibly brittle (easy to break after suffering very few casaulties).
I think you can get away with only 400 Mexicans, or even 300, and still have a good game, with the Legion struggling desprately, and RECYCLING MEXICAN CASUALTIES to form the next wave of attackers.
So... I really haven't answered your question, but I suppose I do plan on fighting the battle at 1:1 scale, even on the Mexican troops front, but with the supposition that a chunk of the quoted 2,000 Mexicans never actually waded into the actual fight, as someone had to be watching the road in both directions for signs of French reinforcements, and someone had to provide security for Colonel Milan and his staff, and someone had to guard the field camp he set up, as well as the hospital he had set up in the abandoned Inn, and someone had to be on picket duty watching the surrounding woods, etc.
If you take all that into consideration, let's say... there were 1,800 Mexicans who actually attacked the hacienda at any given point throughout the day, or approx. 600 in each of the 3 assault waves which the structure of this particular rules set provides. 600 Mexicans is a lot of figures, but not an impossibly outlandish number, and we could still take it down a notch to 1,500 all told attackers, making for only 500 Mexican figures per assault wave -- which still leaves the Legion outnumbered TEN-TO-ONE when they're at FULL STRENGTH.
It is no picnic to be the Legion at Camerone!
It will be a rough battle. The Legion will have the advantage of being stationary and in cover verses the Mexicans advancing over open ground into their guns.
ReplyDeleteI think the 500 Mexican models will be enough for each wave. I think a good way to model the fight is for the French to inflict enough casualties to the Mexicans to make them withdraw.
I am not really familiar with the detailed events of the historical battle, only the major events in the Legion story told on Camerone day, so I am just making suggestions.
ColKG
Great terrain! Vive la Legion!
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for taking the time to leave your comment, John!
ReplyDelete