Republished with the permission of Publisher and Owner of MWAN Mr. Don Perrin
This great rules set for the Alamo appeared in the 100th issue of MWAN
Remember the Alamo!*
By George Knapp
·Please accept my apologies for the title. I do not mean to infringe upon any copyrighted material using the same name. These rules are for home use and not for resale purposes.
1. General. These rules are for a fast play of the Mexican attack on the Alamo, March 6, 1836. It’s a beer and pretzels, “Big Six” game. Anybody who wants more may play Empire or WRG.
At the end of ten turns, the side with the most points wins. Ties count as Texan victory.
• Ground Scale: Inside The Alamo perimeter, one inch equals ten yards.
Outside The Alamo perimeter, one inch equals twenty yards
• Man Scale: One Mexican stand equals about 20 soldiers.
One Texan casting equals about 2.5 Alamo defenders.
2. The Game takes about two hours to play and accommodates up to five players to a side. It consists of two phases: preliminary bombardment, and final assault.
3. Preliminary Bombardment. The Mexicans have three artillery batteries that can attack the Alamo for up to seven days prior to the big assault. Historically, they did five days. On each day of bombardment, each battery attempts to create a breach in The Alamo perimeter or disable Texan artillery. Valid targets are wall sections or any visible Texan artillery. After designating a wall section or artillery piece as the target, the Mexican player rolls 2D6 for each battery each day. On a die roll of 11 or 12, the effect is either a breach or a Texan gun disabled. Breaches and disabled guns are permanent.
The Mexican player can continue this process for not more than seven days. Each day, he can designate new targets simulating re-deployment of his artillery during the night.
Texan artillery may attempt counter-battery fire. Each cannon that can be brought to bear upon a Mexican battery (range is unimportant, line of sight is all that counts) rolls 2D6 per day. A die roll of 12 damages the Mexican battery, that is, removes it from play for the rest of the game.
Counter-battery fire exposes Texan artillery to the possibility of Mexican fire. Otherwise, the Texan player may keep his artillery out of harm’s way by placing it at ground level rather than up on the firing ramps. However, it takes one turn to move the guns up the ramps to firing positions once the assault begins. That means the Texan player who chooses to protect his guns loses a shot at the attacking columns on the first turn of the final assault phase.
Players may re-deploy batteries and guns once per day. For the Mexican, this simply means redesignating targets. For the Texan, it means moving guns from yesterday’s position to today’s and/or placing guns on the firing ramps for potential counter-battery fire or to repel assault.
4. Final Assault. The Mexican player has 80 stands of infantry and a number of command stands available for the final assault. He may organize them into as many as seven or as few as three attack columns (not including the reserve). Minimum number of stands per attack column is six (five infantry plus one command stand). Attack columns are two stands wide with a command stand as one of the two leading stands.
In addition, the Mexican player must designate a reserve column of not less than ten stands (nine infantry and one command). Historically, Santa Anna designated four assault columns (20,19,20, and 6 stands) and a reserve (19 stands).
Select a starting position for each of the assault columns and the reserve. There are 15 designated starting positions around The Alamo perimeter. Select one side of The Alamo (north,east, south, or west) for the reserve column. This is also Santa Anna’s position.
The Texan player deploys all of his stands anywhere within The Alamo perimeter as follows:
• Crockett and his sharpshooters must stay together. That is, they may not be spread out as individuals all around the perimeter. Keep them all within a six-inch span. Historically, they defended the barricade along the southeast perimeter near the chapel.
• Bowie begins and remains inside a room for the duration. He is immobile. Historically, he was in the easternmost room along the south wall.
• Travis, Bonham, and Dickinson may begin anywhere inside the Alamo perimeter. Travis was asleep and went to the north wall when the assault began. Dickinson was in the chapel.
• Artillery begins either up in firing positions ready to fire, or down inside the perimeter ready to be moved. Each cannon casting has one cannoneer casting.
5. Mexican Command Stands. Each assaulting column is led by a command stand that represents command and control during the column’s move from its starting point to The Alamo
perimeter. It moves and shoots just like any other infantry stand. If lost during the assault, the column subtracts from its morale roll. Once the assaulting column reaches The Alamo perimeter
and no longer takes morale rolls, the command stand is removed and replaced by an infantry stand. There is no special use for command stands once the assault column has reached The
Alamo perimeter.
Texans get one point for each Mexican command stand they kill during the final assault phase.
6. Firing. Pay attention to the fact that small arms firing is not simultaneous. During the final assault phase, both the Texan and Mexican player may fire small arms and captured Texan
artillery. The Mexican main batteries do not fire in the final assault phase. Firing is by line of sight. There are two target categories. Attack columns only exist outside The Alamo perimeter.
Stands (Mexican and Texan) exist only inside the perimeter.
Crockett’s Sharpshooters. Represent Davy Crockett and his band of sharpshooters. They have a greater probability to hit than the other Texans. Crockett adds two to his firing die roll and has a
greater range. The rest of the sharpshooters add one to their firing die rolls.
Firing Rules: All stands and cannons may fire once per turn.
• Cannon may fire at attack columns within 45° and line of sight at any range. Be liberal, but don’ t let either side fire artillery indiscriminately. No firing over friendly troops heads, etc.
• Texans may fire small arms at targets that are within seven inches and line of sight either inside or outside The Alamo perimeter.
• Texan artillerymen may fire small arms or cannon, but not both in the same turn.
7. Movement. Mexican attack columns may move six inches per turn with all stands remaining touching. Once they reach The Alamo perimeter, Mexican stands continue to move six inches per turn but no longer have to remain in contact with other stands. In other words, Mexican stands become independent once they reach the perimeter.
Mexican columns that begin on the eastern side of the table may be slowed in crossing the ponds between their starting positions and The Alamo perimeter. Roll ID6. On a roll of 5 or 6, the column becomes bogged and spends one extra turn crossing the pond. Note the presence of a road that crosses between the upper and lower ponds. An attack column may use that road to cross the ponds without making a die roll.
Attack columns remain two stands wide until the turn after reaching the perimeter. Then, as part of its movement each attacking column may extend its front by two stands per turn as part of the scaling process.
Texans may move up to seven inches per turn. Texans can move in any direction or combination of directions up to seven inches per turn. Texans can not move through walls or Mexican stands.
Texans may move into contact with Mexican stands for the purpose of hand-to-hand fighting limit two Texan stands per Mexican stand. Texans may not move outside The Alamo perimeter.
Texans may not move their artillery during the final assault phase except to the top of the firing ramps to fire at Mexican assault columns. Mexicans may move captured Texan artillery a maximum of six inches per turn. It takes one Mexican stand to move and serve a captured artillery piece. The stand may not fire not participate in hand-to-hand fighting or door bashing while it serves the piece.
8. Breaching. Only Mexican artillery can create breaches as described in the bombardment section above. A breach is two Mexican stands wide allowing a maximum of two Mexican stands and/or four Texan stands to fire or fight hand to hand through. If undefended, any number of Mexican stands may move through as long as none violate movement limits or physical space restrictions.
9. Scaling. Each Mexican stand that is in frontal contact with The Alamo perimeter at the beginning of its movement segment may attempt to scale the perimeter wall in lieu of making normal movement. Exception. Only the one-story buildings and perimeter wall may be scaled. Roll one die per stand.
• The stand is successful on a die roll of 4, 5, or 6.
• If scaling point is undefended, then place the successful stand either atop the building or just inside the perimeter at the scaling point.
• If scaling point is defended, that is if there is at least one Texan stand within the width of the scaling Mexican stand, then allow the Texan to try to push off ladder. Roll one die. The
Texan successfully pushes off the ladder on a die roll of 6. The Mexican may try again next turn.
• If the Texan fails to push off the ladder, then the Mexican and Texan stands fight hand to hand in the following segment.
• Once a scaling attempt has been successful and the scaling point is no longer defended, place a ladder at the scaling point to mark it for other stands to use in subsequent turns. No further die rolls necessary unless a Texan stand moves to oppose. In that case, repeat the process beginning with the Texan attempt to push off the ladder.
Page 2 Remember the Alamo Rules
