Visiting Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma

[streetgang]

Pendraken doesn't make a Mexican American War range, but I still game it in 10mm so I thought I'd post this here. After being sent to Southern Texas for work, I managed to make it over to sites of the first two battles of the Mexican American War. While a brief visit, the trip meant a lot for me because I had spent a good amount of time researching the battles and collecting the armies to ultimately game Palo Alto. It had meaning for other reasons I describe in more detail on the blog here: Blog



It is a fairly small visitor center but I was pleasantly surprised to see a small display filled with 15mm miniatures (unfortunately not 10mm) and Buck Surdu's Santa Anna Rules! More pictures on my blog linked above.

[pierre the shy]

Thanks for taking the time to post this Streetgang, very interesting to see a lesser known US based conflict other than the ACW.

I hope you stayed on the path.....looks like the battlefield could be potentially as hazardous today as it was back in the 1840's with lots of.....creepy crawlies around.

If I ever get to do a battlefield visit to my current project (ECW Ireland) then it won't be a problem thanks to St Patrick 

 

[pierre the shy]

Sorry to hear of your recent loss, and the passing of Bill the figure maker too.....must have made the trip a very meaningful one for you.

[paulr]

Thanks for sharing Streetgang

A very special trip

[streetgang]

Thank you Paul and Pierre. I appreciate the responses. I'm glad I took the time to visit the battlefield for many reasons. The solemnity of walking those pathways was a powerful experience for many reasons.

I've been to a few battle sites (Bull Run, Gettysburg, Trenton, Brandywine, etc) but this one really made me think about the terrain and it's impact on the battle and how it should probably be reflected with some special rules.

I think I need to add more scatter to my  gaming table and represent the squat chaparral trees with some 6mm forests. In the actual battle, all the firefights caused a brushfire in the arid grasslands. Some random events intermixed among the activation deck (I use Field of Battle rules) may be a good idea.

...and Pierre, you better believe that I stayed along that pathway and didn't venture off. Perhaps it was my paranoia, but I could have sworn I heard the rattle of the snake's tails amongst the tall grasses!

[kipt]

FYI, Crackerlineminis.com does 10mm Mexican War as well as 10mm ACW.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Interesting

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Brilliant post, thank you for sharing.
Sorry for your losses, but you appear to have taken the bull by the horns and I'm sure you are being supported by us all for it.

Rattlers, yup, don't want to meet them again. Was abseiling off a climb in Yosemite and there was one sunbathing on the only belay spot for the next pitch.

[streetgang]

FYI, Crackerlineminis.com does 10mm Mexican War as well as 10mm ACW.

Kipt, that was the range I spoke of. Bill Moreno owned the Cracker line ACW range and then created So Far From God. With Bill's passing, I'm not sure what will come of the range. The website mentions that it may be sold or just shut down. In the meantime, they aren't taking any orders.

[kipt]

Sorry, I hadn't read your blog just your post.  Sorry to hear about Bill.  I met him in Florida several years ago and had a game at this house.  I have many of his ACW figures.  Hope his range will continue.

[fsn]

I have contemplated the Texan wars.

I think much is now do-able with Pendraken. The American infantry could be done using Hanoverian from the Waterloo range. Less happily, American cavalry could be sourced from the 1866 Saxons 

The regular Mexican infantry could be proxied by Napoleonics to taste.  British light dragoons for Mexican cavalry, you could also use French cuirassiers for the Tulanciago Cuirassiers. the Franco-Mexican lancer in sombrero would also be useful.

Where I think Pendraken lacks is the irregulars. There's no Davy Crockett, but there are a few lines in the ACW range that could be useful.



Dammit! I may have talked myself into looking into this a bit further.

[pierre the shy]

I'll mention these guys, though they may be a bit early as they are 10mm but from the Texan War period (1835-6), about 10 years before the Mexican-American War:

https://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/products.asp?cat=10mm+Texas+War+of+Independence

I have no idea if the Mexican uniforms would have changed in that time. The infantry are based in 5's, rather reminisant of Warlord Games epic scale ranges.   

Finally remembered where I had seen them as our local club has a "army deal" with Old Glory so you can get up to 40% off the regular price of any Old Glory products (very useful given the slide in the US/NZ exchange rates lately to around .59 if you do indulge in buying stuff from the US). The army deal is mainly used by the local DBMM player group who buy lots of 28mm figures. 

Note that I am not personally in the market for Mexican-American War figures       

[John Cook]

Where I think Pendraken lacks is the irregulars. There's no Davy Crockett, but there are a few lines in the ACW range that could be useful.

There are plenty of Spanish irregular types, in civilian dress, in the Peninsular War range.  Converting one-off characters should not be much of a challenge.

[John Cook]

Thanks for the interesting posting and link.  I was sorry to read of your loss and the death of Bill.  I have a lot of his ACW figures, bought when he was based in Florida (I think) and just starting out.  We corresponded via email and he struck me as a real enthusiast who was happy to chat about his figures and the ACW generally.  They were lovely little figures and perfectly compatible with Pendraken's equally good ACW range, which is what I used to complete my Shiloh project when they appeared - it was just more practical for several reasons.  It would be such a shame if Bill's figures were lost to us.

[streetgang]

Thank you for all of the kind comments gentlemen. Bill had originally commissioned Robi Baker to sculpt all of the Mexicans. The initial American forces in the range were converted from the sculpts in his ACW range. There was a noticeable difference in the styles of sculpt and I opted to use Mexican Light infantry for my Americans. Shortly after Bill had seen this, he changed course and had Robi sculpt the Americans as well. I was really impressed by his desire to get things done right.

There are some suitable proxies out there for Mexicans and I converted ACW Union by lopping kepis off and smushing a blob of green stuff to make the ubiquitous MAW forage cap. It would be a shame if Bill's ranges disappear but there are other options if that does happen.

I consider Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma to be the most gameable MAW battles because of the battlefield, parity of forces and deployment. I had never thought I'd have the opportunity to see them firsthand and it really highlighted just how perilous those grounds were with snakes, cordgrass and thorny shrubs. It's no wonder that cavalry charges were less than effective.