Battle for Cuzco Well

Today at Das Krieg Haus we played more Tactical Combat, this time a Spanish-American War game. This was an 1898 USMC assault on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to seize a water supply that just happens to be next to a blockhouse. I was on the Spanish side.

Just the lower story - you'll see why in a bit.

Between them, Mark's versatile rules, Jim's enthusiasm for DBA, and Oriskany Jim's spectacles have revitalized the club. There are games almost weekly now, and the club is pivoting towards a more generalist set up, with "bring-your-own" battles on multiple tables. For example, in between turns Jim was demoing DBA:

Lots of armies, each with its own ready-to-go sheet and background.

That same Alexandrian-Indian matchup I still can't get the hang of.

Also: DBA on a hex board!

But the main attraction was over what is now "Gitmo."

View from the West, with a beach on the southern edge.

Three platoons of Spanish troops (15-20 strong), one of loyal Cubans, two machine guns, five snipers and five sentries hold the well, blockhouse and environs. Four platoons of US Marines, a squad of Cuban insurgents, two machine guns and a command element were out to take them. The HQ also had wig-wag signallers who could call in gunfire from a US Navy ship.

Specifically, this guy.

As usual, I had analysis paralysis and wasn't too sure when my team nominated me for command. We ended up putting one platoon into the church in the southeast, one into the blockhouse, one into the farm complex in the northwest, and one (hidden) in the farm complex to the west - this last to slow up the largest concentration of Americans. The snipers were scattered, mostly in trees. The Americans came in from the north and west:

Most of the game was spent rolling firing dice. I controlled the "stopgap" platoon on the western flank, where they were outnumbered 2-1, and held off the onslaught for about four turns.

Some of my poor bastards enfiladed
by a Colt machine gun.

The Spanish got the worst of it, but were winning on points for most of the game owing to holding the objectives - as long as we kept the well and blockhouse (worth 15 points) we could take up to 14 more casualties than the Americans but still be on top.

The problem was the damn signaller.

He could successfully signal his ship, once a turn, on a 5 or less on a D20.

Once signalled, the ship could hit its target again, on a 5 or less on a D20.

So, a 1/16 chance of a direct hit. Scatter would be at least 10cm, far enough to miss the block house.

He hit that blockhouse three times in six turns.

On turn four, I started targeting the signallers with our one remaining sniper (hit on 8 or less). It took three turns to wipe out the team, but by that time, the blockhouse was on fire and empty, save for an unmanned Maxim. (See first photo.)

At this point, we could only hope to keep the Marines from just walking on to the objective, and what remained of the blockhouse largely blocked LOS to what remained of our force. By turn 10, it was clear that no matter what we did, he could put men on the objectives by turn 12, end of game. We conceded.

The end result - some seventy casualties on each side. Since the game did technically come down to the last turn, this was still a pretty balanced scenario. Tactical Combat is a lethal game, and another aspect that kept us going was that there are no morale rules (had there been, the game might have been over a LOT quicker).

A few more pictures:

Mark will run another game tomorrow, this one Napoleonic. I hope to be there. Until next time,