Game of the Week - April 1st - 7th

For a list of included scenarios check out this Operations document.

Campaigns

With this title we offer up six different campaign files for you to play.

Taylor’s Campaign – This file covers all the actions that took place under Taylor’s command, running from Palo Alto through Buena Vista. Depending on the selections players make this campaign could potentially cover seven linked battles, or as few as three. Losses carry over between actions where appropriate.

Scott’s Campaign – This file covers the later part of the war picking up from Scott’s landing near Vera Cruz and carrying all the way to gates of Mexico City, or the Halls of Montezuma, for our Marine Corps enthusiasts. The first segment of the campaign covers Cerro Gordo and potential actions that could have happened based on battle outcomes and choices made by the commanders. Historically the Armies broke off contact after this with the Mexicans going off to lick their wounds and the Americans being forced to regroup as many of the Volunteers enlistments expired and new troops were brought up. This caused an approximate four month delay in the action while the Americans rested at Puebla. Massive restructuring took place on the Mexican side of things, and many units changed out and refit for the US. For this reason losses do not carry over into the second part of the campaign. However from Contreras on losses do again carry over. Depending on selections made and battle outcomes this campaign can have as many as six linked battles or as few as two, if the Americans are stopped cold.

Full War Campaign – This is a “flat” campaign in that it simply links all the major battles of the war together, one after the other. No losses carry over in any action and regardless of outcome there will be a total of nine battles fought. This doesn’t give the “true” campaign experience, but it is a good way to fight all the major historical battles in a row if you want to do that.

TWI_Alamo Campaign – This simply provides you a choice of how the battle will be fought, with two choices for each player.

TWI_Texas Campaign – This campaign is similar to the “Full War” one above, with it providing a series of 5 linked battles with no losses carrying over between actions.

TWI_Texas Campaign _Alt - An "alt" take on this campaign by Ed "Volcano Man" Williams.

An added feature of this series is the inclusion of a Map Editor which can be used to alter existing maps or make completely new maps. There are 33 full maps included with the game and numerous sub-maps.

Additionally, there are free add-on "Hand Painted" maps for a different look for your two 3D views, which can be downloaded from the EAW Support page.

For reading suggestions we are just going to put forth one title this week, an excellent book that gives a good balance of overview and detail for this current conflict. "So Far from God" by John S.D. Eisenhower.

For video content we have this review from SmartWargames from about 2 years ago.

And then we have a sampling of other screen shots from the game. There's two 3D views and three 2D views as well as two different sets of 2D counters that can be used. All images can be clicked for full size.