Camerone Redux

Back in the old days, when there was a miniatures manufacturer called Wargames Foundry, with fairly priced minis from hard to find ranges, I bought a bunch of figures from their Maxmillian Adventure range. They’re a bit small by today’s 28mm standard, but still very nice. My goal was to re-enact Camerone, the classic fight to the last man battle at Hacienda Trinidad, in which 45 or so French Foreign legionnaires fought 1,800 or so Juarista militia and regulars.

This battle has held a hallowed place in our local gaming lore. Dave Demick and I have been friends for going on thirty years or so, and we have occasionally held Camerone Day celebrations. We typically do this by adopting one of our homes for the day, chasing our wives out of the house by cooking lamb, and eating and drinking copiously. We typically throw a game or two in the works. Only once have we done a Camerone refight, which I took to Enfilade in 1999. I wasn’t happy with the game however, though, and my figures have largely languished in their boxes.

I was yakking with Dennis Trout at the NHMGS auction in February, however, and he talked about his Maxmillian stuff. We made plans to discuss it further, and Tuesday night we did. At Bruce Meyer’s house for an always fun Arc of Fire game, we discussed our resources, and agreed that Camerone was doable. We also discussed rules. I mentioned The Sword and the Flame expansion for this period, and Dennis was agreeable.

This week Dennis sent me a couple of ideas from Free Wargames Rules http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/ There were a couple of sets of rules for Camerone. One is by Mark Hannam, and appeared in The Gauntlet http://www.geocities.com/fenerator/maxcam.htm They are interesting but seem a bit clunky. A second set of rules by Howard Whitehouse also appear from a 1999 issue of The Heliograph. http://www.geocities.com/fenerator/maxhow.htm These rules have the virtue of being simple, but colorful, and should provide some entertainment. If we like these, I may even try to talk Dennis into running the game at Enfilade.

The game is on the 29^th, and I’ll post some pictures from the game.