HISTORICON 2012 Wednesday Night

After registration I was able to join the playtest of  "NOT MEN, BUT DEMONS" THE FRENCH FOREIN LEGION AT CAMERONE , hosted by Michael Montemarano.  I enjoyed playing the role of a Legion Sargent in command of a squad.  Great fun was had by all and the next group to play this game are in for a treat.  

[It was in Mexico on 30 April 1863 that the foreign legion earned its legendary status. A company led by Captain Jean Danjou, numbering 62 soldiers and 3 officers, was escorting a convoy to the besieged city of Puebla when it was attacked and besieged by two thousand revolutionaries,^[6] organised in three battalions of infantry and cavalry, numbering 1,200 and 800 respectively. The patrol was forced to make a defence in Hacienda Camarón, and despite the hopelessness of the situation, fought nearly to the last man. When only six survivors remained, out of ammunition, a bayonet charge was conducted in which three of the six were killed. The remaining three wounded men were brought before the Mexican general, who allowed them to return to France as an honor guard for the body of Captain Danjou. The captain had a wooden hand which was stolen during the battle; it was later returned to the Foreign Legion and is now kept in a case in the Foreign Legion Museum at Aubagne, and paraded annually on Camerone Day. It is the foreign legion's most precious relic. (WIKIPEDIA)]

The Hacienda Camerone at the start of our game

Close view of the main Hacienda Camerone gate Legionaries inside

Close view of the main Hacienda Camerone gate Legionaries outside 

A Mexican commander gathers information on how to attack

A view of the rear and side of  Hacienda Camerone

The Hacienda Camerone at the start of our game

My command speeds toward the breach in the wall

My command speeds toward the breach in the wall

Legionaries organize their defense of the gate

Pesky Mexican Guerrillas advance on the breached wall

Legionaries finalize their defensive positioning as the Revolutionaries advance.

The building of barricades at the gate hurriedly continues

My Sergeant's men complete a barricade in the breach of the wall just in time

Mexican Guerrillas charge the breach of the wall and organize to send men over the undefended wall 

As the assault on the breach continues the rest of the unit prepares to send men over the undefended wall.  My Corporal leads men to cover the wall near the Hacienda while my Sargent shoots Revolutionaries coming over the wall.

A closer view as the action in this corner of the Hacienda continues

A wider view as the action in this corner of the Hacienda continues

A wounded Legionary has been moved from the breach to safety

An view looking out as the fight intensifies as Mexican reinforcements arrive 

An view looking out as the fight intensifies as Mexican reinforcements arrive 

Having beaten a Guerrilla unit the defense of the gate intensifies

Regulars close on the wall as the defense of the gate continues

Regulars organize at the wall as the defense of the gate continues and the last of the Guerrillas attack the breach

Regulars scale the wall and fight from on top of the stables

 

The last of the Guerrillas storm the breach as other Revolutionaries storm the courtyard through the hole they have made in the wall near the main building.

 

The brave Corporal drives away most of the intruders but the breach has been made into the courtyard

 

 

 Things are looking bleak for the brave Legionaries

1 to hold the breach on the south wall

1 to hold the breach near the main building

and 

2 who have just dropped wounded at the hospital

My command has formed a 4 man firing line in front of the main buildings door

Other Legionaries make a dash for the main building behind my command as revolutionaries watch

More revolutionaries arrive

The courtyard fills with hostiles

The insides of the main buildings

Defending the breach in the building

More Mexican reinforcements push for the gate

My final view of the fight.

I had a great time but the hour was late and my night vision is not what it used to be, so I left the desperate fight for the building to my Legionary comrades.