"Spanish American War in Puerto Rico" Topic

Hello everyone:

I finally finished a Black Powder supplement for combat actions in Puerto Rico in the Spanish America War. It has a brief overview of the operations on the island, army lists and 4 scenarios that exemplify combat in Puerto Rico. Although written with the Black Powder rules in mind, the information provided can be used to play in the game system of your choice.

The great people of 1898 Miniaturas have graciously decided to host it and you can find it here:
link

It was a labor of love and I hope you enjoy it. Please PM me any questions or comments.

Cheers,

Jorge

Best BP treatment I've seen yet. There is enough information for anyone to stage their own campaign.

Thanks you so much and big thanks to 1898 miniatures.

The Puerto Rican campaign is one where the Spanish could have actually won using interior lines to defeat the U.S. in detail one column at a time.

Indeed, the Spanish could have defeated the U.S. 5th Corps at most any point or occasion in Cuba, as well.

The sad fact--for Spain--is that The Dons had no stomach for a war with the U.S. and, in essence, fired shots only for the honor of the flag.

And yet their army in Cuba and Puerto Rico outclassed the Yanqui's in only almost every point, including overall numbers by a wide margin.

The U.S. Army was NOT a force of "super troopers," the way most war games make them out to be, and their victories were due almost entirely to the aggressive leadership of key individuals. Had the Spanish actively WANTED to win, the "American Century" would never have happened, and Gawd Knows what the world would be like now without it.

The only set of rules that reflect these realities is "Rough Riders!," about which more may be learned via this link

TVAG

Nice work.

This is great stuff. I'm really captured by the 1898 Miniaturas range, hoping it will only grow. And it's nice to have the scenarios to work with, though I'm not likely to play Black Powder.

Thanks, guys. I really appreciate your feedback.

I believe that the Spanish forces could have at least gotten a stalemate, but were too timid to try.

@KSmyth: That's OK. You can use the information with the gaming system of your choice. I know it's in Spanish, but

link

has the other battles that were fought in Puerto Rico including a disastrous Spanish river crossing (El Guasio)and an artillery duel, which the Spanish actually won, in spite of having older and less accurate guns (Asomante).

So I hope you continue to enjoy this supplement and let me know if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to PM me.

Cheers,

Jorge

Very well done. I have a bunch of the 1898 Miniaturas that will eventually need something to do. Thank you for sharing your hard work!

All the Spaniards had to do was hold their ground until the Yankees all perished from yellow fever.

Very cool.
Given the scale of the battles it would make a great Bolt Action variant. I have always had an interest in the period and would like to work on something like this. If interested contact me
adrianmandzyATgmailDOTcom

I was was on the fence between using Black Powder and Bolt Action. What pushed me to use the BP rules was simple: command and control of troops continued in the traditional rigid hierarchy, while the tactics shifted in the widespread use of skirmish order (see Jamieson, Perry D. Crossing the Deadly Ground: United States Army Tactics, 1865-1899. U. of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa. 1994), therefore the BP rules reflected this a little better. You could reason for using Bolt Action, but I wanted to stay away from using an excess of special rules and national rules.

But I can make a ruleset that uses Bolt Action. It would have to wait a bit.

Thanks for the comments.

Cheers,

Jorge

Excellent resource – printing it out now!