"Detailed Yet Fast Play Alamo Rules - The Impossible Dream?" Topic

I have gamed the Alamo several times, once using the Warhammer Historical Alamo rules and twice using the "Come and Take It" rules originally published in the Courier. Both rules yielded good games, but the Warhammer rules were too detailed to use for the entire assault and the Courier rules were too loose and treated the Mexicans as a recyclable "bunch of guys" and the Texians as another, harder to kill, "bunch of guys". So, I am looking for rules that will allow me to play the entire assault but that are detailed enough to represent, if only subtly, the differences between the Mexican companies of Activa, Permanente, Grenaderos, Zapadores and Cazadores and the different commands of the Texian Regulars, Volunteers and New Orleans Grays.

Bloody Dawn: Assault on the Alamo
They are on wargame vault. I don't know if they are as detailed as you are looking for but they are for the Alamo.

Hope this helps
Jim

It would be interesting to hear what differences you would ascribe to "the Mexican companies of Activa, Permanente, Grenaderos, Zapadores and Cazadores and the different commands of the Texian Regulars, Volunteers and New Orleans Grays" for purposes of tabletop simulation, and that might help steer some rules suggestions. Is it just a matter of relative morale grades? Different weaponry and fighting capacities?

Thanks Jim! I had my eye on those last year, but had forgotten about them. You really can't go wrong for the price.

Hi Chris, to start, the Cazadores were armed with the Baker rifle and were better shots, so could pick off men defending the walls. They were divided among the four columns that made the initial attack. One column, under Col. Morales, was made up entirely of Cazadores and they successfully attacked the 18-pounder and spiked it. There probably wasn't much difference between the Acitva and the Permanente during the confusion of the assault except for possibly morale. The Zapadores and Grenaderos were elite troops and were only commited when the initial assult bogged down to tip the balance. There's probably no difference between the Texian Regulars and the Volunteers, but they did have a command structure and most rules treat them as just bunch of guys. Same with the NOGs, I'd like to place them in their historic sector all together and not split them up, although that was probably inevitable once the Mexicans got inside the walls and it was every man for himself.

I don't think I mentioned that I sold my 25mm Alamo model and figures and bought the fort in 54mm. In 25mm it was hard to tell the different units apart and players almost literally threw the Mexican figures at the walls. In 54mm each figure is well defined and so I thought I'd take advantage of that, as well as each figures having a "presence" to better differentiate the units and their attributes. My aim is to field 80 Texians and 300 Mexicans. So far, I'm about halfway there.

I just downloaded Bloody Dawn: Assault on the Alamo. It looks like it's just the ticket.

I ordered a hardcopy and pdf. They do look solid. Plus I realized who wrote the rules and was happy to do so.

Thanks.

John