"Hollywood History Major Dundee's Battle at the River" Topic

Cross posted on pmcd-mobilisatie.blogspot.com.
The 1965 film Major Dundee is popular with my club members, most of whom are aging Baby Boomers, like myself. I had long wanted to play the climactic last action in the film where Dundee and his command have to fight overwhelming numbers of French cavalry in order to cross the border back into the United States. In the film, the the French cavalry are lancers, who never actually served in Mexico, so I substituted Del Prado Chasseurs d'Afrique and DSG mounted Foreign Legion figures. The Americans are a mixture of Britains Deetail and other ACW cavalry. I provided dismounted figures for each of the mounted Americans, but as it turned out, only the artillery group dismounted to fire. For rules I used the "Bigger Battles" rules based on A Fistful of Lead. Initiative is still card driven, but the cards control units, not single figures. Since the French are unable to use their firearms, I allowed them to be recycled to a total of twelve units, vs the American's four. This proved to be a little too overwhelming and, in future I will only allow a total of three French units to be recycled. On turn six, a following force of French infantry appeared behind the Americans to make sure they leave the Mexican side. The game began with the American mountain gun doing real damage to the French stationed across the river and, as the French began to advance into the river (at half speed) they began to take casualties from the American rifle fire. When the American counter charged into the river the greater number of French swordsmen began to take their toll and the Americans never made it more than halfway across the river, losing their cannon and supply mules as well. It was still a fun game for all involved in this fictional battle. Note: I had to cobble together two different miniature rivers to make the meter wide river I needed. Next time I'll have a better looking river.

post a close up of the Samual Potts figure please…my favorite character in that movie

Brilliant idea, and execution.

I miss the Lancers with their frog stickers.

Great photos! Thanks for sharing

Lt. Graham: "Get the fuse ready. We're about to engage the pride of Europe."

Thanks for posting. Where do you get DSG in the states? Also, who did you order your Del Prado from?

Beautiful presentation. One of my top 5 "westerns" that I have not yet gamed. You give inspiration. Glad to you included the Turcos.
Aesop: [observing the French troops] My outfit could lick those boys – those ones on foot, anyway. With one hand tied behind our backs.
O.W. Hadley: How's that, Aesop?
Aesop: They're soft, O.W. – they ain't never been South.

Where are Captain Tyree and the Confederates?

Nice to hear there are some other Dundee fans out there. Thanks for the kind words. Buckeye Bob, I'll try to find a closer photo of Potts. He started life as a Deetail mounted Apache. 79th PA, I found the DSGs, shipped from Argentina, on eBay. Toy Soldier Co. also sells them. They come out about the same price. Del Prado, eBay as well.

That's really cool. and in 54mm scale too. This brings back fond memories of my dear friend Greg Novak, who ran the same scenario in 15mm at Charlie Proseks old shop many, many years ago.

Excellent work. I am also a big fan of this film. I thought of doing this in 28mm but I could not determine what figures to use in that scale for the French cavalry.

54mm is excellent choice for this action.

Looks like a great game! Thanks for sharing!

Tom Reed, I have a copy of Greg Novak's scenario and rules. I tried his idea of letting the player running a named character be able to shake off a wound by quoting a line from the movie, but the Dundee player had such a good memory for lines that we had to allow its use only once per turn.

Very cool.

Perris0707, sorry I missed your post. The "Galvanized Yankees" were present. They are in the next to back row in the fourth photo from the top. They were on the far right flank of the Americans, as they were in the movie. For some reason my buddy with the camera neglected to take any photos of them in action.