From: Doug Murphy Subject: Pancho Villa: Dead or Alive! I ran through this great little game solitaire last evening. What a hoot! Took me about 2 and 1/2 hours from opening to bag to "closure." As I've noted before, this game covers the US Punitive Expedition going after Pancho Villa after his raid on Columbus, NM in 1916. There are four Villa Leaders -- and a neat optional rule that keeps you guessing about which one is Pancho -- so in true historical fashion, you race after the bandits not really knowing who is who. To win, Pancho must exit the bottom of the map with a varying number of friendly units or conversely, he must kill 2 policia units in one of the two cities on the map that cause the local collapse of the central govt. The Villistas start off the game together with about a 60 mile head start on their headlong run to the south on the Americans. The American calvary units dogged stayed on their trail. Col Tompkins flew off his aviation detachment to try to interdict (pin) the bandits. Unfortunately, the Jennys came downin the scrub way short of their goal. Tompkins, reluctant to abandon his wagon train of supplies & all-important water, would spend most of the game retrieving the near-useless airplanes in the vain hope of getting them airborne again. After halting briefly at a Mormon colony, Villa split his forces w/ 2 stacks of 2 Leaders (and their accompanying rifles, horses and bandits) a hex apart as they followed a river line (Rio Casa Grande) south. This proved a good strategem, as the Americans doublemarched, depleting their horses but catching the "rear-guard." In the ensuing battle, the Villa combat units were all depleted, but the all-important horses were not, allowing the bandits to break successfully away. Although their transport was depleted, the American cav. were unhurt and doggedly continued south. Col. Allen's forces were forced to halt in the small pueblo of San Buenaventura as their horses were destroyed by the hard-going. Meanwhile, the central govt. forces, ostensibly allied w/ the Amis, moved up the railline from Ciudad Chichuahua to block Villa. Pershing, with Patton, and the bulk of the American (truck-borne) forces had crossed from El Paso into Juarez, suffering some casualties to riots and embarked down the railline to Chichuahua. Villa split his forces in two directions to attempt to split the following troops and beat past the blocking forces. One stack headed off on a tangent into the brush to a small friendly hacienda (Rubio) where it was ambushed by the Amer. Apache Scouts unit. The other stack was caught by the Rangers and 7th Cav. but attacked unsuccessfully. The central govt. forces moved north to launch another attack on this stack near a small pueblo (Bachiniva) and both sides bloodied each other. Villa successfully scrounged some extra horses. The rest of the Amer. cav. moved slowly toward the pinned Rubio bandits, several units got lost on the way and ended up in Namiquipa w.out any horses. Meanwhile Pershing was slowly moving from Chihuahua down the rail line to near Bachiniva. Villa moved north up the line to try to side step these units and escape down the only road into the high mountains at the town of Temocsachic. Here he was again caught and pinned by the central govt. forces. In the ensuing battle, he lost all his troops save one but kept the extra horses. Having finally retrieved the planes and leaving his slow-moving wagons, Tompkins was attempting to move down the rail line from the other direction. Just as the door appeared to be closing on Villa, he successfully retreated into the high mountains and I ended the game. Pershing's mech. forces would find it nearly impossible to chase after Villa now -- especially if he double marched twice, he would lose most of his horses but get deep enough into the montane hexes to either hole up at a friendly Indian camp or finally exit south. Viva Villa! I may try this again tonight -- what great chrome -- you roll on an events table every time you move a stack and all kinds of interesting things can happen... Doug Murphy From: Doug Murphy Subject: Pancho Villa again Played this again last evening -- trying to come up with different strategems -- the Villistas start the game in two small pueblos just beyond "normal" marching range of the border. The two forces joined up in a small hacienda just over a river, depleting a horse due to thieves but successfully night-raiding for a mule. But this time the Americans from Culberson's ranch doublemarched furiously after them and everything went absolutely perfectly -- First, Col. Tompkins flew off the airplane from Columbus, successfully rolled for range, interdicted (and Pinned) the banditos and landed safely in a Mormon colony in the next hex. Tompkins left his wagons and machine guns behind and doublemarched to join up with the other American forces. At the same time, two Carranista leaders and their troops moved down the railline to wait to the south of the battle. Pershing crossed over from El Paso into Juarez without incident and entrained for the south as well. Catching up with Villa, a total of 13 American combat units assaulted the bandits who, due to the aeroplane, could only choose Pinned as a defensive tactic. The Villistas were slaughtered, leaving a few combat units but nearly all the transport to retreat into the llanos. Since Pins are removed after the movement phase, the Villistas were also caught in the bush without water and all their horses and mules were depleted. The Americans moved up, this time joined by the Carranista forces who swung out behind the bandits and also by Pershing's main force who railed down to a blocking hex and were able to join in the last battle. The train gun "El Nino" was unsuccessful in pinning the enemy, but Patton succeeded. Interestingly, this absolutely overwhelming force suffered from high rolls and Villa, a depleted horse and bodyguard still survived at turn end. The Carranista horses were depleted due to lack of water. Forced to retreat north, the end was in sight for Villa. The Americans deployed and surrounded him. The Carranistas retreated back to the rail line. Even Col. Tompkins Machine Guns caught up. Villa was popped in the first few rolls. Hail Columbia. Next time, we're going to start the bandits with a double-march and see if they can get successfully away from the border, then raid enough horses/mules to keep ahead of the Amis. Doug Murphy