This is the first scenario I created when I completed my armies for the Spanish-American War. I have ran it several times at conventions and for my friends. It is loosely based on the ambush of an American column at Las Guasimas. Everybody seems to like it and has had fun playing it. The following are the forces I used:

Americans

Two columns, each has one leader, three infantry units and one medium artillery battery
One column, commanded by one leader, having three infantry units and one machine gun

Spanish

One overall commanding officer
Two columns, each has one leader, 4 infantry units and one medium artillery battery
One column with six infantry units commanded by a leader

You probably notice I'm being generic. I'm trying to make this adaptable for any number of troops and unit sizes. When I play this scenario, I envision a column as a battalion and an infantry unit as a company. Feel free to change this. An infantry unit is a typical unit depending on the rules you are using. The number of figures a unit has is dictated by the rules used.

Scenario Setup and Victory Conditions

The American columns enter the south side of the map from trails one and two. Each trail must be entered by at least one American column. Before the Spanish set up, the American player specifies what columns are entering what trail on a piece of paper.

The Spanish player sets up using hidden movement at least 18" from the south map edge using hidden placement. There are several methods of doing this from using maps to two wargame tables. I took the easy way out and used a counter for each unit plus fourteen dummy counters.

Due to dense jungle, a unit can only advance down a trail in jungle. The river is fordable but movement is halved. Swamps are impassable. I assume the entire table is covered with jungle throwing lichen and home made trees around it letting people move these if it interferes with movement.

I then place about six pieces of felt randomly around the table representing clear areas and swamps. I let infantry and artillery fire directly through the jungle. Since a foot is the maximum range for infantry fire in the rules I use, having the table covered with jungle is not a problem. However, I restrict the fire range of all artillery and machine guns to 16". A target will receive a cover bonus for fire combat in jungle verses clear terrain.

The victory conditions are simple. The Americans must exit one column in good shape from the trail running off the north edge of the board. A column in good shape qualifies as having two infantry units still alive.

Rule Notes

I used a rule set from England, Principles of War. It was reviewed in The Heliograph some time ago. I reviewed it myself for Clash of Empires, issue number one, a newsletter of 19th century European miniature wargaming. Principles of War stresses leadership and there is no figure removal for casualties. Instead, a unit has a strength value which is tracked on a roster.

I rated the Spanish leaders as poor and the American leaders as average per Principles of War rules. That means that the Spanish leaders receive one through four command points each turn while the Americans receive one through six command points. This is determined by rolling dice. It takes one command to move or rally a unit. Hopefully your ruleset includes leader quality.

With the Americans outnumbered and having to attack, I rated them as veteran. I rated the Spanish as militia. With Principles of War rules, this means a veteran unit will receive more strength points than a militia unit. Most rulesets have unit qualities, so this shouldn't be a problem.

Principles of War has a simple sighting table where an officers make a sighting roll on a D10. If a Spanish unit fires, they are automatically spotted. I let the all the Spanish counters move around the table. If you want to use a better or more complex hidden movement system, feel free to.

Other rulesets can be used. Why not try Fire and Fury or the old standby, The Sword and the Flame? If you don't have the figures, try using ACW confederates wearing floppy hats. I use Friekorps 15 myself having a devoted range. They are generally good figures but a little expensive at 40 cents per infantry.

By changing the background, forces and the terrain, this scenario can be used for other periods from the Zulu War to the Northwest Frontier. Feel free to use fewer miniatures if you don't have enough. Have fun gaming this scenario.