It quickly fell apart without the command and control that the signals had provided. With the death of their leader and disruption of his communications system, the Aztec attack faltered. It was reported that Cortes himself dispatched the High Priest with his lance. The charge succeeded in killing the High Priest and many of his officers. While the hooves of the Spanish cavalry were previously unable to make such a charge on the smooth pavements of Tenochtitlan – at Otumba, they were able to make a classic cavalry attack. The Aztecs had never before faced a massed cavalry attack. Cortes personally rounded up what remained of his cavalry and with great personal courage led a mounted charge towards the High Priest and his retinue. This High Priest was using signalers and bannermen to coordinate the attacks. He was the one who was acting as the Aztec General. The brutal end was near when Cortes noticed that the attacks were being coordinated by the cihuacoatl, the High Priest of Tenochtitlan, the Cihuacoatl Matlatzincátzin. The Aztecs rained missile fire upon the Spanish, and subjected them to numerous human wave attacks. They took up an infantry square position bristling with pikes and halberds upon on the rocky outcropping overlooking plains. They were just short of the mountain pass that would bring them to safety of Tlaxcala. The Conquistadores found themselves on a small rocky outcropping – and according to Diaz nearly surrounded on two sides. All of the Spanish were wounded to some degree – many died each day from the wounds suffered during La Noche Triste and the subsequent skirmishes that occurred as the Aztecs, under Cuitlahuac, pursued them mercilessly. This is another scenario that has been popular.įor almost two weeks, the troops under Cortes retreated across central Mexico – hoping to reach the safety of Tlaxcalan territory. This scenario lasts 10 turns.īelow are the pics – as memory serves, the Spanish held on to a victory. This is a generic scenario based on Aztecs launching a surprise raid Veracruz or a Tlaxcalan Village serving as a supply base for Cortes. Unbeknownst to the Aztecs, there are some Spanish troops at this town who will help to defend it. The Aztecs know the majority of the Tlaxcalan troops are with the Conquistadores elsewhere, and expect an easy task. Near harvest time, a Tlaxcalan village is being raided by the Aztecs, seeking to take wealth, food, and prisoners. I have run this gaming scenario several times before – and it really works well at a con or club gaming day. “Surprise Aztec Raid on the Spanish Outpost” I do not run the games in any historical sequence – I rather set them up based on the time slots and time required for setting up. The game briefings help the gamers to understand the basics of the scenario and how it fit into the history of the Spanish Conquest. Just my opinion.įor this post, I’ll share my game briefing and then a gallery of photos that you can check out individually. I definitely think they kept attendance lower than otherwise. More on HUZZAH later…Īt HAVOC you will notice that masks were required for the convention – hopefully the next time HAVOC happens we won’t need them. Also, the HUZZAH gaming convention was coming up May 12-15, so I was aware that I had a LOT to do to be ready for that. This convention also occurred right before our Florida trip (for RECON and golfing which you will read about in a future post hopefully shortly). Yes, that’s a lot of games, and each one had a four hour time slot.
I ran “Surprise Aztec Raid on the Spanish Outpost” on Friday night, “J– The Battle of Otumba” on Saturday morning, “J– La Noche Triste – Bloodbath on the Tacuba Causeway” on Saturday night, and “Cortes’ Causeway Escape Attempt” on Sunday morning. As I shared in my last post, the last two to three months have been very busy! Yes, it’s a couple of months late post-wise, but I think the pics are nice enough to share.
As I promised, I would share some pics and brief discussions about the four Feudal Patrol games I ran there. It was the first one held since 2019 due to COVID. The HAVOC 2022 gaming convention ran in Sutton, MA this year from April 8-10.