Villa Rides and Tigris Terrain Build

 Introduction

I’ve received a lot of questions about how I pack up my scenarios for travel, especially since I drive from Denver to Orlando at least once a year. Here’s a high-level look at how I handle it. For the bridge, I crafted it to be both durable and compact enough to fit in my travel setup. I also made a couple of caulk mats after seeing similar ideas on YouTube—these work great for quick setups and fold easily. As always, I relied on my good friend at Bill’s Gamer Garage and my cousin Bud at Bud’s Blast Markers to help with some of the larger terrain pieces.

Terrain

Let’s start with the Tigris River scenario. For the first battles, I used my usual Home Depot drop cloth, which has served me well for many games, but that changed for the Tigris scenario. I completed the new scenario early this year and played it twice—once here at the Colorado Military Historians (CMH) and then at the Colorado Springs Gamer Association (CSGA). The third battle at Hurricon 2024, was played using the new battle mat, made with the caulking method.

The second scenario, Villa Rides!, came together later as I prepared for the Fall games. It was played at CSGA and again at Hurricon in Orlando. The third Villa Rides! battle will be at CMH during our upcoming Vet Wars event in about a week.

In this post, I’ll walk you through the process, starting with the creation of the new battle mat and moving into the river pieces used in both scenarios. Bill really helped me out with some custom work—he made the flatter trenches and barbed wire featured in both scenarios. His palm tree bases for the Tigris setup are fantastic as well. If you’re interested, Bill sells these pieces along with some great-looking bamboo tree 8bases.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. I’m always happy to answer any questions!

Last Stand Dan

My battles are usually played on a 6 x 8 table. So I wanted a new blank slate to try and do the Caulking method for the battle mat. 

For the Villa scenario I cut out the elevations on both shores of the Nazas River. I used the Home Depot sets of 2 x 4 foam panels. You will see that these are strategically duct taped so the could be folded up for transport. 

On the Villista side of the river I need and elevated position to set the bridge end. More foam! Note in lieu of wood bases I use the the very hard pink to blue foam that I don't worry about any warping. 

This is Federal side of the river. Note the drawing on the foam so I can start building the town piece up. 

Stacking and gluing the foam so we can start cutting in the features. 

Carving with hot wire tools.

Once I started cutting it started to take shape of what I had in mind.

The buildings were made for me by Dr. Dwight Jones. He makes some great terrain!

Note the hard pink foam for a solid base. I will talk about the bridge build in a minute.

After I had the town hill cut out it was time to spackle it up.

Stealing this technique from my gamer friends, I started added the rock cliffs. 

Rocks were set all along the edges that gave it a great visual effect.

Started with the stucco all around the rocks and hill. 

This is where the bridge will connect. 

Both sides will have a sandbagged unit protecting the heights. 

So the final product was about 4 feet long and a couple feet wide. To transport I put it in a big trach bag to protect it. 

Using my foam board cutting tools I cut and glued down the town wall. 

Aerial look of the wall being put in place. 

Getting that texture all over the hill and used it on the wall.

After fitting the pieces together the river was cut using Runner Rubber material from Home Depot. 

A closeup of the rock and wall details. I think it came out pretty good. 

After getting many opinions of the river color here it is. It's a Behr paint called Ecological. 

1111

Coming together..

On each flank I built up some hills that had gun emplacements set on them.

Gun emplacement 1

Gun emplacement 2

1

A nice look of the trenches made by Bill Gamers Garage. These trenches are the ones we use for the Tigris scenario. I needed them as flat as possible since reading about how the Turk trenches were at times hard to spot. So there were used in both scenarios. 

So using a mixture of caulking, alcohol, paint and sand I spread it all over the drop cloth. Taping the edges will give you a very nice line along the edges. 

2

Close up of the texture. I did go over and did some dry brushing to make it "pop!"

Notice the water effect on the river. 

The Tigris setup.

I also made some river grass using the same runner material and artificial grass pieces. I used a camouflage non reflective green spray with some yellow ochre dry brushing. 

More views of the Tigris.

Another POV.

Tigris River - Ecological Green from Home Depot. Lay down the paint, then cover it with Clear Silicone, part of that process is dabbing it with a grocery plastic bag to give it the water effect. It dries sort of tacky, just brush on some glossy Modge Podge and let it dry overnight. Then it should be safe to roll up. 

Tigris Folded up.

This before I used the Caulked battle mat which I roll up. But you can see how portable it becomes. Add the terrain and buildings plus troops you can imagine it starts to fill up your car pretty quickly. lol. 
8

Nazas River for the Villas Scenario. Same paint.

Here is what the Clear silicone looks like when applied. At this point we dab it with plastic to get that water effect. 

River silicone drying up and clearing up.

You can see the texture coming out.

Villa Rides! The Battle of Conejos (1916)

 Introduction

Pancho Villa’s forces are advancing toward Torreon, a strategic stronghold held by the Federale Army. Control of Torreon is crucial to Villa’s campaign, making it essential to seize the city. This semi-historical scenario, inspired by the 1968 movie Villa Rides!, represents Last Stand Dan’s rendition of the "Battle of Conejos" along the Nazas River. Tasked with capturing this heavily fortified position, Villa’s troops face a battle that could make or break his campaign against the Federales.

Join us for this bloody but entertaining “Hollywood” reimagining of the famous battle from the movie. We used the late Larry Brom’s rules, The Sword and the Flame, modified for the Mexican Revolution. The game was played on a 6x8 table and accommodates up to 8 players

.So this battle has been played at Hurricon 2024 and the CSGA down in the Springs. It is being put on one more time this year at our Vet Wars event at CMH in Denver. The weather is not cooperating so hopefully the snow slows down by Sunday. 

The Battle

Both battles so far have drawn 8 to 10 players, with everyone enjoying their roles as either Federale defenders or Villista attackers. I’d seen Villa Rides! years ago and always wanted to bring this battle to the tabletop. Creating the terrain was a rewarding process, with fantastic contributions from friends at Bill at Bill’s Gamer Garage, Bud at Bud's Blast Markers, Dwight at Dr. Jones Terrain, and Al at Askari Miniatures.

The scenario included special rules for each battle stage, with missions and objectives for all players. Both sides had plenty of cavalry for rapid maneuvers, Federales entrenched with artillery, and Villistas awaiting promised artillery support from reluctant allied generals—a nod to the historical tensions.

For the Hollywood touch, we brought in Robert Mitchum’s character as a gun runner in his Jenny, aiding Villa from the skies. Villa's forces launched a frontal assault from Palacio Gomez, across the Nazas River, aiming to capture this gateway to Torreon. After studying maps to locate where this “could” have taken place, I created my own interpretation of the battle’s setting.

The Terrain

The movie Villa Rides! was filmed in Spain, in the movie the town and bridge were even more massive than depicted here. But as gamers, we all understand the need to scale things down for the table. I’ll go into more detail in a future blog post, but for now, I hope you enjoy the pictures. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

And for those who have already played in this scenario—Gracias Amigos!

Last Stand Dan

Overall View of the completed battlefield. The Federale position at Conejos on the left bank and the Villistas attacking from the right bank.

And what's a revolution with Mariachi's!

View from the Federale left flank. Another good view of the bridge made from blue foam.

Villistas crossing the Nazas. You can see the bridge joint. I built it in two sections to be able to box it up for transport. 

Villa forces moving forward. 

The town buildings were made by Dr. Dwight Jones. He makes some good stuff! 

The Villistas assaulting across the bridge!

You can see the Federale Colorados waiting to be released!

Federale Militia were holding the entrance to Conejos. There morale was questionable but I won't mention a special rule for them since the battle is to be played one more time this snowy weekend here in Denver. 

On the Fed right flank more cavalry waits to be released with support of a couple of guns from this right flank emplacement and from the town walls. 

Villista cavalry on the move!

Family Play test #1. We had a great time. 

The river was only a foot deep but still slowed down movement. A couple of small sand bars gave a little more fire from the murderous Federale guns and mauser rifles.

Here is a shot with the infamous Capt. Lucas playing in the battle at Hurricon 2024, Orlando.

We had a great crowd in Florida, Sgt. Guinness on the right. 

Making decisions...

Cavalry getting into action.

A nice view of the Town. I will go through some of the build in a following blog.

More Colorados on the move!

The Villistas were able to get some artillery support in the way of some nice French 75's made my Askari Miniatures. 

And who remembers Robert Mitchim in his Jenny at the end of the movie? Everyone was taking pot shots trying to alter his dynamite drops. 

The open terrain the bridge assault had to cross. 

A Fed Krupp Gun firing from the wall. There one on each side of the town.

The Villistas were able to get more guns into action (if they rolled well that is!).

Air attack on the trench and barbwire. 

This shot was staged. The Villistas were able to roll for three available guns. But you didn't know which of the 4 commanders would get one each turn. 

The bridge assaulters could get cover from the bridge when fired from the flanks. 

We had plenty of Villa troops to do the job.

With Mariachis and Villa pumping up their morale the bridge assault was in full swing.

Federale Gun in action on one of the flanks. 

The infamous Red Colorados flag.