Walkthrough: The Alamo

by Sean Drummy

Introduction

The pace of this first mission for the Mexican campaign in American Conquest: Divided Nation is set perfectly for beginners as the player gets to decide the when and the where of the engagement. This will prove to be an essential aspect of this scenario as assaulting a fortress like the Alamo haphazardly can quickly lead to disaster (and not in the historically accurate sense). When reinforcements finally stop trickling throughout the scenario, the player will have about half dozen cavalry units and at least 15 or so infantry groups. This may look like an impressive array of soldiers when beheld all together, but cannons and concentrated rifle fire can make short work of such forces. Conservation of one’s units will be very important throughout this scenario so inventorying one’s troops and keeping track of everyone is no trivial task. It’s also important to realize the strengths and weakness of the units the Mexican army will have fighting for them in taking the Alamo. Infantry can pack a punch in large quantities with concentrated fire but will be chopped up by a frontal charge at a dug in position because relative to cavalry they move fairly slowly. Cavalry are almost the inverse of their foot-borne counterparts as their firearms (handguns) are useless against a well entrenched enemy but their speed and agility make them extremely useful when trying to flank, overrun, or penetrate a position.

Examining the enemy’s tactical situation is important as well. They are grossly outnumbered by the player’s troops but they have the advantage of defending a small, well defended area. To make matters worse they have a substantial number cannons that are placed all around the fortress. The also have a few smatterings of infantry here and there but nothing so powerful that they could the player’s well organized infantry units any real trouble. Don’t let the numbers fool you, however, as the AI’s deployment is pretty good, and so there’s very few true “weak spots” in the Alamo. As a result, a good all around strategy for taking it will prove more effective than probing for a soft spot and exploiting.

Finally, another important feature of the scenario to note is the terrain. The terrain in the Alamo scenario, unlike many other missions in this campaign, is not very important. The area around the town next to the Alamo and the fortress itself is out in the open will little geographical features of note. This is both a blessing and a curse as it will provide little cover for your soldiers but plenty of space for quick maneuvering and repositioning.

Objective #1: Take Bexar

Before leading the historical assault on the Americans at the Alamo, the player’s commander tasks him with capturing Bexar, a small town just south of the Alamo. Thankfully Bexar is not nearly as well defended as the Alamo and so the player should have no trouble wresting control of it out of rebel hands. En route to Bexar be sure to steer one’s forces clear of the forests on either side of the road. Just inside the tree line are rebel soldiers waiting for an isolated unit to wander into range. Most of these rebel contingents aren’t very large and with a dedicated attack can be easily eradicated, but they will incur some causalities if the player isn’t paying attention. 

To take Bexar a full front assault will do the trick nicely. There’s no artillery to worry about, just some riflemen hiding out in a few houses. Using mostly infantry, order them to attack whichever buildings have shots of white smoke erupting from them and the town should quickly fall into Mexican hands.

Now that the first objective is complete, it’s important to take your time to bring up the reinforcement units trickling in from the south of the map. Before making the assault on the Alamo, try to wait for as many units as one’s patience will allow to have as many resources as possible. Jumping right from Bexar to the Alamo as one’s forces are arriving to the battle staggered will allow the enemy to destroy the player piecemeal. When attacking a fortress as well designed and entrenched as the Alamo, being able to exact as much firepower as possible where it’s needed and, more importantly, when it’s needed is very important.

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