Remember the Alamo! Review
Review by David Lent
Remember the Alamo is the first game I ever bought. I was at a convention in 1982 when I was 9 years old and saw this and immediately bought it. I had played wargames with my Dad and his friends since I was 5 years old and they would help me with the rules. Usually, I needed a lot of help since wargames and miniature games are complicated. However, I assumed since this game was small it would be easy to learn. I was right and was able to learn it and played it many times. Somehow, I lost this game over the years but I picked up a copy on eBay about 5 months ago. I re-read the rules and played the game a few times and discovered that I only got two of the rules wrong when I was a kid. I’m pretty proud of that. This game has brought back a lot of good memories and I’m very happy that I get to finally review it.
TSR created Remember the Alamo in 1980. It’s a microgame about this battle and includes a clear plastic box, 2 D6 dice, counters, rulebook and a map. The components seem to be higher quality than most of the microgame components of that era. However, they are still pretty basic. Notably, the map of the Alamo is 7 colors, which is nearly unheard of for that era. Some of the microgame manufacturers back then had black and white maps. The counters look pretty good also.
The victory conditions for Remember the Alamo are pretty straightforward. The Mexicans win if they kill all the Texans without losing 35 or more of their own units. The Texan player wins a military victory if he eliminates 24 or more Mexican units and causes them to fail three demoralization checks. If the Texan player fails to do this, he can still get a victory of honor if he kills 35 or more Mexican units before all of his own are destroyed. I like how the Texan player can still win even if all his units are wiped out.
This game uses a simple sequence of play:
1) Texan Movement
2) Mexican Movement & Placing Ladders
3) Melee Phase
4) Texan Fire Phase
5) Mexican Fire Phase
6) Ladder Destruction Phase
7) Mexican Morale Phase
8) End of turn
The shooting phase and melee phase are where gamers (including myself when I was 9) tend to forget two important rules. First, during shooting you may NEVER attack a unit that has taken a hit or retreated already that turn. The Mexican units have two steps and therefore it is impossible to completely kill a Mexican unit during the first turn. Some of the “experts” online have stated that this game sucks because you can kill many Mexican units the first turn and thus prevent the Mexican from ever entering the Alamo. Let me reiterate. It is impossible to completely kill a Mexican unit in one turn. The astute observer may be saying, “But what if a Mexican unit also gets into melee during the first turn?” It is impossible for a Mexican unit to move up to the wall setup a ladder and move into contact on the first turn. The second forgotten rule is the melee rule that prohibits you from attacking a unit in melee if it has already lost a step in melee this turn. This rule prevents a full strength Mexican unit from being defeated in melee in one turn.
A typical game consists of the Mexicans rapidly advancing on the walls , setting up ladders and the Texans doing everything possible to keep the Mexicans from entering the fort. The Texan player needs to move as many troops and cannons into a position to fire on the Mexicans as they can. The key to Texan victory is being able to shift your forces as fast as possible to meet new threats. Once the Mexicans make it inside the fort, the Texans have to attack the intruders with everything they have. If the Texans don’t expel the intruders within a couple turns they are most certainly doomed.
Some of the reviews this game has gotten have called it unbalanced in favor of the Texans. Nothing can be farther from the truth, provided that you read the rulebook carefully and play the game correctly. I’ve found that the Mexicans almost always are able to make it into the Alamo and around 50% of the time they win. TSR did a really good job playtesting this game.
If you want a taste of fighting at the Alamo with simple rules and reasonable historical accuracy this game is for you.
Buy your own copy on eBay.
Watch the unboxing video below: