Module Suitability Review - Red Star, Lone Star

Taken from Twilight 2000 wiki, IP is GDW/FFE

Welcome back to the United States, and what a mess it is. Texas is supposedly not part of the US anymore, and the Mexicans and Soviets(!) have invaded the state, and pretty much conquered the southwestern third of it, then the Mexican army promptly collapsed under the logistical strain, and a civil war (and probably a few nuclear weapons from the US assisted in the process, but Twilight: 2000 canon never really addressed that). This particular part of canon is a bit controversial and even Frank Frey admitted in a recent podcast that this was done to give some "Red Dawn" flavor to the game.

So, what is Red Star, Lone Star? As a module, it has something of the elements of some Western movies, such as the 1956 John Wayne movie The Searchers. There is a huge, campaign changing McGuffin (an intact oil refinery) and it's up for grabs. And like every Twilight: 2000 module, it's a wonderfully drawn post apocalyptic road picture.

But how does it do for inspiration for miniatures games?

Small Scale Skirmish

There are a ton of small scale skirmish games that can be had in this module. The fact is South Texas is something of a free-fire zone. You have marauders, various factions of the Mexican army, Hispanic-Americans who are less than pleased to see the Mexican army and what it represents, Anglos of all stripes, some who will work with like minded Hispanics, and some who will not. In short, it's a mess. But it does make perfect gaming fodder, some of the better ideas include:

• Gaming out a guerrilla raid on either the Mexicans, or the Soviet Division Cuba. There are plenty of groups who would do well as the guerrillas, not all of them American, but some are participants in the Mexican Civil War.
• Gaming out a firefight between marauders and Mexican Federales or Constutionales. There was a lot of that in the module.
• Gaming out the kidnapping of the Kingsleys, which is the whole point of the module?
• The coming war between the South Texas Grange and the Texian Legion, the whole thing has the feel of a "post apocalyptic county range war" with automatic weapons, and a good set of western rules would make a fun conversion here.

Larger Battles

There is some really good fodder for some larger fights in this module, quite a few in fact. The culmination of the module, is in fact, fodder for a medium scale game in the vein of say, Rapid Fire, or Battlegroup. Some really good ideas that stick out include:

• A group of returned American soldiers lead an uprising against the marauder kingdom of Grady LaMarr in the ruins of Corpus Christi. A ruined airbase, with damaged aircraft, and rubble walls would make a striking table.
• The final assault by the Soviets on Brownsville, (and specifically, the Gulfwind Forty refinery) the forces of the Soviets aren't too large but it would make another really great convention game, the marauder and Mexican forces in Brownsville aren't great, but if stiffened by some Americans there to rescue an oil man's nephew and his wife? It could be a lot of fun, especially if you throw in some American guerrillas? This could turn into a campaign as you can run further games as every faction in the Mexican Civil War tries to capture the refinery for themselves.

In short, this module is a smorgasbord of good ideas for miniature gaming and you could have a lot of fun generating games out of it. One thing, cavalry figures are a must for any gaming based on this module, and both Ehliem and Stan Johansen Miniatures (J2047 and 2048 work really well) have some really good figures for this on the 20mm side, not real sure about 15mm. 

Next up, we'll be reviewing RDF Sourcebook, or Twilight: 2000 in the mountains of Iran! Incidentally, this is my 25th post on the blog! Wow, how time flies!