#9 w/End of Empire - Santiago 1898

End of Empire
The Santiago Campaign, July 1898

The Battle of Santiago.
The Spanish American war of 1898 has been regarded traditionally as a conflict decided from the outcome, given the disparity of resources between both sides. However, the Spanish defeat was not a foregone conclusion, and surely the final result could had been different had the Spaniards used its resources more intelligently. There is also authors that affirm that the Spanish government provoked a "honorable defeat" that would allow him to leave the Cuban quagmire without loss of prestige for the monarchy.

The Santiago campaign pitted the army of a declining empire but well armed against the army of the young republic that, after consolidating its control of North America, was looking for a "place under the sun" among nations. From a military point of view, the Santiago campaign was a classical example of a conventional army (The Spanish) forced to fight both a guerrilla and a conventional army. If the conventional army concentrates to fight the conventional enemy, the guerrillas will sever its lines of communication. And it the conventional army tries to be everywhere to defend the territory against the guerrillas, the conventional army will destroy him piecemeal. And the East of Cuba was the area where the Spanish garrison was smaller and the Rebel activity was higher because of the characteristics of the terrain.

Santiago 1898: The Simulation.
Published in issue 9 of Soldados y Estrategia magazine, Santiago 1898 is a simulation of the campaign that culminated with the surrender of the Spanish forces of the Santiago de Cuba province.

During the game, the US player has a limited number of turns to land, advance on to Santiago and take a minumum number of hexes surrounding the city, in order to force the surrender of the Spanish garrison. It must do so without suffering too casulties in the process. If the US casualties are too hight, the US Congress could force the withdrawal of the Cuban expedition. To defend Santiago from the powerful US 5th Corps and the ubiquitous Cuban guerrillas, the Spanish player has few but solid units, veterans of three years of counter guerrilla warfare in a tropical environment. Time is also on his side, because the Yellow Fever season is looming.

Contents Santiago 1898:
* 200 cut-and-paste counters and markers.
* 1 DIN A3 map.
* 1 Play Aid Sheet.
* 10 pages of rules.
* Historical Commentary by Eduardo Moral.