The Streets of Brownsville

One of my games this Christmas is The Brownsville Raid, 1859. In September of that year the Mexican rancher, cattle rustler, patriot, and later army officer Juan Cortina mounted a nocturnal attack across the Rio Grande to kill his sworn enemies in that place.

Here's my representation of a small portion of Brownsville for What A Cowboy:

I don't intend to stick as closely to historic events as I did with the Harpers Ferry game - this is going to be more of a Hollywood version of the raid.

Our story takes place in southern Texas after the end of the Mexican War. In an atmosphere of anti-Mexican racism, white settlers (the terms anglos or gringos are used interchangeably) have been using questionable legal practices and sometimes outright violence to take over the farms of established Mexican families.

Jerry Thompson in his Cortina: Defending the Mexican Name in Texas gives us the background:

Our scenario takes place the following September when Cortina, backed by perhaps 100 "Cortinistas", mounts a nighttime raid determined on revenge for the slights endured by Mexicans on the lower Rio Grande.

The player-controlled citizens of Brownsville will be people on Cortina's list of enemies or, in the case of the jailer Robert Johnson, on the personal revenge-list of some of the Cortinistas. They are:

Adolphus Glaevecke, a German immigrant,
former medical student, rancher, cattle thief,
and distant cousin by marriage of Cortina.

Robert Shears, the town marshal,
not yet fully recovered from the bullet
Cortina put in his shoulder in July.

George Morris, blacksmith and
town constable, perpetrator of 
"many Mexican murders".

Robert L Johnson, the jailer, who lives
 in a house adjoining the city jail.

And on the side of the attackers we have:

Juan Nepomuceno Cortina himself.

Tomás Cabrera, victim of Shears' pistol-whipping
and now Cortina's right-hand man.

Juan Vela, who loves his brother...

... Alejo Vela, who hates Robert Johnson.

In addition there will be groups of anonymous Cortinistas - I'll be trying out the Henchmen rules for the first time.

This will be my second What A Cowboy game based on events in 1859. Harpers Ferry was very much in line with the historical events in the Federal Armory in October. This time I've gone more "Hollywood", changing the locations of some events and the positions of characters to encourage more fast and furious action. I will, however, be adding a few scenario-specific rules to capture some of the events of the night.