Gringo! takes the legendary, award-winning Great Battles of the American Civil War game system into a new historical era - the fascinating, challenging battles of the The Mexican-American War, 1846-8. The game rules are simpler (GBACW 4.3) with reduced Command Rules (for the smaller armies); they also include extensive rules for street fighting and the square formation.
The game's cast of characters include the stolid, bayonet-oriented General Zachary Taylor, the boiled-in-oil, head throwing General Pedro Ampudia, the never-speaking, inept duo of American division leaders, Twiggs and Pillow, the cast of well-dressed characters characters that riddled the Mexican Army, the mercurial, wily, and sometimes quite capable Generalissimo Antonio de Santa Anna, and the most complete, detailed Order of Battle information in one source.
The battles included are:
- Buena Vista, the classic battle of the war with Taylor's decimated army making a valiant stand against Santa Anna and a force three times Taylor's on a battlefield reminiscent of a lunar landscape;
- Monterrey, spectacular street fighting with the Americans launching a three-pronged assault against, into, and through the beautiful city of Monterrey, complete with the huge fortifications, high peaks, crowded city blocks, bull rings, cathedrals filled with ammunition, even a telegraph system, and the San Patricio Battalion in The Black Fort;
- Cerro Gordo, Scott's first meeting with Santa Anna on the dangerous mountain roads leading towards the heart of Mexico;
- El Molino del Rey, where Santa Anna makes a last, well-entrenched stand outside Mexico City;
- Chapultepec, a mini-battle in which the gringos have to scale the precipitous heights of this immense fortress guarding the roads into the Mexican capital. Also includes Stonewall (pre-nickname) Jackson, hidden mines, wall-scaling, and those courageous Mexican cadets.
Gringo! is easily the most playable, colorful, and challenging of the GBACW series games to date. Most of the battles can be played in one sitting, and none are larger than one map.
