Even the Stuarts that they had in real life would have been effective in the invasion. Remember that the 49th and the 40th had to be moved south of combat them but werent in place when the initial invasion occurred.
So their main opponent would have been National Guard and police units armed with mostly M-16's and machine guns and possibly not even any anti-tank weapons at all. In that situation a Stuart would have still been a very effective weapons (as they showed during the revolt in the Yucatan in the 90's against similiar armed rebels)
The sourcebook adds a lot more than a couple of battalions of tanks - if they had really had that most likely they would have penetrated further into the US and gotten to Vegas or Utah.
Also keep in mind, and I am putting it in bold not to shout but to make a point, the canon has absolutely no mention in it of Mexican tanks.
Red Star, Lone Star says the following about the Mexican Army - which is that the AFV's they mention in their units are almost universally the ERC-90 Armored Car, a 6 x 6 amphibious armored car, equipped with a 90mm gun.
The only tanks mentioned in the whole module are the Soviet ones in Soviet Division Cuba.
The canon magazine article on the Mexicans had this in it as well
Armored Vehicles: Armored cavalry regiments and armored recon battalions included a squadron of seventeen ERC-90 armored cars and two squadrons of infantry in VAB armored personnel carriers (both of French manufacture).
Some motorized cavalry regiments included a mixed squadron of VABs and ERC90s (trucks and jeeps carried the other squadrons of the regiment).
Mechanized infantry regiments included forty VAB APCs.
Notice no mention of tanks at all.
Putting together the only two canon mentions of the Mexican Army composition points plainly to a singular fact - that the Mexican Army is not a tank equipped army, but instead an army of armored cars, APC's and light armored vehicles.
Which exactly matches the reality of the Mexican Army makeup during that time.
While the Sourcebook is a great source of information, its inclusion of so many tanks in the Mexican Army is clearly not supported by the canon articles and modules.
However the rest of its armor for the Mexican forces, especially the light armored vehicles, APC's and AC's is supported by the canon for sure.
Again keep in mind who stopped the 49th's counter attack - it was the Soviet Division Cuba's heavy tanks, not the Mexicans. They may have slowed them down and burned their ammo and fuel but it was the Soviet tanks that were able to stand up to the tanks of the 49th, not Mexican ones.
Actually if they had had that many tanks the invasion may never have happened - I dont see the US stripping the Southwest of all its armored units if the Mexicans are both unfriendly to the US and have several battalions of tanks in their army. That would have made them a major threat and thus they would have kept more forces there, especially forces with anti-tank weapons and tank support.
And Red Star, Lone Star mentions several times how lightly equipped the US forces were in Texas during the invasion.
|