The Puebla Campaign

I have very much enjoyed playing around with Dominion of Pike & Shot and thought that it would be fun to try some kind of campaign. However I was also going away on a short holiday and didn't want to take my pike & shot armies with me. So I decided instead to buy the colonial rules, Dominion of the Spear and Bayonet, because I knew that they had lists for both the South American wars of Liberation and the Mexican Adventure. I sorted out a variety of figures from my 6mm armies for the latter and was able to pack them in a small box with necessary dice, markers and other things I'd need for a game.

I decided to base my campaign around the French advance on Mexico City in 1862-63. As part of this they decided to capture the key town of Puebla, and since the first battle for that place is very famous I made that the objective. The campaign merges a number of historical elements and is more about the vibe than any kind of accurate representation of what happened. The French are trying to capture Puebla without losing too many battles (and therefore international prestige), whilst the Mexican Republicans are trying to hold them off for as long as possible. The French may have to contend with guerilla raids, whilst Mexican forces sympathetic to the French may attack Republican armies.

The holiday was mostly about relaxing, so I was able to spend the first afternoon and evening writing up some rules and drawing a map. The campaign rules are based on one that Mark Cordone posted to the Portable Wargame Facebook Group for refighting the Peloponnesian Wars. I thieved the basic mechanisms and then reskinned it for 19th century Mexico. He used the Portable Wargame to resolve battles. I used the Dominion rules.

Here's the setup. The bull is a work thing. It has nothing to do with the game.

And here's my accurate map of the French advance to Puebla. The word 'accurate' is working very, very hard there.

And these are the campaign rules.

Victory

Mexicans: Defeat the French in four battles.
French: Capture Puebla without being defeated four times in battle.

Turn Sequence

On each campaign turn both players roll a D6 for initiative. The highest score goes first and takes their turn, then the other player takes their turn. If the scores are equal then there is a random event:

Double 1 - Disease or Disaster. Determine a random area. Neither player may activate an army in that area or move an army into that area on the next campaign turn.

Double 2 - Guerilla Attack. Select a random French army. It is attacked by guerillas. See below for the makeup of their army. If the French lose their army is destroyed and it counts as a loss.

Double 3 - Conservative Allies. Select a random Mexican army. It is attacked by a force of Mexican Conservatives. See below for the makeup of the Conservative army. If the Mexicans lose their army is destroyed. If the Conservative army loses then it is not counted as a French loss.

Double 4 - Supply Concerns. If Veracruz is unoccupied then the French must immediately move one of their armies into or towards it if possible. If it is occupied then the French player may not move the army out of it on their next turn.

Double 5 - Orders From Mexico City. If Puebla is unoccupied then the Mexican player must immediately move an army into or directly towards it if possible. If it is occupied then the Mexican player may not move the army out of it on their next turn.

Double 6 - Reinforcements. The next player to win the initiative may choose to build a new army instead of moving.

If a player rolls a 6 for their initiative and there is no random event then they may chose to build a new army instead of moving. New armies can be built in one of that sides' deployment areas and then only if it is vacant. The French may only build new armies if they currently hold Veracruz. If they don't, and they are eligible to place a new unit, then place one in the Gulf of Mexico which then immediately attacks Veracruz. 

If they don't build a new army, a player may move an army they currently have in play. Armies move one space. Only one army may occupy a space. If any army moves to a space occupied by an enemy army a battle takes place. The moving army is considered the attacker. After the battle the losing army is destroyed. Use Dominion Of The Spear And Bayonet to resolve all battles.

Armies

French - Use army 56 from the rules

Mexican Republicans - Use army 57 from the rules

Mexican Guerillas - 1D3+1 Ambushers. The rest of the army is Skirmishers.

Mexican Conservatives - 1 x Cavalry, 1 x Line, 2 x Skirmishers, 2 x Ambushers

If the Mexican Republicans are defending Puebla or Veracruz, they may drop an Ambusher and add Defences to any two units of their choice.

If the French are defending Veracruz, they may drop one unit (not the elite infantry) and add Defences to two units of their choice.

After a morning walk, coffee and lunch I was able to set up the campaign on the second afternoon. I played it outdoors on the verandah of our cabin.

Here's the initial setup. The blue blocks are French forces. The red blocks are Republican armies. The green dice shows the campaign turn.

Turn 1 - The French win the initiative 3 to 1

They advance an army from Orizaba to Tehucan and attack the Republicans there.

The first battle of the campaign is set up. In all pictures the attacking army is at the bottom.

The battle was quick with the Mexican's regular cavalry riding down all before it to give them the win.

So the French now had one loss against them.

The Republicans moved an army from Huamautla to Xalapa and attacked the French there.

Another battle.

And another Republican victory as their line advanced with bayonets to drive the French from their positions.

So at the start of Turn 2 the French were now confined to Veracruz and the Mexicans were halfway to a win.

Turn 2 - The Republicans won the initiative 5 to 3, so went first.

The Mexicans attacked the French in Veracruz.

The French get defences, and occupied them with their elite line infantry.

Skirmishers vs cavalry on the flank.

Republican infantry attack the French defences.

A French victory!

After their victory the French advanced their single army from Veracruz to Xalapa

Turn 3. The French won the initiative 6 to 1. They used the roll to build another army in Orizaba. The Republicans advanced from Tehuacan and attacked the new army.

The Republicans ambushed the French force on the march and utterly destroyed it.

Turn 4. The Republicans won the initiative 2 to 1. They moved into Veracruz to stop the French getting any more reinforcements

The French moved from Xalapa to Huamautla.

Turn 5. The Republicans won the initiative 3 to 1. They could have attacked the French but chose to sit tight and defend Puebla. 

The French advanced and attacked Puebla. This was going to be the end of the campaign one way or another; if the French won they'd capture Puebla. If they lost then it would be their fourth defeat and the weight of public opinion back home would see them withdraw from Mexico.

The battle set up. The Mexicans relied on their skirmishers and cavalry to break up the French attack on their line infantry in their defences.

French troops drove off the Mexican cavalry and advanced on the first fort.

Another fort comes under attack.

Victory on the right flank put the French one roll away from a win. And they made it, capturing one of the forts to reduce the Republicans to one unit.

So the French won a narrow victory. Whilst the Mexicans occupied Veracruz they'd now be obliged to withdraw to defend Mexico City. The next stage of the Mexican Adventure is about to begin.

The campaign rules above were actually tweaked a little after this game, and a couple of other undocumented playthroughs I did afterwards. There were no random events in this one, for example. In some later games the French fought guerilla raids, whilst the Republicans found Conservative forces coming to aid the French.

This was a great little holiday project and it was nice to create a frame work around which to play some games. The whole campaign took less than an hour to run.