Cinco De Mayo

Cinco de Mayo is an annual celebration held on 5th May to celebrate Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. It's only a full-on public holiday in the state of Puebla (naturally), but is celebrated elsewhere, especially in the US, as a celebration of Mexican culture. It is widely confused with Mexico's independence day celebrations.

Anyway, I had my Mexican Adventure armies to hand yesterday, and thought that it would be worth putting together a quick refight of the Battle of Puebla using Dominion Of The Spear And Bayonet. There's a scenario for the battle in the battles book that accompanies the rules, but I haven't bought that yet, so I put together my own.

Here's the forces.

On the left are the Mexicans, with Line and Artillery in Defences (3pts each), more Line, and some Skirmishers and Cavalry in reserve (2pts each). The cavalry was committed at the end of the battle to press the French, so I kept them back and had the two fortified units in the front line, plus the unprotected line (as there were forces filling in the gap between the two forts that the battle centred around.

On the right are the French. They consist of two Elite Line (3pts each), Artillery and, in reserve, more Line and some Cavalry. I assumed hat the cavalry would cover the French rear and/or retreat, whilst the third Line unit would represent a final French attack in the rain, an therefore lose the Elite elan the other units have.

Here's the Mexicans deployed. On their left is the Artillery, on the right Line in a fort and between them more Line. Some small wooden blocks represent Puebla itself.

The French attackers. They went straight in with the infantry after an artillery bombardment, so I put their two Elite Line on the left and in the centre, and the Artillery on the right.

In the following pictures the yellow dice represents the turn number and its position which side is acting. The blue dice is the French combat roll and the white one the Mexicans. I rolled them together although in many cases the results of one units combat are applied before the other.

Turn 1 - French

They attacked on the right with their Artillery. The fighting was inconclusive.

Turn 1 - Mexican

They chose the same sector as the French. The artillery bombardment continued and suppressed the first fort (the Line was defeated).

Mexican Skirmishers deployed to threaten the French Artillery

Turn 2 - French

Choosing the Artillery again would be bad, as the enemy Skirmishers are advantaged there. So the French went for an advance in the centre with their Elite Line against the Mexican Line. Fierce fighting saw both units bogged down; they would take no further part in the battle (both units were eliminated).

The Cavalry support for both armies moved to cover their infantry. This was the final reserve unit for the Mexicans.

Turn 2 - Mexican

On the French left their Artillery was driven off by Mexican Skirmishers.

As the afternoon rain began the French reserve Line was brought into action.

Turn 3 - French

The French general committed the cavalry in the centre sector, as whilst it was an even fight, a win here would allow the French to dominate the Mexican position. The French Cavalry routed their Mexican opposite numbers.

Turn 3 - Mexican

With their position under threat from the French Cavalry the Mexicans looked to secure one flank with their Skirmishers. However they came to grief against the French line in that sector who doggedly resisted their advance and drove them off.

This left the Mexicans with just their remaining fort, but nothing else between the French and the city of Puebla. 

 So this refight was a relatively straightforward French win.

As you can imagine, it took longer to design the scenario and set the game up than it did to play (and play was slowed by putting down markers to help the photos along).