BATTLE OF PUEBLA - May 5, 1862
Hi folks,
It has been a while since I have broken out my Maximilian collection. In honor of Cinco de Mayo we are re-fighting Puebla on May 8th. Since my last Maximilian battle, I have rebased all my units and put labels on them. Should make for quite the spectacle. This is a photo heavy battle report.
Here are links to prior games:
Din of Battle: Refight of the Battle of Puebla, May 5th 1862
Din of Battle: Battle of Puebla - Second Playtest
Terrain is custom built except for the abbey church in Fort Guadeloupe. Hills are made from pink foam insulation boards. Forts are scratch built from foam core. Blog post about making the forts. Earthworks are from Musket miniatures. As always, click on the photos to get the larger version of them.
BACKGROUND
On May 5, 1862, French Major-General de Lorencez assaulted the outlying
fortresses protecting the town of Puebla. Three assaults were launched against
the fortresses, but all were repulsed by the Republican troops, and the French
were forced to retreat. A rainstorm allowed the French army to retreat
unmolested by the victorious Mexican forces.
MINIATURES AND RULES
Rules: Hybrid rules merging traditional Piquet and Field of Battle (also from Piquet Inc).
Miniatures: 15mm - mostly Freikorp with Minifigs and Frontier, mixed in.
If you would like a copy of the army rosters and sequence deck composition let me know. I'll be happy to send you a copy. email EricBu2025 @ gmail dot com.
Scenario Duration – 5+ turns (12:30 – 3:00pm) Weather
card added to the Mexican deck on Turn 5. The Weather Card’s arrival signals rain
falling in torrents and ends the battle. If players want to continue all Small
Arms Reload and Artillery Reload cards are removed from the deck, it now
becomes a melee only game!!
Objectives – Hold Fort Loreto (5VP), Fort
Guadalupe (12VP), and or Xonaca suburbs (5 VP). In addition, each side gets one
VP for each unit destroyed or routed when the game ends.
Fort Loreto has the round turret-like corners
Fort Guadalope has the Vauban style bastions and the Abbey.
Xonaca suburbs where the Mexican infantry is stationed.
Note: French
have the following proxy units:
1st
FFL = 1/2nd Marines
2nd
FFL = 2/2nd Marines
18th
Chasseurs a Pied = Chasseurs de Vincennes
Guard
Artillery = 2nd Marine Art.
2/1st
Zouaves = 1/2nd Zouaves
3/1st
Zouaves = 2/2nd Zouaves
Scenario Specific Rules:
1. Due to
the very small numbers of cavalry in this scenario, Cavalry moves on Infantry
cards. Remove all Cavalry Move in Open cards from the deck.
2. French
have one less Artillery Reload card as they have spent the last hour firing on
the two fortresses with little effect and using half of their artillery ammo.
One less card signifies the French conserving what is left of their ammunition.
3. Terrain, from the Mexican perspective, to the left of Fort Loreto and right of Fort Guadalupe fortress is impassable terrain.
4. The
rest of the ridge is CLASS II terrain for both movement and cover.
5. Units
firing down the hill we receive Superior position modifiers.
6. Fortress
and earthworks are CLASS III terrain.
7. Rough
underbrush by river is CLASS IV terrain. (don’t go there as you will need to
pass a difficulty test to move into, through, or out of the underbrush)
8. Buildings
are CLASS II terrain.
9. River
is not fordable.
10. Off-board
Mexican command can be committed to either the Xonaca suburbs or Guadalupe
Ridge. Once the command has been committed to a section of the battlefield it
may not change commitment locations on the fly. Mexican player can commit the
reserve at any time by doing the following. 1) Announce the reserves will
arrive on a Infantry Move card, then write down or let the umpire know which
location the reserves are being committed to. 2) The first unit of the reserve
comes in road column on the next Move card. 3) On the next Infantry Move card
the entire command moves normally from that location in March formation. After
that, the command is on the table and moves normally.
11.
Targets
of fire from fortresses lose their CLASS II terrain cover modifier once they
are within six inches of the fortress.
SETUP
Rich and Michael were the two French commanders while I commanded the Mexicans. Daryl had to drop out due to a family health issue.
The Mexicans outnumber the French, but the French have better combat and morale factors. The Mexicans will need to move their forces to confront the invaders before they can take any of the forts.
The French were spit into 2 brigades, with the picture below showing the French assault brigade starting to make their accent of Guadalope Ridge where Fort Loreto (on right) and Fort Guadalope (on left) are held by the Mexicans. The French overall commander, Major-General de Lorencez, believed Fort Guadalope with its strategic position would be key to forcing the surrender of the town of Puebla which would be where my bookcases are in the back of this photo.
Major-General de Lorencez's command stand.
The second French Brigade preparing to assault the suburbs and defend the flank of the French army.
Fort Loreto from the Mexican perspective:
Fort Guadalope Garrison and the French forces below!
Let the assault begin!! Zouaves, Marine infantry, and Sailors ready to storm the forts.
French Campaign Uniforms:
The French surprised me and decided to ignore the suburbs and sent half of the blocking force towards Fort Guadalope! They will take some time to get there, but this will make if very difficult for the Mexicans to hold be the advancing French on Guadalope Ridge. The Mexican infantry in the suburbs and flanks will now have to hasten to the fore and try to pin the French and\or break their flank and force them to retreat! This has never been tried in any of the prior games!
French Flank force changes into March Column and moves to support the assault on Guadalope Ridge!
French Assault Group (Michael) decides that with the reinforcements on the way it is best to push as quickly as possible up the hill in skirmish formation.
Because the Mexican guns are just gun sections, they have to wait until the French are in Canister range in order to attempt to inflict any serious damage. Here the 12# Mexican gun section in Fort Loreto fires canister into the Sailor (Fusil-Marin) battalion with great effect!! The Sailors are disordered (green cube), take two UI loses (tan markers on stands), and retreats!
Because the trench line was so thinly held and the French were advancing faster than Mexican reinforcements from Puebla could arrive, the
Mexican 6th Line leaves Fort Loreto and mans the entrenchments just in time! Puebla National Guard is also manning the trenches. Brigadier General Arratia (General 1) looks on with great anxiety.
Here you can see that the French intend to strike the earthworks BETWEEN the two forts rather than assault the forts directly. French reinforcements from the flank brigade can be seen at the bottom of the hill.
The French Marines (disguised as FFL) and the 6th Line exchange fire at pointblank range with minimal effect.
Zouave battalions advancing. The Mexican guns of Guadalope can't seem to find the range!
First of the Mexican reinforcements from Puebla arrive JUST in time as the Zouaves are pushing their advantage. The San Luis National Guard will slip into the trenches between the other Mexican units.
In the valley the Mexican brigade, commanded by
Brigadier General LaMadrid, in the suburbs advances out to meet the redeploying French! Can they get their quick enough!
Gulp! More French falling into skirmish order at the base of Guadalope Ridge. They will spearhead the attack on Fort Guadalope.
Mexican 12# guns fire into the flank of the Marine skirmishers and fail to cause them any material damage! Bad powder?!!
Hot work all along the trench line. The combined musket fire from the National Guard pushes the Zouaves back. Their morale is challenged! You can see some more National Guard and Milicia coming up from Puebla.
The Zouaves are routed from musket fire! The French Marines form attack column in order to assault the entrenchment!
A different view of the French assault on the entrenchments. The Mexican forces are giving all they can.
To bolster morale, overall commander Major-General de Lorencez, arrives on the scene. The sailors are still demoralized from the canister fire from earlier in the battle. Will the commander give them stirring words to get them to assault Fort Loreto again?! Zouaves running down the hill into the oncoming French artillery battery that hopes to turn the tide on the hill.
Meanwhile, the assault on Fort Guadalope is about to heat up! French 1st Chassuers a Pied and 2nd Battalion, 99th Regiment form attack columns to storm the fort.
Meanwhile in the valley near the river, the Chassuers de Afrique have charged forward to engage the Mexican 5th Line infantry. The melee is inconclusive, but the Mexicans fall back in disorder.
The Mexican defenders have loaded their canons with canister. Will it be enough?! The light blue gun is a light mountain howitzer.
The Marines (for some reason they look like Imperial Guard) have unlimbered their 4# rifled artillery and are about to give some back to the Mexicans! Damn Sailors still won't advance or shake off their disorder!
The French 2/99th moves forward in attack column into canister range of the big guns and the Mexicans pull a Heroic Moment and open fire with the 12# gun section. The 2/99th is devastated as they are cut down in droves. (Lost two UI, you can just see the yellow markers).
The Zouaves ROUT the Puebla National Guard in melee and advance into the earthworks! The line has been breached after two hours of fighting! The red heart indicates that the general has to check for survival on the next Officer Check card.
However, the Marines are routed by combined canister (from Fort Loreto) and musket fire from the 6th Mexican Line! The Zouaves may have breached the line, but they are alone.
The San Luis National Guard wheels and fires into the flanks of the Zouaves! They fall back out of the earthworks disordered.
The 2/99th shakes out into skirmish order while their sister battalion the 1/99th advances towards the fort. Mexican guns have reloaded!
1st Chasseurs a Pied start their assault and shrug off the canister fire from the mountain howitzer! The Chasseurs are the Elite units of the French army at this particular battle. They fire at the Mexican gunners and force them to abandon their position! Can they get in the fortress before the Mexican bring units to cover the bastion?!
They breach the wall and attack the poor understrength Toluca National Guard! The Toluca battalion is routed with ease and race out of the fortress in terror!
The 1st Chasseurs, covered with glory of their assault turn on the 12# gun section! The routed Toluca battalion can be seen just outside the gates.
Are the Chasseurs de Afrique too exposed? Mexican 1st Cavalry regiment has arrived!
Here you can see that the Zouaves have formed Attack Column but are still disordered. The 1st Chasseurs somehow fail to defeat the stubborn Mexican 12# gunners in hand-to-hand combat. They are locked in a death struggle with the gunners.
By some miracle, maybe the Angel of Guadalope, the Mexican guns rolled gun powder barrels into the 1st Chasseurs and rout them! You can now see 2 of the 3 battalions of the French attack on Guadalope have routed. Can they rally and assault again?
French Chasseurs de Afrique are destroyed by a flank attack by the 1st Cavalry regiment! The only French cavalry in the army implodes and leaves the battle!!!! Can the Mexicans pull this off?
Alas, the 1/99th arrives and fires into the 12# Mexican guns and destroys them. There are now no Mexican forces in Fort Guadalope except some cowering gun crew in the Abbey.
The 1/99th is able to advance into Fort Guadalope before Mexican forces can arrive inside the fort. The French win the battle on Victory Points, but it was a heavy toll.
The following photos show how the French assault group on Fort Loreto and the earthworks have rallied and are on the attack again. Without artillery support the Mexicans will surely be routed from these locations. (Note, my two Mexican guns in Fort Loreto both missed with canister fire allowing the French to advance without any further harm). The Sailors rallied and recovered a UI too and now they are back on the assault of Loreto.
Had we continued, you can see in the top left of the photo below the valley fight that was shaping up. Mexicans outnumber the French by over 2-1, but the French have 3 batteries down there. It could go either way!
I hope you enjoyed the battle as much as we did!
Here you can see the final assault about to happen on the earthworks between the forts. The Zouaves have rallied and are ready to deal out damage!
It was a very hard-fought battle with a narrow French Victory due to taking Fort Guadalope which was worth 12 VPs. The French had taken more casualties so far in the fight, but the main collision of forces was about to happen in the valley,
with the French having 3 artillery batteries ready to tear into the advancing Mexican forces. The hybrid rules worked nicely and will continue to use them for my future Maximilian games.
French lost 12 of 20 Morale Chips.
Mexicans lost 8 out of 23 Morale Chips.
I should be able to get this back on the table in a year! Have a GREAT day!
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