The Bank at Cordoba
General Omnicron surveys the market of Cordoba from the bank.
The start of my Mexican Revolution campaign.
The Government Garrison
Mexican government forces have walled up at the town of Cordoba. General Omnicron has been charged with holding the town until further troops arrive. He has a company of regular infantry with a machine gun, one field gun, several sections of cavalry and several sections of state militia/police. A rag tag force which he has to use wisely to both guard the national bank in the town and the jail. The bank holds a not so insignificant amount of Government money that will be used to fund arms and ammunition and the jail holds a not so insignificant number of revolutionaries.
General Olvara Omnicron - long time adversary to Vancho Pilla.
The Revolutionaries
The revolutionary opponents to the government see an opportunity at Cordoba. With the relatively understrength garrison the town presents several potential rewards. There is the money in the bank itself - which would be useful to the cause of course. There is also equipment that would come in handy, and a nice bunch of recruits awaiting rescue from the jail itself.
Vancho Pilla has been ordered to move his mobile forces up quickly and strike at the town. He has 3 full companies of 'Pillistas' at his disposal and needs to attack hard and fast if he is to surprise the Government forces and gain a personal advantage against his old opponent Omnicron.
Vancho Pilla leads the attack on Cordoba
I have adapted Chain of Command from the Lardies for the rules and have developed my own Revolutionary Army period army lists as well. You can download them from here. I love these rules as they are flexible and offer a great balance between overall strategic decisions, cinematic moments and army reactions. The fact that your command can disintegrate with relatively few casualties but bad field events makes for an unpredictable game. The size of the rules also suits relatively modest figure requirements - typically 40-60 aside but can handle upwards from that, which enables you to experience small skirmish actions to larger scale actions. You can see my conflict army lists here
THE TOWN
The town of Cordoba. In the foreground the bank, market and garrison positions; the jail towards the right centre and the bridge that leads to the church and one of the outlying ranches.
The Government troops start at the bottom of the town and the Pillista forces come on from the top. As always the first part of the game involves the scouting phase and the jostling for jump off points. There are a couple of fixed troop locations at the start of the game. The jail has one section of militia/police guarding the block (6 men). The artillery is stationed at the Garrison area. Also - no Pillista Jump off point can be south of the river. The Pillista's start with 5 command dice and a command level of 8 (brimming with initial confidence!); the Government forces start with 5 command dice and a command level of 7 (they would be more confident if they had more men!).
The final jump off points for both forces (Government in red and Pillista's in blue).
Early morning and the market is already busy. The view across Cordoba out into the hills from the roof of the bank is quiet. St Maria's Church looks deserted as the sun rises.
With the morning sun comes the rumble of hooves as the first of the Pillista cavalry descend from the foothills and make a dash into the town.
Inspired by a Junior leader the first section of Pillista cavalry canter over Cordoba's bridge.
Hearing the Pillista cavalry's sudden arrival the garrison starts to spill out into the streets of Cordoba. A reinforced section of militia/state police adopt defensive positions around the jail, while a section section rushes from the town square in support as Omicron deploys a machine gun atop the roof of the bank! Meanwhile the townsfolk scatter from the market.....
The Pillista cavalry directed by their offices continue to advance towards the jail on the right flank. The Government forces try to deploy to counter the threat to the jail. On the left flank more Pillista cavalry cross the river.
The first of revolutionary cavalry career through the streets of Cordoba and run straight into Government forces. Guns ring out in the morning air as the smell of war hits the town. The Pillista cavalry strike first and manage to cause a casualty - whilst in the background the police holding the jail start to cower as they come under fire and accumulate the first points of shock!
The Pillista cavalry press home and intense fighting breaks out around the vicinity of the jail. At first the state police hold their own and cause some casualties among the revolutionary numbers - then more revolutionary cavalry arrive on the scene!
The fighting gets frantic and bloody as the battle swirls around the Jail house. Both sides take casualties and shock. Pillista numbers start to count however as the outnumbered state police start to succumb to the superior firepower and mobility. The government troops holding the jail take too many casualties and reel with shock - abandoning the jailhouse as they flee back towards the towns square. A junior office tries to control the remaining state police - and while he manages to inflict more casualties on the Pillista horse he watches as his second section is wiped out and then is lightly wounded. Seeing the situation at the jail become untenable he too retreats back into town. The Government force morale drops 2 points to 5 as a result!
The Pillistas secure the jail and the prisoners (gaining 3d6 recruits that they can deploy moving on in the campaign). They have taken some casualties and shock in the process and so under the direction of a junior leader regroup.
Meanwhile on the left flank the Pillista cavalry attempts to cross the river. The Government forces deploy a cavalry section from the road in an attempt to block their advance. Some accurate fire from the Revolutionary cavalry and some awful shooting from the nervous Government force results in the revolutionaries gaining the upper hand.
The situation goes from bad to worse! The Government cavalry get badly mauled up, fail to stop the revolutionary advance and even have their junior leader captured! To top it all - the Pillista cavalry secure an enemy jump off point! The Government force morale drops to 3.
The Government forces deploy the garrison troops - aware of the success of the revolutionary attacks to the right and left flanks. From here Omnicron can send his troops in either direction to counter any further threat on the centre of the town.
Having regrouped the Pillista cavalry force that secured the Jail house pushes on to the right hand side of the town square. The last of the Government forces start to deploy around the market square in an attempt to create a defensive perimeter around the bank. Even the state militia and the Junior office that escaped from the fight around the jail manage to muster (even if they are badly shaken!).
The situation is finely balanced - the Pillista's have taken the outer town and the Jail and are now threatening the bank. The government forces have several sections in the market area with a supporting machine gun and several more in the garrison block.
