CINCO DE MAYO is a game on the battle between a division of French troops in the army of Emperor Maximilian and those of the Republican forces of Mexico for control of the key city of Puebla, a battle that led to the Mexican national holiday honoring its date, May 5 (1862).

CINCO will use the same system as was used for both LINE OF FIRE and EAST-WEST, a firepower oriented version of the time-honored BSO system used in the MEN OF IRON system, with somewhat different focus. The battle itself uses some very interesting, colorful terrain, along with the usual units with the evocative names: 2nd Zouaves, the Fijo de Morelio Battalion, Chasseurs d’Affrique, the Oaxaca Lancers, etc. Special rules cover cavalry lancer charges, square formation, a rather early use of trenches, and artillery ammo.

Most of the rules and mechanics will be quite familiar to anyone who has played BSO games, but all with a nice period flavor.

Playing time for CINCO has averaged 2-3 hours, sometimes less, and the rules are only 9 pages.

CAVEAT: This battle will also be featured in an upcoming GMT module (for their GRINGO game) that will be published late 2007, early 2008. It uses a totally different more complex system, though

Each game of CINCO DE MAYO includes Rules, one sheet of Mike Lemick’s great-looking cut-and-paste counters, and a colorful Pascal da Silva 22”x17” game map and game cover.