Comanche Campaign Ideas

Usually around November for Native American history month, I read a book about, well Native Americans. Last year I read a book called Comanche Empire by Pekka Hämäläinen. I enjoyed this book, I learned a lot about Comanche culture, and their interactions with multiple nations over the course of their history.

The Comanches were an interesting nation throughout their history. They interacted with the Spanish, the Mexicans, the Texans, the French, the Americans, and of course multiple other Native American nations.

A Comanche force can be used for multiple periods, which is always a plus. A Comanche force can also be allied to multiple nations.

How does this play out in a campaign? The biggest takeaway was that the Comanche were a nation of takers. If you blessed them with gifts, and gave them leeway, they would be happy. If you didn’t do these things, they would come and take what they wanted. This makes using the Comanche in a campaign an interesting force.

Let’s take a specific example from history that didn’t happen. At the battle of the Alamo, the Texans approached the Comanche to help fight against Santa Anna’s army. This did not happen, but would have been an interesting twist to the history. Being a native son of Texas, I have always enjoyed the story of the Alamo. A small force of men, holed up in a fort, taking on a larger force, and fighting to the last man. Thanks to the men’s sacrifice, the Mexican Army was held up, and allowed the Texans to recruit a large army.

Now that we know what happened, we introduce the Comanche warriors. Would they have made a difference? I’m not sure, but it is a fun idea to play out on the wargames table. The comanches should be played as a reinforcement force. They would have been able to harass the flanks of the Mexican army, and force them to fight on two fronts. This would have allowed the Texans more leeway in the fight.

Would a Comanche force have save the Texans at the Alamo? Probably not. But they would have made the fight more “fair”. You could also play the Comanche as supply line disruptors, if you wanted to play the entire Texan War of Independence. Had the Texans actually recruited the Comanches, Santa Anna’s army would be in a much worse state when they finally reached the Alamo. This could be a very interesting campaign.

Comanches in a campaign

So how do we add Comanches to our south eastern campaigns? The biggest problem is determining how much gifting is required to keep the Comanches on your side. This could be a static number. For every X supplies you allow a force, Y percentage must be supplied to the Comanches to keep them on your side, if not, then they would immediately become your enemies, and turn traitor. They make a most excellent mercenary force for any kind of campaign game.

You could also make both sides make blind bids to have the Comanches come over on their side. Player A bids 10 supplies, while Player B bids 11 supplies. Neither player knows what the other bid, until the Comanches came on the table as reinforcements. If both players bid the same amount, the Comanches would just come on as a raiding force, attacking whichever side they were closest to. Divide the table into quarters (or whatever size you want), roll some dice, put the Comanche into that sector, and have them attack the flanks of the army they are closest to.

Another way to use the Comanche in a campaign, would be to fight actual battles where they would be raiding one or both sides supply lines. This adds an extra dimension, and allows any number of players to play side games in charge of the Comanche.

Comanche in history

The Comanche empire started in roughly the last 1600’s. The forces were roughly the same from then until they were finally forced onto reservations in the late 1800’s. An early Comanche force would be horse riding archers with lancers (light cavalry) thrown in. As time goes on, more and more would be armed with muskets, and then rifles. Still lancers would provide a hard hitting force to disrupt infantry.

Comanches would have a lower morale than other troops. In fact, targeting and killing the leader of the band would almost always force the Comanches to rout and leave the field of battle, unless of course they are doing well, and gathering lots of loot and slaves.

Due to the sheer length of time that the Comanche were active, they could be used against the Spanish, they also fought many battles against the Mexicans in both Texas and Arizona. After that, you have the Comanches that could play a role in the Texan War of Independence. Then of course you have the American Civil War, a force of Comanches could have devastated either the Union or the Confederacy. There is no reason in a what-if campaign, that they would not have traveled as far east as Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennesse. The sky really is the limit here. The Comanches were primarily a western/south-western based, but they made many forays into Northern Mexico, they often road hundreds into Mexico to raid for goods and slaves. So traveling east would not have been out of the question. After the ACW, you have these United States and the Indian Wars to play with. The Comanches were already on the decline due to poor management of the plains during the droughts (who knew that Climate Change was a problem 200+ years ago), and the decimation of the buffalo herds for sustenance and trade, but they still played a significant role in this period of history, even after they were “defeated” and forced onto the reservations. And of course, you can always run Comanche warbands against other Indian nations, a lot of Apache/Comanche violence occurred.

Comanche Forces

The Comanches were horse raiders (think Mongols, Cossacks). A force of Comanches, would be composed almost entirely of cavalry, mostly archers, riflemen, and finally closing in with lances and hand-to-hand weapons to finish off their foes. They would be most interested in foodstuffs, goods (weapons and metal items), and slaves. Oh yes, the Comanche empire ran on the slave trade. They would use captives from any nation, they would sell captives to other nations, and they would trade slaves back to their native nation in exchange for food, weapons, and other trade goods.

The possibilities of a Comanche force span many periods of history, and one force can be used for multiple eras against multiple nations. Now I need to go and print the Alamo, and Davy Crocket and Daniel Boone (along with a period perfect John Wayne), and play some games. I really need Battlecat Miniatures to release their next Kickstarter for the Texas War of Independence, I already have the Mexican army from them.