We calculate the partition function of the $q$-state Potts model on arbitrary-length cyclic ladder graphs of the square and triangular lattices, with a generalized external magnetic field that favors or disfavors a subset of spin values ${1,...,s}$ with $s le q$. For the case of antiferromagnet spin-spin coupling, these provide exactly solved models that exhibit an onset of frustration and competing interactions in the context of a novel type of tensor-product $S_s otimes S_{q-s}$ global symmetry, where $S_s$ is the permutation group on $s$ objects.
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