¡Arriba Espana! - first game

 

Since I'd bought a copy of Bob Cordrey's Arriba Espana rules recently it was a good excuse to get the SCW armies out for a change

The newly reissued rulebook actually contains 2 sets of rules...the original Arriba Espana from the 80s and an updated version for using the Portable Wargames Rules model.  Since I didn't have a hex or gridded mat handy I decided to go with the originals.

We played one of the scenarios in the book... some Nationalist militia troops are holed up in a ruined monastery, under attack from the Republicans.  A Nationalist relief force is on its way...will it get there in time?

The besieged Fascists

There were a few bits we were unclear about in the rules (more to do with me than the rules I think!)... for example we weren't sure what happens after the 1st turn of combat... does it continue in subsequent rounds (and can units break off?) or should it be fought to a conclusion.  We decided on the latter... mainly to speed things up.

The Republicans have an advantage in numbers but are hampered by a lack of cooperation if the units come from different factions to to Commander.  In this the game the overall Commander was an Anarchist so the Socialist and Communist battalions were less likely to obey orders which hampered the Republican advance

The Moroccans and Foreign
Legion arrive in the nick of
time!

Interestingly in these rules firing doesn't actually cause casualties but adds 'Will to Combat' markers which can result in units becoming pinned or retiring.  The only way to actually destroy an enemy unit is in Close Combat

The best tactic is to soften up your opponent with firing until he becomes pinned and then charge home which is exactly what happened here...

The Communists charge in against the Regulares

Commanders have a limited number of orders they can place each turn.  The white markers are orders that haven't been revealed yet.  Each unit also has a rating from Green to Elite so, along with the Will to Combat markers (in red) there is some amount of table clutter which some people can find off-putting.  I don't really mind...I'd never have kept track of unit ratings without them.  We were having a hard enough time distinguishing between Anarchists, Socialists and Communists!

Each side may have a limited number of air attacks.  This depends on who has air superiority and this is affected in turn by which year of the war we are in.  Both of us had 3 attacks which didn't always arrive and weren't hugely effective which felt about right for this period of the war. 

By the end of the evening the Republicans had seized the monastery but were struggling to coordinate their attacks.  The Nationalists were now outnumbered and very much on the back foot.

A good set of rules I think... I need to read them again to see what I missed/got wrong and it would be interesting to try the updated version at some point.