¡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.

¡Arriba Espana!

 I picked up a copy of Bob Cordery's Arriba Espana Spanish Civil War rules, newly released via Amazon.

The very affordable book (which also comes as a PDF,  but for the small difference in price you may as well get the real thing!) actually contains 2 sets of rules.  The first are the original rules which were first released in 1989.  These look really interesting with rules reflecting the internal political turmoil in the Republican forces.

The 2nd set are a brand new version of Bob's Portable Wargames Rules adapted for the SCW...I haven't played any of the other versions of these but they seem to be well thought of and look good.

Combined with Bob's excellent La Ultima Cruzada sourcebook on the SCW these are great inspiration for getting my SCW armies back on the table.

Viva Los Internacionales!

Last week saw a rare outing of my Spanish Civil War armies in a game of Chain of Command.  I still think CoC are the best platoon level game I have come across and the Lardies produced an excellent Espana supplement with details for all the factions involved.

We played out an Attack/Defend scenario with the evil Moroccan Regulares (boo!) assault in a small village held by some brave International Brigade troops (yay!).

The Moroccans were attacking from the top of this picture towards the bridge...

They deployed in the woods and faced fire from the Republicans in the village...

The Regulares had deployed a PzI and an infantry gun as support.  The tank was a threat as I hadn't been able to deploy my own artillery  for several turns.

The gun was particularly annoying as it took some very effective long range shots at the troops sheltering in the village.

The Moroccans were finding it difficult to drive the Republicans out of the buildings although they did see off a mortar section  which had carelessly deployed without it's mortars: the Republicans have to buy their support weapons like LMGs and mortars and I'd spent all my points on a pretty armoured car instead!

The Constructora  A/C finally turned up and sped over the bridge to provide some fire support:

My gun had also finally got into position but was quickly silenced by rifle fire.

The annoying Fascist artillery then took a long range shot at my armoured car and immediately knocked it out!

The broken mortar section fled back over the river...

...but the IBs still held the village and the bridge.  The Republican morale had dipped dangerously low but the Moroccans infantry was now beginning to waver.

We decided it was a close Republican win but only because the Moroccans didn't have the troops left to seize and hold their objective.  The Republicans would definitely need reinforcing if they were to remain in control for much longer.

Nice to get the armies out again.  I thought I'd re-based these to individual bases but obviously hadn't... most of them are still on 3 figure bases so I may add this to the to-do list.

This year we're off to sunny Spain!

On Monday I have a game of Chain of Command lined up, which I haven't played for some time.  This is going to be a Spanish Civil War bash with the dastardly fascists taking on the brave heroes of the Republic (clearly I have no bias at all in this affair!).

In preparation for the game I've finally gotten round to painting this Peter Pig armoured car.  I've had it sitting around for at least a year and, for some reason, never actually painted it.  It is a Constructora Field A/C, also sometimes called a Barcelona or Camion Blindado 4 x 2 No.8 and was produced in Barcelona.

It's a great model from Peter Pig in resin although it has a really thick base moulded onto it.

It does have a strong resemblance to an Anarchist version of a  Hungry, Hungry Hippo...

Ive also made up some suitable Patrol Phase markers for the game...

La Ultima Cruzada

I recently ordered a copy of  La Ultima Cruzada by Bob Cordery of Wargaming Miscellany fame.

Amongst his many talents Bob is a bit of an expert on the Spanish Civil War and this is a revised 2nd edition of an excellent source book with a wealth of information for historians and wargamers alike.

The book weighs in at 276 pages with chapters including a very clear chronology of the war and info on key political parties and leaders (not an easy thing to do for the SCW) and detailed information on the armies, navies and airforces for each side.  There are also some guides on uniforms which include some photographs of painted 54mm figures from Bob's collection.  Sadly these are in black and white so are less useful but the amount of info and the level of detail in the book is excellent.

If you have an interest in this period I'd say it's an essential buy!!

No Pasaran!!

So far we've tried Chain on Command for WW2 and modern Africa, so this week we tried going back a bit and playing a game set in the Spanish Civil War.


I have to confess that, as a died in the wool, Guardian reading lefty, the SCW has always held a Romantic attraction (a lot of civil wars seem to do that for some reason...).  Maybe it's the bravery of the volunteers of the International Brigades, the early stand against fascism or the fact that it produced a much better class of  poetry and songs, but it has always held an attraction.  

Of course I know that it was a singularly unpleasant, faction-ridden mess with horrible, brutal acts on all sides but there's nothing like a quick chorus of Jarama Valley or Bandiera Rossa to make an old. Lefty go misty eyed...

 



 

That, coupled with a whole variety of Militias and troop types and refreshingly low-tech tanks make this an excellent period.

 

Too Fat Lardies, producers of CoC have produced a wealth of SCW resources available for free on their website ( Link ) with loads of lists for SCW forces ranging from the regular Peninsular army troops, assorted militias of all flavours, Moroccans and Italians of the CTV.  There are also SCW -specific rule amendments reflecting the slightly different feel for this period.  This has clearly been a labour of love for someone and the fact that it's all up there for free is remarkably generous

So back to last nights game...

We played out an Attack/Defend scenario with Keith's evil Moroccan Regulares (boo!) attacking the brave defenders of the 5th Brigade, holding a village and a hilltop church.

 

The patrol phase resulted in 2 of my squads being safely dug in around the buildings with 1 more off table in reserve along with my armour (a T26 and a mighty FA-I armoured car) and a field gun.  Keith's troops were able to advance through the surrounding woods to place their jump off points out of sight but reasonably close to the village.

 

 

It was here that the better quality of the Regulares became obvious... with 6 command dice to my 4 they were able to do a lot more and to rack up a hefty total of Chain of Command points: these are gained with every 5 thrown and allow you to special actions such as ending the turn or interrupting an opponents move etc.

 

 

Compared with previous CoC games this was a much cagier affair...I think both us had learned from the trails of burning vehicles in previous games and were being much more cautious with our armour.  Keith's Panzer 1 deployed, skulked round a wood for a bit and then took up a position where it could fire on the town.  My field gun appeared and there then followed a lengthy duel between them both in which not a lot actually happened!

 

 

 

The heroic gun crew

 

I deployed my armour and, knowing there was an anti-tank gun due to be deployed by the Regulares, immediately hid behind a hill where the remained for most of the game.

 

The 5th Brigade's T26 advances...

 

 

...and then spends most of the game hiding behind a hill!

 

 

The Moroccan and Communist infantry exchanged fire between the wood and the town and slowly whittled each other down but, again, neither of us were being very brave in pressing home the attack.

 

 

 

Keith then unleashed what was to prove by far his most effective weapon...the off-table Machine Gun barrage.  During the SCW it was common for armies to mass their MGs and use them in this way and it proved pretty devastating!  Keith was able to shift the fire to cover 1 squad and the field gun and, despite being protected by the buildings, they were inevitably worn down.  Eventually the lone gunner, bravely manning his gun to the end, broke and ran (I would have awarded him a medal if we didn't see medals as an elitist representation of the bourgeois oppressors!), leaving the village vulnerable.

 

I eventually managed to accrue enough Chain of Command dice to force the turn to end which meant the MG barrage finally ceased, giving the troops in the town some brief respite.  It also allowed me to unleash my devastating air attack: there was a chance here that it would accidentally strafe my own troops which had Keith rubbing his hands in anticipation!  Luckily they went for the right target but proved spectacularly rubbish, causing no casualties whatsoever...

 

My pitiful total of 4 command dice meant I'd failed to bring on 1 of my squads and struggled to  find the dice to activate the tanks and Keith's Moroccans took advantage of my paralysis to charge home I an attempt to drive me out of the town.  Despite a large advantage [in turn 1 at least] I failed to dent the charge and my squad routed back from the town....luckily the hefty casualties on the Moroccans meant they also turned and fled in their moment of triumph!.

 

My 26 and armoured car ventured out from behind their hill and, surprise surprise... up popped the long-awaited PaK anti-tank gun although the armour survived the exchange of fire.

 

By this point my morale had slumped due to broken squads and I was reduced to 2 command dice and I decided that was a good point to concede defeat.

 

So....the amendments to the rules add enough flavour without changing the nature of the game and reflect the variable nature of the range of SCW troop types using the Command dice and individual rules.  An excellent set of rules!