Spanish Civil War Action

 Last weekend I wandered down to Stig's for a game of Spanish Civil War using Rapid Fire rules. They are a nice set of simple rules that work well and are well written. It was Stigs 1st ever SCW game. I like SCW and the whole interwar period because I really hate super tanks, but fairly rubbish tanks are cool. In SCW the Nationalists maxed out with Panzer 1 and the Republicans with T26 tanks. 

The battle was a fairly simple one, I was an International Brigade with some AT and a couple of T26 tanks as support. I had to hold a town. As Republicans they were poorly trained and so had a -1 morale. Stig was the Nationalist Morrocan Falange, better trained and supported by AT, mortar and 5 Panzer 1. We both had 2 artillery barrages.

THe layout. I'm in the town with support on the hills to either side. Stig's Nationalists are advancing through the fields

Town guys, all classed as hard cover

Left flank, 4 sections, 1 MMG and command section

Stig's evil fascists, red flowers

General advance behind a smoke screen

3 Panzer 1s attack the right flank. The SCW is the home of the molotov cocktail. So we had a rule that all units had molotov cocktails and they classed as anti tank rifles with a 1 inch range. So to attack they would need to pass the hero test and then hit

1 unitpassed, chucked it's bombs and blew up a tank, they retreated and my flank was secure. That single action made the whole battle - great fun

The advance continues and casualties were high

We both reached our army break point. The Republicans did so first, with a poor morale but passed. I then spent 2 turns failing to cause the single hit i needed to make stig reach his break point. Many hits failed to cause damage. Eventually I caused the hit and Stig failed his break test and I won, but it was a close run thing.

It was a great battle and the rules worked perfectly. They will scale up well to bigger battles with multiple players

Battle of Campanilla - Spanish Civil War AAR

 Today I went down to sunny Redcar to visit Ian and Jane and play in Ian's games room / garage/bike shed. We were giving my SCW armies a 1st try out and testing my Land and Freedom Rules, see pages above.

The battle was fictional one based around the campaign to capture Santander by the Nationalists, evil fascist scum (EFS) in 1937. The aim of the EFS was to secure the river crossings over the Pisuena river, whilst the the Republicans, brave socialist workers (BSW) were racing to stop them. Each side had 2 brigades, a couple of tank companies and artillery support.

The battle, EFS (me) to the right and BSW (Ian) to the left. Victor holds both river crossings

On my left Ian is advancing with a tank supported brigade of regulars

I've taken the wooded hills on the left with 2 brigades of regulars but have no tank or AT support

I do have artillery spotter with commanding view of the battle field. Artillery is good in my rules, but only one off map and 1 martor battery attack per turn max. The black and white numbers are priority points that decide when inte turn each unit is activated. Battalions have D3 (set at start) and these were pretty even across the armies. These can be added to by brigade and army commanders. I had 1 brigade commander with only 1 point to allocate and my army commander only had 1. Ian's were more even

I have rushed forward with a Moroccan Falange battalion, with AT support, in trucks, debused and occupied the town because...

Ian has done the same and tanked the bridge with a T26 and battalion in trucks.

On my right I'm advancing with a Falange battalion with Pz1 support

Ian debuses and tries to form a bridgehead, but I rain in fire

My AT takes out his T26

A brief firefight on te right and I've destroyed a International battalion

Ian has siezed the other bridge.

My supports have arrived to attack and wipe out his bridgehead

I now have a lot of forces in the line but Ian is still struggling to match me

I advance to the edge of town

I advance on the right and take out the battalion on the hill. The tank is important and I wipe them out. The flank is now open

I bring a battalion from the left to attack the bridge but in the open they get battered by artillery.

I storm the bridge with a Pz1 and Ian counter attacks with Molotov cocktails and take out the tank

Ian is still holding the bridges but on the left is very reduced, remove 1 more base and they will rout

My weight of numbers has wiped out Ian in the centre and we ended it there

It was a fun battle, very brutal and the rules worked well. We played on a 6x4 table and it was a bit packed. The messengers weren't really needed, mainly I had no points to give them and Ian was generally close enough with his commanders to not need them.

Spanish Civil War Painting Mania

 I've completed my planned Spanish Civil War armies. We all say "finished" and mean the other thing. I had planned to have forces of 2 brigades per side, with additional support units and that is what I have done. Obviously I need aircraft (Dave has some I can have), cavalry (if I want), armoured trucks (SCW classic) and if I want more brigades. But for now I have enough to play.

I've written some rules that feel like they will work really well. I have a play test on Thursday at Ian's, and will post them onthe page after. I have stolen the priority points system from Altar of Freedom, which I really like, and added messengers to move these priority points. It gets rid of the IGOUGO approach that can annoy me and required you to plan your moves carefully. More on the rules when I post them. 

Enough of the waffling, I'm waiting for the photos to download to my one drive. Last time I posted a regular Republican Brigade, tanks, trucks and AT guns. Now for the rest

Nationalist Moroccan Falange Brigade

Pretty with their blue shirts and red fez

African Colonial troops were essential for the Nationalist victory

Several companies of Guarda Civilia, they fought for whoever was in control of their region, but were generally on the Nationalist side

Regular Nationalist Brigade

Green uniforms, compared with the Republican khake

but same organisation.

Messengers are important in my rules so

Cavalry messengers, the slowest

radio operators, instant messaging if they get through.

Motorbike messengers, the coolest form

Set of Opel Blitz trucks, to move a brigade about

Finally a Republican International Brigade

Bit more rag tag and comprising Canadian, American and British brigades, cos I had the flags for them

I have to say the Pendraken SCW selection is marvellous and has gone a long way to reinforce my move to 10mm. I love 10mm, it's a nice scale to fight massive battles with loads of units. I prefer my gaming to be strategic and 10mm works. It also helps that they have a shop a couple of miles from my sister's house. So i can buy toys and then go drinking. Perfect.

Even more perfect, Port Vale won the playoff and got promoted to 1st division. UTV