"Best way to game the SCW" Topic

All,
In my 45+ years of miniature gaming, I have collected forces for the Spanish Civil War probably 1/2 a dozen times. Painted them, played a game or two, got disenchanted witht hem and put them up for sale. Yet, it remains my favorite historical era. I've built up a library of probab;y four dozen books. I've come to the conclusion, that the problem is finding the right level of engagement. I think that if one trys to field all the assorted unit types possible, that the game simply becomes WWI or early WWII with different uniforms. I am thinking about taking the plunge again, but I'd like to do it right this time. THoughts?

Sometimes gaming your favourite period is difficult because you know too much.

Things will almost never work in games like they did in reality and that might be the problem.

It could also be what you diagnosed just something else to think about.

We have played quite a lot of Chain of Command with the Spanish Civil War supplement. The supplement is free. So you're dealing with platoon level engagements. The forces have a lot of character, as I'm sure you are aware, and the supplement for SCW captures a lot of that.

You can read about some of the larger games we've done recently on the scrivsland blog:
link

I would recommend 20mm, using Rapid Fire with the Rompan el Feugo supplement. It is much cheaper than 28mm, there are more vehicles, and the supplement has multiple scenarios. 6+ units per side, with a few heavy weapons. But that by itself will not be enough. Embellish the games with drama that doesn't come in any rules set. That's how Ron Vaughn runs the games at our local conventions almost every year. Factions on the same side hate each other; the Russians favor the communists with weapons, someone's goal is to burn a church, there are Germans running the tanks, or MGs; the model of each heavy weapon is random; clergy and civilians get involved; you start running out of Foreign Legion troops as the war goes on; the Basques load up on SMGs to make up for the lack of LMGs; the Italians constantly screw up; volunteers may be incompetent, but have high morale. (It is critical to separate combat ability from morale.)
Many battles involved a quiet sector being overwhelmed by an unexpected attack which is only stopped with reinforcements. Tank panic. Busses instead of halftracks. Different faction hats and badges for the players. Macho troops who won't did deep trenches. Flags! Posters! Play Spanish music in the background.

Valencia – can militia stop Italian armored cars?
Urban fighting in 1936 – enemies in all directions.
Guadarrama – defending a mountain pass
El Mazuco – another mountain
T-26s and Molotov cocktails at Seseņa
Badajoz – storming a walled city
Ir^un – one flank is an international border
Asturias, Oviedo – every Republican unit has dynamite!
Could the seizure of Corunna have gone the other way?
Monte Pelado – Italians on the Republican side
Madrid – a battle in a university
Tell me WWI and WWII had these things.

That sounds good Mr Salander

Chris, definitely some good ideas there.

Fantastic stuff CS.

One word though, in my experience it is too easy to overdo the faction fighting and confusion. By mid '37 at the latest both sides were by and large regular armies- still with different levels of ability of course. We don't run SCW too often so it never usually gets stale, though it is a shame as it is probably my favourite and largest collection (15mm).

To your list you can also add armoured steam rollers (Oviedo), amphibious landings (Balearics), Snow and ice (Teruel) and air dropped supplies (Turkeys) and assault river crossings (The Ebro)

I empathize, nnascati. I finally had to get rid of my reference books as well as my troops in order to stop. It's dramatic to study, but at my favorite tactical levels, it's WWII with the tactics filed off.

If I were told I had to do it again, I'd say idontbelievit has it right--individual mounts, a platoon or company a side, and effectively build three or four different "armies" per side, using only one per side per game, or two per side in a big multi-player game. Say Spanish Foreign Legion, Italians and Falange (or Moroccans?) for the nationalist against Internationals, Anarchists and generic Republicans (or Basques?) for the Reds. You can go nine games without repeating a match-up, and every force would be tactically distinct.

The Italians weren't the incompetents of myth. They had a tough time at Guadalajara, but learnt their lessons and fought well for the rest of the war, even though Francoist propaganda tried to downplay their role as much as possible.

Peter Pig's recent Spanish Civil War rules give a good and "colourful" game. Although primarily written for 15mm, they can be used with any scale of figure.

Videos 21 to 27 here:

link

explain some of the basic mechanisms.

Nick, I have the same problem. I have a large collection of 20mm figures from the Bandera range (Historical Products-that Pat Condray sold). I have never really gotten into games with them. I still do lots of work for ALBA documenting the volunteers. I will begin another full update on the biographical database in the spring. CB

I think what it ultimately comes down to is this – The Spanish Civil War is a fascinating conflict to study, both militarily and politically. From a gaming standpoint however, it seems nearly impossible to get right. I am as Major B probably is, a proud card carrying member of VALB, and always will be.

What's tough about the SCW is that when studying it the politics and combat aspects a too intertwined. It's difficult to get that in a tactical game.

It may be a period where you need to game with someone else who's knowledgeable about it and you spend much of the game discussing the politics and history.

Have a look at Yarkshire Gamer's blog. We play Spanish Civil War once a year and will be starting a new game later this month. We use 28mm with modified Iron Ivan rules. Part of the fun is that you have to buy equipment and ammunition during the course of the game. Different factions have different main and sub objectives. It is always a fun game.

Bayonets and Ideology from Peter Pig give a great fun quick game that doesn't take itself too seriously.

I game it in 28mm. I just recently have converted my army to Bolt Action Rules. I bought Cigar Box arid mats and am using the City mat for all the larger city fights. I also have Snow Mats for Teruel. I plan to do sections of the big battles. I have built units of 5 maneuver elements plus MG squads. I have most of the factions and have double up where appropriate. I admit, I have to fudge on the Basques and use anarchists or internationalists. I have a sprinkling of armored vehicles. Of course you would never guess its my favorite period. lol

robert piepenbrink, I have done and am doing what you suggested.

One thing I have done to modify Bolt Action is to use individual figures mounted on 3/4 metal flat washers. I place them in Litko 20mm horde trays that have an earth magnet in the bottom. It cuts down on the frustration of moving individual figures but still allows you to remove and array them in an appropriate terrain feature. I use multiple bags and multiple order dice so in a six player game all three opponents are drawing out of the bags at the same time. I set it up so its one on one for the three groups. Different objectives for all six.

The "Yarkshire Gamer" blog is inspirational, thanks for passing that along…