Spanish Civil War

Many years ago I bought some Spanish Foreign Legion figures from FAA  ( now produced by someone else but I cannot remember who!) and painted them up. I added a few militia units and then put them in a cupboard for 12 years! Well about 3 years ago we played a game using Flames of War. I wasn’t quite happy with the game and they went back in the box. Phil encouraged me to give them another try as he had some figures too (in fact lots!) and late last year we gave the Spanish Civil War another try using a set of rules called Triumph and Tragedy (T&T). Surprisingly the game went well and Phil decided to expand his collection.  Last week both our piles of metal were put on the table and we used T&T for a game!

The Table- Nationalists to the right (naturally)- Republicans to the left.

 

There were seven assembled- Ross, Phil, Chris and Roger were the Nationalists and Richard, Ralph and I were Republicans. The scenario was simple- the Republicans were to hold a small village on the outskirts of Madrid and the Nationalists were to take the place!

The Nationalists had a variety of units- Foreign Legions, Moroccans, Carlist Militia, Fascist army units (artillery, 2 tanks and mortars), Italian CTV, Falange, and a unit of Civil Guard.

Regular Army with their T26s

The Republicans were a mottled group consisting of Regular army units with 2 T26 Soviet tanks, Communist, Anarchist and Urban Militia units, a unit  of  Assault Guards and of course several units of International Brigades. 

All told there were nearly 30 units on the table!

The table looked good, the troops were deployed, the rules were read and understood,  so it was on with the show!

Militia move into a building

 

T&T are a card based set that require you to determine the order of units for their actions before each turn.  As you then reveal each unit’s card you then determine its action, move, move and shoot, shoot, etc.

What we found was that with so many players and too many units things got a bit slow as players waited to get to their allocated unit- but when things did happen, the fire fights were easy and melee was sharp and bloody.

Carlist Militia

Falange

The Spanish Foreign Legion

The Spanish Foreign Legion- followed by Fascist Army units, Mortars and HMG

The Nationalists started aggressively with the Moroccans on the left. The regular army and foreign legion were in the middle and more Legion and the other assorted units on the right.

The Legion attacked the central point of the Republican defense- a large building held by the Anarchist Militia (PMT) and the first Bandera of the Legion suffered some nasty casualties as they stormed forward – the PMT were covered by an International Brigade’s HMG- but they got two the building and- supported by another Legion unit- stormed the building. The fight was bloody and both sides suffered severe loss but the greater morale and training of the Legion told and the Nationalists had their first objective!,  Ralph sent forward the Army units with tanks in support as both sides poured units into the central sector .

On the Nationalist left the 1^st Morrocan Harka advanced into a hail of fire from an international  brigade unit , the Assault guards and a HMG.  It was quickly whittled down but was reinforced by the other two units who shot away the International Brigade unit causing lots of trouble.

On the far side of the table, an international HMG shot down the crew of an Italian artillery piece that had deployed on a street between two buildings not realizing that the HMG was deployed in a nearby building.  This was neutralized by a force consisting of Falange and Legion, backed up by Italian infantry.

The Legion Advances!

Now as any of the Brothers will tell you, half of our evenings are spent ridiculing each other and other such meaningful socialization and as the game had got a late start it was close to midnight and the lads had to return to their significant others so the game was called to a halt….with an inconclusive end.

The upshot is that despite the fact that T&T is a great set of rules- with so many units- and so many players we didn’t get through as much as we had planned on- we probably need to use a set that is a lot quicker…maybe next time Rapid Fire- or perhaps the Great War set….with suitable amendments for the Spanish Civil War!

Fascist Artillery

International Brigades advance, supported by tanks

The Moroccans!

The Nationlists advance- Moroccans to the right of photo- Legionaires in the background

Nationlist Mortar

The Carlists secure a building

The Legion

The Italian CTV captures a building- the Legion supports to the right

Spanish Regular army- Republicans

The small naval unit holds the churchyard

The Moroccans close up!