SCW Action - Attack and Defend 1936

Anarchists Advance

Just before Xmas I had a last minute call from the guys at the Leeds Club, the lad who was putting on our display game had fallen ill and we needed an emergency display game for the local (less than 2 miles from my house) Recon Show held at Pudsey.

Luckily the gaming room shelves and boxes here at YG are always ready to go, nearest to hand and needing least prep was the Spanish Civil War collection.

Set Up

Firstly apologies for the photos, the table was set up on the stage of the main hall with a particularly bright light shining down on the table from behind the Nationalist lines which made photographing the action interesting to say the least.

Guardia Civil Forces

With little time to set up anything fancy I went for straight up Attack and Defend game but had the Republicans attacking for a change, I set the table up with a Crossroads in the centre with a small village clustered around it. The table we were given was roughly 6ft square so that's how big the table was !

La Legion

The Nationalist forces consisted of a company of Legion and a company of Guardia Civil, each has a command of 4 Figs and 3 x 8 Fig company's,  the Legion have an LMG section in each of their companies. They set up 9" in from the base line giving them the head start on getting to the village.

A Company of International Brigade and a Company of Milita

The Republicans were given 4 Companies of troops, all starting from the base line (as they were attacking). There was our favourite Company of Anarchists, a Company of Milita and 2 Companies of International Brigade. All with the basic organisation as above. Each figure fights with what the figure is armed with so we have some interesting  (realistic) mixes in our Republican Units.

Brigadista

We have a home brew rules system so the lack of support weapons may seem a bit strange in the initial orbats. Each side rolls dice at the end of a turn which generates cash (I even have some old Spanish currency to use) and the players use that to buy there support and ammunition from a central pool of resources.

Ground Attack

As expected the Nationalist forces grabbed the first group of houses and formed a defensive line, the Republicans hadn't been hanging around either and the forward houses in the village proved just out of range for Francos troops. Thankfully for them an early air attack on the Guardia Civil missed it's target.

Legion sniping from a house roof.

The Militia especially suffered under heavy fire during their advance, their poor Morale didn't help them much in the quest to go forward.

Elsewhere on the table the Republicans were making steady progress on their left flank, the Anarchists threatening to get round the side of the Guardia.

General Game Chaos

The Nationalist forces invested wisely in a T26 however before it could make an impact a Republican T26 rolled onto the table. You WW2 gamers may smirk at a T26 but in the SCW it's the equivalent of a Tiger Tank.

The Nationalist tank got the bounce on its counter part, finding some cover it opened up, the God of Accuracy was appeased as 3 hits in 3 turns were obtained however the God of Destruction was in a bad mood as epically poor dice throwing resulted in no damage. However with three hit markers the Republican Tank was an unmissable target and it had to seek cover.

Polis In Da House

At the end of our allotted time, the game was nicely in the balance, the Anarchists has broken a company of Guardia Civil and has out flanked another. The Legion had neutralised the Militia but the International Brigade were giving as good as they were getting in the village.

The Nationalists had however managed to purchase a second T26 and as soon as it entered the table it engaged the Anarchist troops causing consternation in the ranks. But it was pack up time. A lovely little show Recon, made all the better as I always seem loads of old gaming chums there.

Brigade Command.