These rules were drawn from reading accounts of Esmond Romilly (with the Thaelmann Internationals after Battle of Boadilla in 1936), John Cornford (British No.l Coy. at Lopera) and George Orwell (POUM Militia, Catalonia).

Scenario

Your platoon is advancing on a position thought to be held by nationalist machine-gunners. Deploy your platoon on the base-line. Platoon HQ - Officer/Snr NCO and 3 figure rifle team , 2 Rifle Sections each of 1 rifle team of 4 figures and one LMG team of three figures. Three such platoons make a company with a Coy. HQ which includes a Commissar figure, for larger games.

Decide where the enemy line of resistance is going to be. Now take one picture card (J/Q/K), from a pack of ordinary playing cards. Shuffle the remaining deck and draw the first five cards face down. Add the picture card, shuffle and then place face down on the table in suitable defensive positions. i.e. buildings, edge of copse, crest of hills etc. These represent possible enemy positions. No more than two cards may be laid in one place (within four inches of each other), and give some thought to defence in depth. You know there will be at least one enemy position, but the uncertainty of whether there are any more leads to a bit more thought being put into the tactics.

Bravado

Internationals / Legionnaires / Moors - 8 (use 2x AvD). 1936 Militia Columns / Italians - 7 (use 2xD6) . Regulars / 5th Regiment / Carlists - 8 (use 2xD6)

Bravado represents troops willingness to go forward, the one factor combining both morale and movement rate. You will find that particularly under fire your troops will slow down and the attack will start to disintegrate unless you keep on top of the situation. Accept that there are no terrain modifiers. An element may be moving slowly because either it's advancing through bad going, making small rushes from cover to cover, or started the move having a "fag (cigarette) break."

Advance!

Throw 2 dice. If score equal or below Bravado then move full rate. if above, then minus difference from movement that turn only. i.e. Bravado value of 8, dice score 10, 8 - 2 = movement rate of 6.

If score is an odd double then lose one 'casualty'.

Contact

As soon as an infantry team moves within 18' of the centre front edge of a playing card, turn the card over. If it is a picture card (J/Q/K), then replace it with a HMG team (with a couple of rifle figures for effect if you wish).

The heavy machine gun has a cone of fire which at 18' is 4' wide (I produced a couple of cones from clear acetate showing range bands as useful gaming aids).

The HMG has three ranges; Close to 6', Effective to 12', Long to 18'.

The MG Cone must always be brought to bear on the nearest moving target (bringing into the cone as many units as possible at the same time), unless if is under fire from an LMG where it will not move and return that fire. So, the MG may force an infantry team to take cover on it's left in one turn then switch it's fire to a dosing infantry team on the right in the next bound.

Under Fire

For any movement that takes place within an MG Cone or that takes an LMG/rifle team into the cone, all movement dice scores over present Bravado will permanently reduce it by that amount. When 'O' is reached then infantry team is 'pinned' and will remain so until rallied.

Any double (odd or even) will cause an automatic 'casualty' to be lost.

When troops move into the MG Cone or into new range bands, they must throw below their current Bravado to avoid an additional casualty.

Take Cover!

Infantry teams may decide to 'take cover' at the end of any turn.

Each casualty within the MG Cone may cause an Infantry team to take cover. If the player wishes to press on, a dice throw must be made against the current Bravado (equal or less to succeed). Any double will cause another casualty.

Modifiers to base score: +1 Pltn Leader with team, Covering fire from Lmg +2, -1 in HMG effective range, -2 in HMG Close range band.

Troops that take cover must dice for casualties each turn they are within the MG Cone (odd doubles only), but they may return fire on the HMG.

To leave cover, troops must throw beneath Bravado. +1 Pltn Leader with team. +3 outside MG Cone

If troops fail a Bravado throw to leave cover, they will lose one Bravado level and be considered 'pinned' if still within an MG Cone, unable to return fire and must be rallied by a Pltn Leader before they can make any further aggressive action. Troops outside a cone lose one Bravado only.

Rallying

Only an officer or Senior NCO who is Pltn Leader or above may rally an infantry team.

To rally, the leader must throw beneath his own current Bravado, with a modifier of +1. i.e. Bravado 6 +1 = 7, scored 6, troops rallied.

Company Commanders and above will be accompanied by a Commissar who will add a further +1 modifier. However, if the rally attempt fails, the Commissar will shoot the commander on the score of 1 on a D6. Any rallying the Commissar attempts will thereafter be subject to a -1 modifier.

if a pinned infantry team has a Bravado of O, then throw 1 AvD and use the score as a temporary Bravado for rallying purposes. Once the rally is successful the last temporary Bravado will be the new level.

Leader Casualties

Leaders can become casualties only in turns when they are using their modifiers.

At the start of the next turn following the loss of a Pltn Leader, throw 1 d 10. If the score is either 1 or O, then a natural leader, possibly a junior NCO will be created. Test for which infantry team he emerges from, starting at the nearest to killed Leader (first to throw a 6 on 1D6).

Natural Leaders can perform the same functions as the Pltn Leaders (except rallying pinned troops), but have no modifiers.

Covering Fire

An LMG has a Close range of 6' and an Effective range to 12'.

A rifle team has a Close range of 5' and an Effective range to 9'

Either type of infantry team may give 'covering fire' to other infantry teams moving within the MG Cone of a heavy machine gun, but not both together in the same turn.

For LMG's throw 1D6; 1-2 = +1 to movement of advancing infantry, 3-4 = +2, 5-6 = +3.

Modifiers: +1 If Pltn Ldr with a covering LMG directing, +1 per covering LMG, +1 if at least one LMG at Close range.

For rifles throw 1AvD; 2-4 = +1, 5 = +2.

Modifiers: +1 per two rifle groups, +1 Pltn. Ldr with team.

Silencing a Machine gun

A machine gun can be silenced by either the direct fire of an LMG team or by grenade (within 3').

To silence an MG through direct fire; Find range to target and throw 2D6.

If score under or equal to current range, no effect. MG fires as normal.

It score over, then minus one of the HMG's Bravada points per 3 scored over range. i.e. range 5', scored 11 = 6 over, minus 2 Bravado.

When HMG loses 3 Bravado points then gun is'silenced'. Remove MG Cone.

Silencing an MG with grenade takes place from cover at or within 3'.

Throw 1D6; 1-3 No effect. 4-6 Silenced. Remove MG Cone.

A rifle team may now immediately attempt to 'go in with the bayonet' by testing to leave cover with an additional +2 modifier.

Any movement within the 'silenced' HMG's Close range, may cause it to open fire again. It must throw under Bravado to do so.

If the HMG opens up again, all units caught moving within the Cone must be treated as if moving into the MG Cone for the first time.

A rifle team that has successfully rolled to leave cover in order to 'close assault' the HMG position must now roll to see if it re-opens fire., see Under Fire and Taking Cover above for effect, but this time any die roll with a ONE In it will cause an ADDITIONAL casualty to any other results mentioned.

An HMG will only be permanently put out of action by physically occupying it's position. Until that happens it can return to firing at any time in the game.

At 'em With Bomb and Bayonet

An infantry team that has the possibility to physically reach the HMG with an unmodified Bravado, before the dice are rolled, is considered making a close assault with grenades and bayonets.

If make it to the position, throw 1D 10 :

1 : - Attackers killed by superior defence.
2-3: - Stiff fight, overcome defenders but throw under Bravado not to lose casualty.
4-6: - Position empty, only tripod left, figures seen running in distance.

7-8: - Position defenders surrender, 1D6 prisoners (not Moors or Legionnaires) and capture' gun.
9 -10 : - Defenders dead, gun captured.

+ 1 for each Bravado HMG has lost previously.

NOTE: Infantry teams caught within overlapping MG Cones, MUST test separately for each cone !

The whole idea is actually very simply once you grasp it and is based upon fire and movement tactics developed from 1917 onwards by most nations. In fact I was first going to use this system to refight actions from the Third Battle of Ypres. You can easily add rules for light mortars, supporting barrages, armoured support, flame-throwers, rifle grenades, smoke etc.

Also, you can redefine the command structure and I think adding Section Leaders for platoon level games helps the flow. You could also change the scale of the whole thing, there's no reason why the attacking manoeuvre elements can't be platoons or companies or even battalions and adjust things upwards. I will be experimenting shortly with a version of these systems that recreates Franco's march on Madrid in 1936, with miniatures and all on one table, well maybe two !

Editors note:

These rules are now worth revisiting if you are tempted into skirmish games, you may wish to use them with the new 28mm/30mm Spanish Civil War figures soon to be released by FAA ( end of 1998). Although you can still use the 20mm figures by Bandera Miniatures / HPC or the 15mm figures by Peter Pig. Alas, the game doesn't really work in 6mm or 10mm. And it goes without saying that the rules can also easily be adapted to other periods and scales.