I have been interested in the Spanish Civil War for many years, and I am always on the look out for any new films, videos, books, articles and wargame rules that deal with the period. Unfortunately I am often disappointed because the research that has been done is often poor, politically biased or - as in the case of Ken Loach's 'Land and Freedom' - naive. The one thing I was sure of before I took part in this game was that Wayne's research would as always be excellent, and that his game would have the 'feel' of the period. I was not disappointed!

These rules have a similar structure to and use some of the game mechanisms from Wayne's rules for the early part of WW1. They do however differ in certain important aspects. Because these rules are aimed at recreating the events of the early months of the civil war, there is an emphasis on the problems faced by brigade level commanders when dealing with large numbers of often poorly trained - or even untrained troops. I liked the air rules, which reflect the preoccupation that pilots had with fighting each other and failing to support the troops on the ground (forget all you read about the Condor Legion operating 'cab rank' ground attack tactics - it did not happen until the very end of the war!)

The test of any set of rules is whether or not the tactics used at the time will work. In this game, as commander of an ad hoc Nationalist column, I had the job of capturing a village on the road to Madrid. Speed was of the essence and I had used the tactics favoured at the time:

• Drive at high speed towards the village until fired upon.
• Debus half of the column and form a skirmish line with which to engage the defenders.
• Send the other half of the column around the village to cut off any possible avenue of retreat for the defenders (or routes into the village for potential reinforcements).
• When both the skirmish line and blocking force were in position, bombard the village with artillery fire.
• Under cover of the bombardment, the skirmish line advances into the village and clears out the defenders.
• 'Pacify' the village by purging it of anti-fascist elements (i.e shoot any Communists, Socialists, Freemasons etc.).
• Move onto the next village.

In my opinion, and despite several 'cock - ups' by both sides, these tactics were effective. The game flowed along at a steady pace and to a conclusion in 2 hours. The rules worked extremely well. All in all, this was an excellent session and I have no reservation in recommending these rules to anyone contemplating taking up the period.

Related

No Pasaran: Author's Introduction