The Spanish Ulcer is a Matrix Game scenario about guerilla war in Spain. It focuses on the actions along one road from France to Madrid. Three rival guerilla forces and one band of British scouts (ala Richard Sharpe and his riflemen) are out to disrupt the steady flow of supplies to the French army. Two French commanders are charged with the near impossible task. French supply trains enter Spain at a mountain pass. A section of isolated road separates them from the first town. Then another isolated road, then another town, another road, then an inn, another road, then a Madrid. One side of the road is a mountain range, the other side is a forest. So there is plenty of opportunity for ambushes. The Spanish Ulcer is a war game and an intrigue game at the same time. The French are of course trying to guard their supplies and fend off the guerillas but in the long run the best defense is to get the Spanish to fight one another. The Spanish commanders (El Supremo, El Incognita, and Captain Liberty) are royalists, constitutional monarchists and republicans. In short, they hate one another! None of them particularly like the British and Captain Liberty is very likely to support the French since they stand for the French Revolution. All this makes the game very much about winning the hearts and minds of le people. Another interesting feature of this game is its use of "barriers". Locations are represented by cards. Between each card is a "distance barrier". It takes an argument to cross it. Players can also build barriers. The French frequently build "defense barriers". When attacked, the guerillas must cross each of these barriers before they can hurt the defenders. Meanwhile the guerillas can build "anonymity barriers" a sort of cloak on invisibility which allows guerillas to move into areas with French troops to prepare to attack. The French must use spies and informants to break through these barriers or face sudden ambush death. The game includes a complete set of rules and a multi page example of play. The example of play is especially helpful since it is like watching a game being played. It shows exactly how the rules are used. The game comes in a 20 page, 8 1/2 X 11 book that is photocopied and coil bound. It sells for $10 plus postage. One can order it from Hamster Press by going to http://www.io.com/~hamster Back to Table of Contents -- Matrix Gamer #7 To Matrix Gamer List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Chris Engle. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com