Scenarios for 20th Century Wargames have some unusual problems to overcome. One of the most serious is the extreme disparity between the road speed of motor vehicles and the rate of advance for foot troops under fire. Yet even in WWII the, United States Army did not provide its ordinary infantry divisions with organic motor transport sufficient to move all or most, of the troops. The Spanish Civil War featured a reduced number of motor vehicles. However, trucks and automobiles pressed into military service as well as imported for that purpose were commonplace. The great power of artillery and automatic weapons as well as armored fighting vehicles also have to be reconciled with the numerically dominant and usually crucial infantry.

Another problem some find a bit dreary is the sameness of uniforms and troop types. An early solution to that problem in many rules sets was to ignore the mass of foot sloggers who did most of the fighting and base wargames on the fascinating variety of AFV. . For years the key to most rules sets was the author's interpretation of ballistics and armor strength. Symptomatically a popular rule set was known simply as TANK CHARTS. We can't really imagine an Napoleonic rules set being called CAVALRY CHARTS, but there it is.

Over the past few years WWII rules have developed, especially since COMMAND DECISION (GDW) which stress realistic organization and the role of combined arms. For all that scenarios must be designed, especially for club or convention games in which players don't spend most of the game advancing foot soldiers at 3"- 8" per turn while elaborate calculations are being worked out for long range fire and vehicle movement.

The appeal of the most recent Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) lies partly in its ideological eccentricities but also in a less dominant technology. Moreover. the variety of troop types is tied in with ideology and technology to produce some unusual combinations. These qualities are especially striking in the latter half of 1936 when small columns and battle groups put together on an ad hoc basis by both sides moved and fought encounter battles and mini-sieges all over Spain. Of these, the mini-campaign for the northwest Spanish town of IRUN is one of the best on which to loosely base a manageable scenario.

Irun the Town

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Irun lies on a main road running from the seaport and resort town of San Sebastian (stormed by Wellington in 1813) to the French frontier where there are the usual customs posts and the so-called International Bridge over the Bidasoa. The local militia were variously of Republican sympathies ranging from Basque Nationalist to leftist opinions. They had no artillery support.

There is mention in some sources of home built armored vehicles on one side or another, including some which were captured by the Nationalists and marked with appropriate slogans. However, perhaps because the terrain was mountainous and the AFV unreliable they don't appear to have made much difference. The Nationalists had artillery which played a significant but not dominant role. By most accounts, they started without it but were sent a battery of 6" guns with a reinforcement of a Bandera (battalion) of the Tercio (Spanish "foreign" legion.) Bombing of the town was of the strategic variety and had no apparent tactical effect.

At the beginning of. August 1936 a Nationalist Officer, Colonel Boerlegui, began his campaign against Irun with a force which seems to have contained the equivalent of a battalion each of Gardia Civil, the tough rifle armed national police. Falange, And Carlist volunteers. These troops fought their way roughly from east to west over relatively rough terrain dotted with towns, convents,. villages, etc. Their objective was to seize the town and road, secure the border, and join the attack south against San Sebastian. Note that of ultimately four battalion strength units, no two were alike in training, organization, or uniforms. The reinforcing Bandera of the Tercio (Spanish Foreign Legion) was a modern triangular unit formation on well equipped with both light and medium MG.

Against this force there were somewhat more Republican forces. However, the local militias were not only poorly trained and equipped, but substantially immobile. Their limited fighting value would drop significantly if forced from their homes or away from the line of retreat of their families. Supporting them were troops raised by the Basque Nationalists, marginally better trained and equipped, but significantly more deployable and possessed of some motor transport up from San Sebastian. In addition, Spanish Communist and Anarchist volunteers had been able to cross over from France in some numbers. Among them were French and Belgian Communists with machineguns and other light weapons. While these were not formally part of what would be termed "International Brigades" their numbers included not only technical weapons specialists but Andre Marty, the megalomaniac future commander of the Internationalists Base at Albacete.

To add to the Republican problems, there were significant differences in ideology and policy. Basques, for example, were deeply religious and rather conservative about private property. They preferred meeting the enemy out in the hills and were uninterested in scorched earth (especially scorched Church) tactics. Anarchists came of various origins, but their strongest fighting tradition tended towards urban terrorism, and they had a compulsive desire to burn churches.

The local militia, for the most part, would rather have been left alone, but had limited interest in arson, and lost interest rapidly when moved. Communists mistrusted Anarchists altogether. Although they devoutly believed that there was no God but Dialectical Materialism and were inclined to prefer fighting in urban areas, they had more interest in the defeat of fascism than in sectarian squabbles. Overall the numerical odds favored the defenders by approximately 3:2.

I have found this melange a very useful point of departure for several lively convention games at NASHCON 96, HISTORICON 96, and twice at GAMECON 9. No two games have been the same. While three of four thus far have been Nationalist victories as in real life all have been hard fought, and in one of them the original Nationalist units were all at or over 50% losses before the last surviving leftists piled over the International Bridge and the Basque survivors fell back on San Sebastian. A local wargame club could probably make an even better game of it by running it as a campaign rather than concentrating the historic campaign into a 3-5 hour game.

Terrain

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The actual battles were fought primarily in a 36 square mile (6X6) area of mountainous ground from San Sebastian and the Bay of Biscay on the west to France on the north . Lacking detailed ordonnance maps of the region I concentrate on certain major features. The Bidasoa River is on the north edge of the board. Just inside the west side of the board is a macadamized road (broad electrical or black cloth tape) running over the International Bridge through a few buildings (IRUN) and off the board to the south (towards San Sebastian.) There must be at least one church in Irun for reasons which will become apparent later.

Lots of hills. Limited frontage of entrenchments to be placed at the discretion of the overall Republican commander at least rifle range from the east edge of the board. Two to four unimproved roads going through the hills, with a sprinkling of villages and walled farms or convents en route and ending in the improved San Sebastian to International Bridge road. Elevated areas are rough terrain. The relatively flat areas are treated in my rules as "cross country." Effectively this means ordinary motor vehicles don't go far from the roads.

Note: My rules (VIVA EL CRISTO REY) assume that foot soldiers, dismounted cavalry, etc. halted under fire are prone. Moving troops are assumed to be in some degree of open order. When bases touch, casualties double up. Troops loaded into trucks, assuming one truck to be a company capable of carrying a battalion, suffer triple casualties under fire.

Think about it. Twenty guys packed into a duece and a half are in pretty close order. Of course, that doesn't apply to anarchists loaded one base to a stolen car. However, generally speaking, motor transport becomes an element of grand tactical maneuver but not mechanized cavalry charges.

DEPLOYMENT

The Republicans are stuck with several bases of riflemen and occasional light machineguns in Irun, and in two or three other built up areas. An occasional automatic weapon represents early-bird Communist or Basque reinforcements. Sometimes the Irun garrison will have access to a couple of trucks. I never tell them they can send them north or south to get more troops. Militia in towns and villages or stashed in convents etc. I usually hide when the Nationalist players aren't looking if I can manage it.

To the north in addition to the odd weapons base I usually thrown in several "columns" of reinforcements. These include one of Catalonian Communist Volunteers(Rosa LuxembourgoCommunist Girl Scouts) and Anarchist Volunteers. To the south is a column of the Basque Gudarie. Most of these columns have several rifle bases and a light machinegun base (the Basques invested heavily in Lewis Guns.)

Local militia from urban areas roll a D6, 1-3 indicating minimal training, 4-6 poor training. In the rural areas the same roll produces minimal on 1-2, poor on 34, and moderate on 5-6. Mobile columns roll on the rural militia table, except that I usually treat the Rosas as if urban militia. Sexist? I know about Annie Oakley. In fact, when I was in a rifle club our club officers were selected based on shooting scores over the semester, and I was the only male to get "elected." (Actually, I was vice president-shot better than anyone but Emily Wenzel.) However, while the FAI and the Gudari had some weapons exposure, my suspicion is that the Rosas hadn't been introduced to firearms before July 1936. This is not the place to speculate about their previous professional background. Note: this relates to marksmanship training only.

Dice are rolled for each relieving column. The column with the highest score (roll again for a tie) is placed one motor move in from the north or south end of the board represented by a truck model. Remember, Commies and Anars from France, Basques from San Sebastian. This keeps up after each full move until all units are deployed or until their entry points are controlled by the Fascist Oppressors of the Working Class. Sometimes to make things worse for the Fascists I let the first relief element start in Irun and begin dicing for the rest at the start of turn 2.

At the start the Nationalist commander (Boerlequi?) has only three units, each consisting of 4 rifle and I MMG base. This is an early war battalion equivalent. Adjust for your own rules. The Carlist Requetes (red berets) and Falange volunteers(blue shirts and hats) roll on the rural militia table. The MMG elements are assumed to be moderately trained., The Gardia Civil(field gray with leather tricorns) are professionals. They roll 1-3 for moderately trained, 4-6 for well trained. The overall commander can put them on roads from the east side of the board at his own discretion. However, once that is done, I have each unit commander roll a die. On a 1-2 he takes one free marching move on his entrance road, 3-4 two free moves, 5-6 three.

Reinforcements

After three turns the Nationalists begin to roll for their reinforcements. They need a "6" on the first try, then a "5-6" and so on. In several games the tercio and the artillery never showed up. They arrive by a road pre-designated by the overall commander, who up to -that time has had no troops of his own to run. He then gets to commit the reserve. The "Bandera" has three rifle, one each LMG and MMG bases. Both Bandera and battery arrive by truck. This approach has produced four lively games with no two alike..

Convention Runs

At NASHCON 96 the Republicans started with a major catastrophe. The Anarchists were the first to arrive in IRUN. They outnumbered the local militia, and I had the militia and the Anarchist column commanders each roll a die and multiply by the number of bases in IRUN.

The Anarchists won, so I declared the church burned. Immediately some pious soul (perhaps a 5th Columnist) telephoned the Basques in San Sebastian who recalled their column, posting guards on Churches and Private Property in San Sebastian until they could be relieved by advancing Nationalist patrols. After that the Anars joined the militia on the northernmost road to slow up the Falange and Gardia. However, the Carlists on the center road winkled the defenders out of a farm and went on to carry Irun with the bayonet. A sizeable Republican contingent on the southernmost approach road declined to move to the sound of the guns.

The HISTORICON 96 game was hard fought with the marksmanship of the Gardia Civil, well deployed, overcoming the more numerous but disorganized Republicans with heavy losses on both sides.

At GAMECON 9 Doshu Tokeshi ran the scenario using RAPID FIRE rules in the morning. Perhaps unaccustomed to playing the side of the Godless Red Scum (he says his mother is a Spanish Royalist) he lost leading to a massacre in the streets of Irun.

In this scenario the Tercio arrived, and with the artillery wiped out the stubborn Basques who fortified the southern road with their trucks. For much of the battle Anarchists tried to sneak out and recover the Basque automatic weapons-but kept getting picked off by Tercio sharpshooters. The gun crew was killed off, but The Carlists on that road departed by motor (artillery and Tercio arrive in style) and reinforced the troops on the northern route. I usually don't permit that in a tactical game assuming that lateral communications are poor. However, Doshu was running it, and since he was the victim of the move I didn't interfere.

In the second GAMECON 9 game the Godless Red Scum (and Basques) finally triumphed. Advancing recklessly in the center the Gardia blundered onto a town in column, and the town was apparently held by what one player described as the "Spanish NRA." Those fellows could shoot. The Falange coming cross country didn't get there in time to accomplish anything, and the Requetes lost their morale on the same turn they killed the last defenders of the convent on the south road. No Tercio or artillery showed up on dice. rolls, and the entire Republican force was dug in up to its ears around IRUN.

This scenario takes only 50-60 Nationalists and 80-90 Republicans in my rules. It would take 2-3 times as many figures for Command Decision and some other operational level rules. Still workable, especially for game clubs. For 1-1 rules it would be more practical to drop the scenario to companies rather than battalions (bandera or columns.)

Historical Results

What actually happened? In heavy fighting from August 11-26 Boerlequi's troops closed in, launching the attack on Irun with (per Thomas THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR, p.249) with 550 legionaries, 450 Carlists, 400 Falangists, 440 Civil Guards against 3,000 Basques and Republicans. The outskirts of Irun were reached on. 2 September. Civilians and militia were streaming over the bridge to France, but as the 1,500 remaining Nationalists closed in the rear guards fought to the end, some swimming the river when resistance collapsed. Boerlequi was mortally wounded at the end in a fight with French Communist machinegunners. Afterwards 560 combatants returned by way of France to Barcelona where they joined the columns in Aragon.

Oh yes, the Anarchists managed to burn much of Irun and massacre some political prisoners. Other sources note that the Basques retreated to San Sebastian where they posted guards on Churches and kept order until relieved by advancing Nationalists, then fell back on their own territory to continue the fight.

A lively little scenario. Alas, no cavalry or funny looking vehicles. Fortunately Rolf Hedges' ABANDERADO has been carrying accounts of the battle for Aragon. Perhaps for my next trick we can follow the Anarchist survivors from Irun to Aragon. There, with a sprinkling of loyal regulars and masses of fellow Anarchists and Trotskyites (POUM) they will struggle with a scattering of Gardia Civil, Falange, Carlists and, to add tone to what would otherwise be a vulgar brawl, a force of. cavalry under Colonel Monasterio. Oh yes, there are funny vehicles, a few batteries, and some even funnier airplanes involved.

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