Anybody doing 10mm Spanish Civil War?

Started by Dannyboy, 19 April 2019, 10:18:02 PM

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Dannyboy

Just dipping my toe into this period in 10mm, encouraged by a friend. To be honest I'd only considered this period at a skirmish level, however investigating documentary evidence on YouTube suggests many of the engagements were fought at a Divisional or even larger scale similar to WW1, ideal for 10mm. Was wondering if anybody had suggestions or insights on how one might go about this?


Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QY2iqw3txM
Excellent doc series on various battles in the SCW including Madrid, Jarama, Brunete etc.

Many thanks in advance

fred.

I'm not. But I am quite tempted by it.
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sultanbev

One of our gaming group has a massive SCW 10mm collection. We tend to fight battlegroup level games, with one base = one squad, one model vehicle/gun is one real tank/gun, using my own WW2 rules with added hits for small arms fire relative to WW2, ie squads are easier to hit due to lack of field craft skills and tactical training in most Spanish troop types.

It is mostly an infantry war, but you do get a variety of uniform and troop types to make it more interesting. And Pendraken seem to make them all!

Mark

kustenjaeger

Greetings

I have some 10mm SCW obtained unpainted from a friend which I am considering using with Peter Pig's SCW rules (which are designed for 15mm). These are company level i.e. each player commands 2-4 rifle platoons and some attachments at 1:1 figure:man scale. It is grid based and I am intending to use smaller bases (probably 25mm instead of 30mm for 3 infantry).

I am intending to fight early-mid SCW games in the North - more specifically Asturias - which does not have massed armour (though it does have a few AFV from time to time) or international brigades. It does have communist, FAI, CNT etc. militia and then Popular Front battalions, Peninsula Army, regulares, Guardia Civil, Asaltos, Falange militia and Carlist requetes, 

Regards

Edward


John Cook

I've been doing SCW for about eight years based on a threefold theme, Madrid 1936 (militias v Army of Africa),  Guadalajara 1937 (so I could have some CTV) and Jarama 1937 (Popular Army v National Army) but I don't use more than a battalion a side, at the most.

Everything is 1:1 with infantry mounted three to a stand, two stands to a squad.  Gaming at formation level (brigade and above)means using a handful of figures to represent units, which I think never looks right, or a table the size of a tennis court!  I prefer the tactical level anyway. 

As already noted, it was mainly an infantry war.  Not much in the way of motorised troops (the Italian CTV were the only troops approaching motorised – for all the good it did them) and armour was much less important than it later became in WW2, being used largely in an infantry support role – no blitzkrieg in the SCW.

Communications were comparatively primitive.  Radios were not common.  Field phones were used to and from formation level and battalion.  Heliographs were also used.  Below that it was runners.  but in essence communications were fragile and unreliable, particularly when moving.

This meant that plans were difficult to change once combat had been joined and reporting from units in contact was poor.  So, formation HQs were often in the dark and units tended to press-on in accordance with their last orders until they couldn't any more.  The limitation of communications also meant that choreographing artillery and tactical air support was very difficult, unless everything went to plan.   Support was often too early/too late or didn't happen at all.   Changing orders in reaction to an evolving situation was not easy and you should reflect that.

Books you might like (there are lots to chose from) include Antony Beevor's The Battle for Spain, which is as good an overview as you will find, and a number of accounts by International Brigaders which give a flavour of the conflict from the viewpoint of the Popular Army (the International Brigade units were part of the normal Popular Army, organised and equipped the same, despite their name).  These are probably the best known:

Bill Alexander's British Volunteers for Liberty
Fred Copeman's Reason in Revolt
William Rust's Britons in Spain
Jason Gurney's Crusade in Spain
Tom Wintringham's English Captain.

These accounts do have political overtones to one degree or another.  There is not much to be had in English language accounts from the National Army's perpective.







John Cook


Dannyboy

Thankyou for all the suggestions and input, it was years ago watching the Granada TV series that drew my attention As well as Robin Hunts articles on 20mm SCW in Military Modeling. A few attempts later in 20mm and 15mm, I'm now having a go in 10mm. Coming from WW1 gaming, the infantry orientation is fine, plus you get so many cool imterwar aircraft and clockwork tanks.