To reflect the political differences between the various Republican 'factions' I identified six key personalities who were represented on the that side. No player played the same role for two consecutive game turns. The players then tried to activate various units needing to roll at least the number indicated in the table below. It was agreed afterwards that this had added considerably to the 'feel' of the game. I originally came across some of these ideas in games written by Bob Cordery.
Each turn I awarded points to each Republican player based on how well I felt they'd performed in role.
|
Easy to control |
Roll 2+ |
|
Average to control |
Roll 4+ |
|
Difficult to control |
Roll 6 |
Only one
attempt can be made to activate a unit each turn.
A player can
keep making activation attempts in a turn until one fails
_________________________________
Prepare to be appalled by some of the figures which follow!
 |
| Gen. Gorev greets one of his less equal comrades. 1/35 hard plastic figures by Trumpeter.. |
A: General Gorev
Senior Soviet military officer and de facto commander of
the defence of Madrid
Easy to control Republican artillery, tanks and
International Brigade
Average to control Sección Móvil de Choque
Difficult to control Asaltos
Impossible to control other militias and
NKVD
Score points for:
acting responsibly, minimising equipment losses, inflicting casualties
on the enemy.
You win if: the
Fascists are bloodily repulsed and POUM & Anarchist militias are eliminated
 |
| NKVD Representative 'Orlov'. An Engineer Basevich figure. |
B: Colonel Orlov
Senior NKVD Officer in Spain
Easy to control NKVD Detachment
Average to control Republican tanks, International Brigade,
Asaltos
Difficult to control Columna Dututti, Republican artillery,
SMC
Impossible to control POUM Militia
Score points for: staying clear of the front, eliminate
traitors, act in a sinister manner
You win if: you
eliminate at least two non-Communist leaders
 |
| Durruti. The figure started life as an Armies in Plastic ACW officer. |
C: Jose
Buenaventura Durruti
Spanish Anarchist Leader
Easy to control Columna Durutti
Average to control POUM Militia, SMC
Difficult to control International Brigades
Impossible to control NKVD, tanks, artillery
Score points for:
making attacks, embarrassing the Communists, making speeches attacking
other factions
You win if: the
Communists are disgraced and you survive
 |
| Kopp - the figure is a recast Britains(?) station master! |
D: Commandant
Georges Kopp
Commander, 3rd Regiment, Lenin Division (POUM
Militia)
Easy to control POUM Militia units
Average to control SMC
Difficult to control Asaltos
Impossible to control International Brigade, tanks,
artillery, NKVD, Anarchists
Score points for:
launching heroic attacks, embarrassing the Communists, make speeches attacking other factions
You win if: the
Communists are disgraced and you survive
 |
| Miaja - bodged from a BMC ACW general |
E: General
Jose Miaja
Republican Minister of War and Commander, Junta de
Defense de Madrid
Easy to control SMC
Average to control
POUM and Anarchist Militias, International Brigade
Difficult to control
Asaltos
Impossible to control
artillery, tanks, NKVD
Score points for: co-ordinated
attacks using infantry, artillery and tanks, make speeches attacking other
factions and the Fascists
You win if: no single
faction appears dominant
 |
| Olivier. And yes, it is the (repainted) ERTL Fat Controller... |
F: Juan
Garcia Olivier
Republican (Anarchist) Minister of Justice
Easy to control Asaltos, SMC
Average to control
Anarchist Militia
Difficult to control
Other Militias
Impossible to control
artillery, tanks, NKVD, International Brigade
Score points for: Anarchist
victories, embarrassing the Communists, make speeches attacking other factions
and the Fascists
You win if: the
Anarchists emerge dominant
12 comments:
What a great cast of characters! Especially Sir Topham Hatt! "Thomas the Tank Engine" was my daughter's favorite show growing up. I never thought to enlist Sir Topham for my armies but it is an inspired move! I look forward to the next installment!
Interesting system- must have made for a difficult time getting a cohrent plan to work.
Cheers,
Pete.
Great ideas and characters, adds splendid depth.
I have always been put off reading the scw books I have because of the myriad acronyms of the factions. I start in good faith but give up. Sadly the same could be said of youthful attempts to read Tom Clancy novels.
A very clever mechanism which added lots of period flavour and provided an opportunity to field outrageous figures. The net result was similar to eg Blitzkrieg Commander as the Republican units lurched into action or sat immobile, but had a more human face than just throwing a load of low dice on activation rolls.
Brad DeSantis
You know me - no standards too low!
Pete
Predictably the players subverted the system - up to a point - but it still created an entertaining degree of mayhem.
tradgardmastare
For this game I mostly returned to my trusty and well-thumbed copy of Hugh Thomas's classic. I've had it since 1989....
Martin Rapier
The stop/start nature of SCW battles was well in evidence - and as you say, it beat rolling more dice.
Hi Tim -
Methinks that in consequence of this, a very interesting and entertaining narrative unfolded... Untimely self-righteous, holier-than-thou factionalism has ever been the weakness of the Left... One suspects that is how it played out!
Cheers,
Ion
Superb!
Archduke Piccolo
See - that's how realistic my games are!
Vauban and Shandy
Thanks - but you are easily pleased!
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