Jesús Dapena is a long time collaborator of mine due to a shared interest in the Rif Wars. I previously posted his photos of Renault FT-17 Tanks in the Rif War (from his “Uncle Cipri”) and subsequently his 1/16th model of Uncle Cipri’s FT-17 with a Turtle mascot. Here is the second tank in the series: “INFANTERIA No. 4”, the one with the Elephant mascot. All words are by Jesús. You can see more images in his video: The Renault FT Tank in Spanish Army Service (Northern Morocco, ca. 1924) [YouTube].
Rif Wars
The Rif Wars were the main Spanish contribution to the Scramble for Africa. Officially the Rif wars spanned the years 1893-94, 1909-10, and 1920-26, but in reality this was a period of fairly continuous conflict. For example both Millán Astray and Francisco Franco made their names leading Regulares in the Moroccan campaigns between 1912 and 1920, i.e. in a period outside the official wars. Look else where for other Spanish-Moroccan Wars: Spanish-Moroccan War (1859-60), Ifni War (1957-58) and conflict in Spanish Sahara (1956-76).
Jesús Dapenas paints a Spanish FT-17 for service in the Rif
Jesús Dapena has continued his interest in Renault FT-17 Tanks in the Rif War by building a 1/16th model of a FT-17. He has painted it to represent Lieutenant Cipriano Briz (“Uncle Cipri”) tank, in the Rif War. Jesús shared his ideas and photos, and gave me permission to post them here. All words are Jesús’s.
Making boulder and rock fields for Crossfire
The Crossfire supplement Hit-the-Dirt introduces Boulder Fields and Rock Fields as Crossfire Terrain for scenarios in the Italian Campaign. My post Types of Terrain Features in Crossfire explains how they are used in the game. In this post I explain how I made mine. Simple but excessive is the summary. Simple because I start with actual rocks. Excessive because I base, paint, and flock.
Top 20 Pages on Balagan
I started this blog on 21 Feb 2001 and then Migrated Balagan to WordPress on 15 Sep 2013. So, roughly 4.5 years ago. One of the great things about WordPress, compared to the hand crafted HTML site I had before, is that I get statistics on page views. Apparently I’ve had 1,176,779 views since I migrated and 1,125 comments. My biggest day (23 Feb 2018) brought 2,420 views – this was because Reddit got hold of my Academy of Street Fighting: Tactics during the Battle of Stalingrad post. Today is a typical day with 750 views.
Renault FT-17 and Schneider M16 CA1 Tanks in the Rif War
In 2002, perhaps because Jesus Dapena had published some photos of Renault FT-17 tanks in the Rif, Santiago Dominguez sent Jesus some more photos of the Spanish FT-17s. But he also included photos of the more elusive Schneider M16 CA1 Tanks used by the Spanish in the Rif War. Jesus recently asked me to republish them.
Renault FT-17 Tanks in the Rif War
Back in 2002 Jesus Dapena published some photos of Renault FT-17 Tanks in the Rif War; photos taken by Lieutenant Cipriano Briz (“Uncle Cipri”). I thought they were cool, got in contact with Jesus, and linked to his material from my Rif War pages (Timeline; Painting Guide; Sources; Orbat). Recently Jesus got in touch with me to explain that his site has now disappeared. Jesus kindly shared the content with me so I could republish them. All words and photos by Jesus.
28mm Rif War figures from Rif Raf Miniatures
If 28mm is your thing then have a look at the superb Rif Wars figures from Rif Raf Miniatures. They have a good sized collection already and it is growing. They focus on the 1920s. Richard Ansell is the sculptor and the casting is done by Griffin Moulds Ltd.
Fuego Cruzado: Crossfire House Rules for Spain’s Wars
Fuego Cruzado is my Crossfire variant for early 20th century wars involving the Spanish, notably the Spanish Civil War and Rif War. All of my normal Crossfire House Rules apply. These house rules are additions specifically for Fuego Cruzado.
How to Convert Ansar Figures to Riffi
As discussed on my 15mm Wargaming Figures for the Rif Wars page, nobody that I’m aware of does an accurate Riffian figure. I decided to buy 19th Century Mahdist/Ansar figures with rifles and convert them to Rif. I’m not a figure designer so my aim was to give the impression of a Rif rather than get pure accuracy. This page describes what I did.
Steven’s 2nd Tabor of Regulares of Tetuán
I’m building up the 2nd Tabor of Regulares of Tetuán from Column Asensio of 1936. Battalion Code = “T” for Tabor or Turban or Tetuán within the Unit ID for Crossfire.
As long as you led from the front
where they [the Moroccans] could clearly see you upright,
they would follow.
Alferez Juan Crespo.
Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers on the Rif Wars
The Journal and on-line forum of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers (SOTCW) often have material on the Rif Wars. You can find the society on the SOTCW Website
Wargaming Rules for the Rif Wars
Any small scale Colonial, WWI or WWII set of rules will work for the Rif Wars. Check out Colonial Wargames: Rules or Major General Tremorden Rederring’s Colonial-era Wargames Page: Rules for longer lists of Colonial period rules, but choices include . . .