Spanish and Portuguese Military History,
Wargaming, and other stuff
The Spanish Civil War (La Guerra Civil Española) of 1936-39 pitted the Republican government backed by the Soviet Union against the Nationalist rebels backed by German and Italy. So far I’ve restricted my efforts to the Nationalist March on Madrid in late 1936.
Every now and then I have a chat with Rafa, aka “Archiduque”, from Rafa “Archiduque” Miniatures Painting Studio. He got in touch recently and, after our chat, I had a look at his blog. Specifically his Spanish Civil War Gallery. Wow.
Rafa has kindly let me post some of his work here. Amazing. Have a look.
Decades ago I purchased some lead headstones from Military Miniatures in New Zealand (now defunct). I figured I should do something with them. So here you go … a home made cemetery in 15mm.
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.
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.
Jamie Wish and I played my Moroccan Knives scenario set in the Spanish Civil War. Jamie started work at 05:00 hours the next morning so we wanted something quick. This scenario is guaranteed to take less than two hours so was a good candidate. It was a bit one sided and I’ve suggested a couple of changes.
Andrew Fisher played my 45 Pesetas – A Crossfire Scenario in the Spanish Civil War, which is very good of him since it is quite draft.
Too many of my Crossfire Scenarios are draft and not play tested. This is because this website started as my wargaming notes and everything went on it, including unfinished work no matter how vague. With the move to WordPress I don’t do that any more; I now only post finished pieces. But I still have a lot of unfinished work on the site. Time to go back, tidy them up and most importantly play test them. And I could use some help.
Andrew Coleby and I play tested my Ring of Iron Scenario. I’d only knocked it together in a couple of hours and that showed in the design. I subsequently changed three things.
This is my timeline for the northern campaign of the Spanish Civil War. The Republican north comprised three areas: Asturias, Santander and Vizcaya. They largely fought, and were crushed separately, from each other and from the main Republican area in the south. Vizcaya was called ‘Euzkadi’ by the locals.
I’ve got a lot of Crossfire kit: figures, terrain, and bits n bobs. It is the bits n bobs that have gone into my “Crossfire Box”. The box is a 9 litre Very Useful Box with two 9 litre sorting tray (7 compartments each). Basically markers and dice.
Most of my Crossfire buildings are generic 3″x3″ sectors of foam board on a cardboard base. Some are building complexes of more than one sector. And I’ve also done Triangular Blocks to give Diagonal Streets.
In the second game of Carabanchel Scenario Chris Harrod played the defending Republicans and I played the attacking Moroccans.
I’ve played my Carabanchel Scenario a few times now. All were close run affairs until the final moments.
A scenario for Fuego Cruzado – my variant of Crossfire for the Spanish Civil War – set in the Carabanchel Sector as the Nationalists attempt to rush Madrid in early Nov 1936.
