The Spanish Civil War
Women in the Soviet Armed Forces”;
“Fort Eben Emael”; “The Hammelburg POW Raid”; and “Japan’s Oilers &
Tankers.” The wargame featured in that issue was
Brian Train’s Arriba Espana: The Spanish Civil War, 1936-39.
It’s intended for two-player play, one representing the left-wing
coalition government of the Spanish Republic, and the other the alliance
of right-wing forces that rose in revolt against it. Solitaire play is
doable.
The 34x22” area-map shows all of Iberia and
is divided into regions, each with its own name. A region may be in one
of three states: government control, rebel control, or contested,
meaning neither side controls it. Getting and maintaining control of
regions is central for keeping your units supplied and for gaining a
high political support level. Each region is subdivided into one or more
areas corresponding to that region’s component provinces.
Each winter game turn represents three
months, while those at the other times of year each represent two
months.
Most of the 280 iconic counters are military
units; however, their scale is abstract, with each generally
representing groupings of two or more historic regiments, brigades or
divisions. There are also 16 new variant-add-on counters included for
issue number one’s Barbarossa game.
There are four armed autonomous regions in
the game: Asturias, Basque, Catalonia and Santander. The Government
player controls those units along with the Popular Army, the anarchists,
the Marxist POUM, and the international brigades. The Rebel player
controls Nationalist, Carlist, colonial, Portuguese, German and Italian
units.
There are 8,632 words in the rules. That
works out to mean two experienced players can finish a game in about
four hours.
The table of contents is shown below.
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Components, Definitions &
Abbreviations
3.0 Sequence of Play
4.0 Random Events
5.0 Political Rules
6.0 Strategic Phase
7.0 Organization Phase
8.0 Movement
9.0 Combat
10.0 Recovery
11.0 Supply
12.0 Turn Inter-Phase
13.0 How to Win
14.0 Set Up
15.0 Optional Rules
16.0 Designer’s Notes