SCW Info required

[Red Sveta]

I have just taken the plunge into SCW with 20mm scale figures, I know very little on the period and would be very greatful for pointers from veterans in this period as to the following.

Best overall history books to read.
Any first hand accounts available apart from Hemingway and Orwell which I know about and proved to inspiration to get involved in the period.
Also uniform guides, I have just started with the Minarons Republican Hq etc as my first purchase but realized I know nothing on the reality of the uniforms worn.


Any tips on the above would be great.

[Westfalia Chris]

I quite liked Anthony Beevor's "The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-39" for a decent-enough overview of the conflict, although IIRC it is less focused on the military aspects. Also, "The Spanish Cockpit" by Franz Borkenau is an interesting read with a German left-wing point of view.

[fred]

I'm certainly no expert on this conflict but a couple of useful (and cheap) sources are:

A World Aflame - rules by Osprey, the rules themselves are fairly standard, but there is a lot of good background info and pictures.

For Chain of Command the Too Fat Lardies released a huge amount of info on their blog over the summer to use CoC for the SCW.

[NickNascati]

Welcome to the "Passionate War".  Here are some suggested titles that I have read and re-read -

The Spanish Civil War -   Hugh Thomas, the standard history of the conflict, a bit slanted to the right, but still invaluable.
The Spanish Civil Way -   Anthony Beevor,  covers the same ground as Thomas but written after Franco's death.
Homage to Catalonia - George Orwell,  autobiographical account of Orwell's time in the POUM Militia.  One of the best.
Between the Bullet and the Lie - Cecil Eby, a good, honest history of the International Brigades.
Men In Battle - Alva Bessie,  good first hand memoir from an American brigadier.
Death in the Olive Groves - Arthur Landis.

There are many, many more good books, Thomas and Beevor will both provide excellent bibliographies.

[Red Sveta]

Thanks for the help. I will give all the books a try and with it coming up to Christmas I will be dropping hints as to what I would like from the one who must be obeyed. I will try to remember to post some pictures when I have painted the figures I have bought.

[Oldgamer]

Brother Against Brother by Frank Thomas is an excellent memoir, he was a Welsh volunteer with the Spanish Foreign Legion. It also has the diary of an IB volunteer, Sid Hamm, who was killed.

[joroas]

Osprey have a huge collection scattered throughout their series.

[Emir of Askaristan]

Homage to Caledonia: Scotland and the Spanish Civil War - Daniel Gray
 - an excellent insight into the character of some of the men and women from Scotland involved both in Spain and at home, for both sides.

Also
Land and Freedom - the 1995 film by Ken Loach starring Ian Hart.

Finally for rules you might want to take a look a Triumph and Tragedy and its SCW supplement- I'm sure one or two people around here might be familiar with them 

[Westfalia Chris]

Finally for rules you might want to take a look a Triumph and Tragedy and its SCW supplement- I'm sure one or two people around here might be familiar with them 

Well, I didn't want to brag. Also, I'll be the first to point out that Libertad ó Muerte only contains a very condensed history part, with a stronger focus on army lists and vehicle stats. The various aforementioned books will be a much better source if properly-researched info.

[Arlequín]

The Osprey Books, at least the ones still in print, are great for uniforms, but I would ignore their organisational details. For those I have to blow my own trumpet and suggest you download the CoC: Espana Lists (they are free and the notes added to the lists will have pretty much all you might need as regards low level organisations); my project-partner (Rolf aka Happy Wanderer) and I went straight to what Spanish sources were available, including a rather impressive Spanish Republican organisational manual on the Brigadas Mixtas.

The premier uniform guide is still Jose Maria Bueno's Uniformes militares en la Guerra Civil Espanola, from which some of the Osprey pictures were copied from. It can be sometimes gotten hold of from Spanish online booksellers for about €20 - or downloaded as a pdf if you have a Scribd account I believe.

The guys have mentioned most of the 'must read' books - Beevor and Thomas being the two books at the top of the heap in overall terms in my humble opinion.

The SCW Resources sticky here is quite useful too. I think I'm safe in saying that if you want to know something about the SCW, somebody on here will probably know the answer, or can point you in the right direction, so ask away! We have a pretty fair number of knowledgeable folk here, who are both patient and keen to pass on their enthusiasm for the SCW. Lluís from Minairons is also a member here and never gets tired of being told how good his stuff is.

 

If you have passable Spanish or can translate Google Translate's efforts in Spanish, then there is the GCE Board on Foro El Gran Capitán... those guys know pretty much everything and there is a wealth of information, often down to individual units.

Well done on choosing the SCW by the way!  

[Red Sveta]

Thanks for all the replies its been a great help. I had forgotten how staring a new period can be a little daunting if you know very little about it. I like to research a period as much as I can so that when I get to the gaming part of the hobby I can at least have an idea how battles were conducted and how they would have looked. I just need Minairons to get the Republican Militia out for me to paint. I will work on their other figures till they are available. I have down loaded the COC lists and they are very good, I have picked up Orwell   and Beevor from the net and just need some Ospreys now. Thanks again all.

[Arlequín]

I had forgotten how staring a new period can be a little daunting if you know very little about it. I like to research a period as much as I can so that when I get to the gaming part of the hobby I can at least have an idea how battles were conducted and how they would have looked.

You're welcome! 

I would have said 'exciting' rather than 'daunting', but each to their own. 

I have to admit I began with the same outlook when I started and was surprised at how little of what I knew was true and how much there was to learn. It gets very immersive (in a good way), but well worth any effort put into it, as I anticipate our fellow members will agree.

¡No pasarán!