¡En el filo! SCW Campaign - updated 16/05

[H.M.Stanley]

What a wimp!

A simple thumb lock from someone half his size and he bleats like its going out of fashion 

[H.M.Stanley]

Back OT ...

Rolf/Jim - I'm genuinely interested as to why Regulares are rated so highly? I understand their
move twice and go Tactical and being Aggressive.  But Command dice  x 6, even in the early part of the war. Were they that good as part of the AoA?

[Happy Wanderer]

The rating of troops for the SCW enables the full spectrum of ‘levers' to be used for Chain of Command….collectively the Regulares use several of these ‘levers’ to best reflect their abilities as portrayed in CoC Espana.

When looking at the Regulares their list shows them to have special traits unique to them. They have the Sargento fire rule, typical of properly trained, organised and (in this case) experienced troops. They were well officered and had long serving soldiers in the unit. The Caid reflects a distinctive Moroccan attribute similar to the use of the Republican commissars. The third attribute reflects the much noted and talked about ability of the Moroccans to move and use ground, almost to the disbelief of the enemy they confronted.

All these traits properly represent the characteristics of the Regulares.

When deciding on the troop rating the record of experience and actual combat anecdotes virtually qualifies the regulares as elite troops. They were completely committed to the fight and died in droves trying to achieve their tactical outcomes….virtually destroying their pre war cadres by 1937. It was this over zealous commitment and the losses they took that tipped the balance away from them being rated elite and treated as regular instead.

However the decision to assign them 6 command dice instead of 5 really comes down to a combination of all these factors. To make them Elite, command dice 6 would IMO overstate their abilities, particularly when combined with the ability to move tactically at 1d6 or 2d6…this is a powerful attribute. When combined with a rating of Regular this gives the best feel for the Regulares vulnerability to fire and the losses they took.

The 6 command dice when coupled to the Regular rating is much more subtle. Command dice represent a whole gamut of factors that come to bear on how a force is portrayed. The increased number of CoC dice produce the potential to allow the Regulares to move faster (by back to back phases) and keep moving (because of the higher likelihood of getting dice that are ‘usable’) in a phase. The notated tank hunter ability also buys into the ability to build up CoC dice and deploy from ambush and reflect this ability they developed with some skill.

Coupled to this is the enhanced interrupt capacity they have from the use of a CoC dice further tapping into their movement potential…all this presumes they are able to move rapidly and develop tactical awareness, sensing opportunities through the use of the CoC dice. They in effect can get inside the decision cycle of the slower moving militias they opposed….6 dice better allows this to occur than 5.

When taken as a whole the speed of movement is the primary enhancement that 6 dice gives to the Regulares when applied to the full potential of the extra dice and that was a major factor in their favour to get 6 dice over 5 in this author's opinion. Just allowing them a 2D6 tactical move bonus would not truly reflect their superiority in close in fighting, most notably in open terrain....built up areas tended to work against this skill set...I would be tempted to downgrade them to Command Dice 5 if playing a scenario set in lots of built up terrain.

For all that, they pay the price in a high PFR and nullifying their enhanced abilities is really up to their opponent who is presented with a very dangerous enemy. That all these factors give an opposing player a slight sense of dredd when confronting them is exactly how they should be perceived just as they were historically.

To answer your question

"Were they that good as part of the AoA?"

IMHO, yes.

Happy Wanderer.
 




 

[H.M.Stanley]

Thank you Rolf for that very thorough explanation as to your thoughts behind this. Much appreciated.

With movement being key in all all gaming and the increased liklihood that the Moros will retain the initiative and/or interrupt their opponents turn (as evidenced in our campaign time and time again) there is indeed a sense of dredd in facing the Regulares. As that was your intention then you and Jim have captured their spirit perfectly IMO having faced the buggers repeatedly over the last few weeks.

It seemed to me at the time that the Moroccans were even better than La Legion, which I used when starting out on SCW/CoC,  and I thought strange despite the formers renowned field craft.

I bow to your greater experience and I look forward to our 2nd campaign using version 2 of your lists. I had intended on using Legion. Now I think i'll stick with Republicans and see if Paul wants to use his exquisitely painted Falange.

Salud!

Jamez

[Arlequín]

I'm with Rolf obviously... the Regulares were drawn from the Berbers, a people that had been constantly at war (largely with each other) since Noah was making boats. Without laying it on too thick, their most prized possession was the rifle they usually received upon manhood (13) and by 14 had often killed the man who had shot their father/brother/uncle/most prized goat, or themselves died in the process. They were skilled guerilla fighters and the Spanish added to this by giving them conventional training (or in later SCW drafts, just a uniform). All things being equal they were probably better all-round soldiers than the Legion in the sphere of SCW combatants.

That aside they were feared by the Republicans and had the same mystique attached to them as the Ghurkhas in the British Army, along with the 'special blade' to go with that. While I really doubt they were actually capable of most of what they were believed to be, this 'fear factor' in itself can have a negative effect on those facing them, in effect warranting the extra dice in itself, regardless of their actual tactical mobility and command structure. The thought of waking up dead with your genitals stuffed in your mouth was a real demotivator for the average miliciano.

Some people have tried to hang the 'Jihadist' angle on them and while indeed the Nationalists claimed that the 'Rojos' would suppress Islam to prompt the support of the Sultan, the Berbers the Regulares were drawn from were not that motivated by religion and practised it in a somewhat different way to other Moslems in any case. They were motivated by status within the family, clan and tribe, which was based on relative wealth, who you married (also reliant on status and wealth) and so forth... the Spanish paid in gold for results and it was the usual risk/reward 'get rich quick' consideration for them, bearing in mind there was no other possible route to obtain this same degree of wealth in Morocco.

What they lacked was the idea of self-sacrifice in the same way as the pre-war Legion had it drummed into them... while they were highly motivated by the bounties offered, had the skills to earn them and took considerable risks in the process of getting them, being alive to take it home was still on their list of priorities too. They cared little for 'Spain' and 'the cause', which to me is the one thing which stops them being 'Elite', along with the points previously mentioned.

[Durutti]

The Regulares did fare badly once the fighting left the countryside, and went into built up areas. They lost a lot of troops in the initial fighting around Madrid University. Their cover benefit should be removed when fighting in BUA, and I would Suggest removing command dice as well, as they were notorious for their looting prowess ,and were dificult to keep control of when there were goodies to be pinched.

They certainly instilled a climate of fear in the local populace, and often just a mention that they were on their way, would be enough incentive to clear a village.

[Arlequín]

That's a fair point and one I think we discussed, but have apparently forgotten about... The Moros did indeed struggle in urban areas as hugging the concrete did not come naturally to them. Likewise the Moros do seem to have been given free rein in captured 'red' areas, with little being done to stop them, all part of the incentive to spearhead attacks I suppose. 

[Happy Wanderer]

Their reduced effectiveness, as mentioned above, was noted when putting the lists together. The trick was to make a rule that reduced their command dice when in or not in urban terrain....how do you define urban terrain?

Without creating additional complication, and not knowing how widespread this effect was, essentially meant this was best left out to be a scenario specific rule rather than a hard and fast 'trait'.

Whilst the lists are comprehensive they can't cover every attribute or characteristic and some player knowledge and agreement on specific topics like this is best handled within individual groups.

Cheers

Happy Wanderer

[Arlequín]

The thing about fighting in built up areas is that all troops become less effective when doing so, even the Assault Guards, to whom it was their usual operational environment. How you would measure and compare that, as Rolf says, is difficult to employ.

While the Moors apparently struggled in the multi-story University City, they do not seem to have experienced the same problems in more usual and traditional 'low-rise' urban environments elsewhere, like Brunete.

[H.M.Stanley]

Q gentlemen on the new Superior Junior Leader rule ... can he be used to activate, say,  Forward Observer Teams and Squads armed with Molotovs (as a Senior Leader may)?

I note that under the Army Officer Advisor you can upgrade the Jefe de Centuria to a Senior Leader. If so, does he still activate on a 3 or 4 or just a 4 now?

Thanks, J

[Happy Wanderer]

"gentlemen on the new Superior Junior Leader rule ... can he be used to activate, say,  Forward Observer Teams and Squads armed with Molotovs (as a Senior Leader may)?"

A Superior JUNIOR Leader...is just a better junior leader. Therefore any rule that applies to Junior leaders applies to superior junior leaders as well except they activate on a 3 or 4.

"I note that under the Army Officer Advisor you can upgrade the Jefe de Centuria to a Senior Leader. If so, does he still activate on a 3 or 4 or just a 4 now?"

An upgraded leader to a Senior Leader becomes a Senior Leader in all respects...he no longer is a superior junior leader i.e. he activates on a 4 and does all the things a senior leader can do.

Cheers

Happy Wanderer

Thanks, J

[H.M.Stanley]

Ok, you can't spot for a FOT with a Superior Junior Leader [he is the Jefe de C after all albeit with only two activation dice ..?] and there's no point in taking Molotovs unless you upgrade the Jefe to Senior Leader ...

I thought that the latter may have been an oversight although I understand the point about non-spotting for the FOT [training issue]. Cheers, J

[Arlequín]

Sure it does exclude some commanders from certain actions and activities, but then again all commanders were not equal. There's a world of difference between "I wish I'd have thought to get the guys to make up some Molotovs" and "Okay companeros, light them up!" Having an extra intermediate level of leader helps reflect that.

[H.M.Stanley]

Sure it does exclude some commanders from certain actions and activities, but then again all commanders were not equal. There's a world of difference between "I wish I'd have thought to get the guys to make up some Molotovs" and "Okay companeros, light them up!" Having an extra intermediate level of leader helps reflect that.

Roger that. Thanks 

[Happy Wanderer]

"Sure it does exclude some commanders from certain actions and activities, but then again all commanders were not equal."

You'll also note that in every platoon with a 'base grade leader' as an SJL their is the option to increase their SJL to a Senior Leader. So anything that requires a senior leader in the lists is attainable but you need to get a high ranking officer/NCO as that SL.

As Arlequin says, it does show a subtle but effective difference between leaders in the game, however there are only a few actions a SL can do that a JL can't do so for the most part this isn't an issue. For example, one upside is that the loss of a SJL is only taken as a loss of a JL not a SL...so there are pluses and minuses to having an SJL.

If players don't like this interpretation there is no reason why they can't consider a nominated SJL as a SL (not the author's choice) but then if you do that you are sort of having it both ways...getting the benefits of a SL, activating more effectively, but not having the downside if he is lost...so he is almost becoming better than a SL with a slightly reduced command initiative...which is not really the idea.


Happy W