Why Do You Game/Collect SCW ?

[bobblezbob]

Hi all,

This is going to be a bit long winded so please bare with me.
I dont get the time to game any more but I do still collect & paint figures for eras I'm interested in as my fancy takes me (I get relevant rule sets - mainly for the background fluff & pics - and base them accordingly JUST IN CASE one day I get a game in).
A long term project of mine has been collecting late war WW1 Brits & Germans & I've recently been browsing through a VBCW booklets with an idea that I could easily utilise some of my WW1 figs to start this collection off. A mention of SCW fighters could be used in the game got me idley looking at SCW posts on this forum and not knowing anything about the war I got a copy of Ospreys Men At Arms SCW, drooled over the Empress miniatures and am HOOKED ! I've just ordered the Falangista deal and some Standard Bearers and I'm thinking I might go for some Foreign Legion figs soon as well !
I cant explain why this conflict - with still such a complex history to me - should have inspired me so quickly as to order some figures (all be it not many - YET) & I cant wait for them to arrive so I can get painting them.
SOOOOO....... can you help ? why do you game/collect SCW ? Why/how have you been inspired  ?
 

[Juan]

This is a really different war, a mix of colonial, Great War and Early WWII put in an undeveloped country. The fighting factions are very interesting, and the uniforms, wonderful (when there are!).

And it is real, not a fantastic civil war.

[Happy Wanderer]

I think Juan said it really rather well.

From a gaming perspective, the period is 'infantry heavy' and the infantry is quite varied. The vaunted Spanish Foreign Legion and their Moroccan comrades. Right Wing Falange militias, Religious Carlistas, Basque separatists, charismtic leaders of Left and the multi varied factions of the armed trade unions, often at each other's throats….they all have unique characteristics that makes them all interesting.

The transformation of the armed response of the people against Franco's rebellious army and the dramatic siege of Madrid equal to Leningrad and Stalingrad in many ways….all playing out in front of the world's eye's is a big stage.

The international response with Italy's El Duce, at his height in the interwar years. The German Condor Legion, not yet tainted in any with the excesses of the Hitlerite madness. Equipment that still made the man important but interesting enough to mix it all up and make sure you aren't playing WW1….when else was the T-26 so feared?

The International response to the rise of the Right with free men of the world defending freedom in the International Brigades. The Communist response to counter the Fascists, the titanic battles as each side created large armies fighting major campaigns…..it is a dramatic backdrop.

For all that is was an often brutal civil war, one cannot escape that, but most wars inevitably are.

Supporting the period is a full line of minis by Empress Miniatures which are simply lovely. Force of Arms produce a good selection of minis and often WW2 figures can be used as well. One nice thing about the skirmish level aspect is that most games (Bolt Action/ Chain of Command) revolve around a 40-50 figure army and you can have multiple armies in the SCW each different fro the others, bt able to be used together so bringing in al sorts of potential scenario ideas and options.

It pretty much has it all. Skirmish actions, small battles, big battles, major campaigns, fascinating air combat engagements and aircraft. Probably its only downside it would appear on first glance is a lack of naval engagements though on a smaller scale this occurred as well.

….and if you have in anyway got Mediterranean gaming terrain it is a great 'double-duty' period for that often forgot about aspect of many a table.

….it is little wonder you have been so easily been drawn to it and as Juan said, it's all real….so much choice really…

Fascinating..

Happy W

[Arlequín]

In addition to what Juan and HW have said, I'd have to add the following...

a) The sheer scope of the conflict. You begin with an 'irregular' army with improvised vehicles against a 'regular' one little different to those that were around at the end of the Great War. At the end you have two 'regular' forces that are semi-mechanised, both uniformed and equipped, yet in the main still very different.

b) There's no overpowering weaponry on either side. The tank doesn't dominate and is still vulnerable when misused. When the most advanced tank used is the BT-7 and the most common (on both sides) is the T-26, how bad can facing an opponent's 'tank company' be?

c) 1930s aircraft and vehicles are so much more interesting, you have biplanes and early monoplanes and some seemingly 'Buck Rogers' inspired vehicles into the bargain.

d) WW2 as a 'historical' period has been done to death in books, with a lot of stuff simply being regurgitated in the 'latest new book'. The SCW is far less well-covered and each new work tends to bring some surprising revelations, which have been 'overlooked' in the official or marxist biased histories previously trotted out for it. 

As has been said, it's an infantry heavy era, so it's ideal for 'platoon skirmish' games like Bolt Action or Chain of Command, or even 'company level' sets like Flames of War (no 'wall to wall' tank park like games here) or IABSM.

Your scenario options are also much wider. Depending on 'where' and 'when' you have anything from desperate street fights, trench-line assaults, patrol encounters, even the occasional armour on armour slugfest... the only thing it hasn't got is 'jungle warfare'.     

If you are more inclined towards 'adventure' style games, you've got partisans in the hills (watch or read for 'Whom the Bell Tolls'), spying, counter-espionage and 'commando' missions (read some of Hemingway's stuff) and gun-running ('Rick' in Casablanca had an interesting career which prevented him from returning to the States).

There are some good ranges out there too. Obviously the Empress ones are top for my money, but the FoA ones come a respectable second, along with the odds and sods Northstar produce.

In 18mm there's an attractive new range from 'Warmodelling Miniatures' and in 15mm (18mm?) the Peter Pig range is being expanded and in some cases re-done. There are even some cracking figures in 10/12mm.

Minairons are working on a 20mm range, which having seen other work produced by the guy chosen to sculpt them, could be something else... certainly an improvement on the venerable 'Hotspur' range, which sadly doesn't cut it in today's world of super-detailed figures.

You might ask 'Why don't you play SCW?' for my money. 

[Grimm]

For me it is very easy to  explain.
I like the figures I can buy ,I like armed civilian and the idea of normal people standing up to fight for ther own beliefs.
Also the vehicles are much cooler then the ww2 or modern ones .
All in all it has a taste of real pulp for me .

cheers Grimm

[WillieB]

All of the above+

Colourful uniforms combined with a shabbiness seldom seen in an army.
Masses of very enthousiastic but almost untrained men against a smal core of hardened professionals at times.
A thoroughly neglected army that had to pick itself up under the most difficult circumstances.
Weird vehicles on almost every street corner.
Foreign intervention and volunteers on both sides.
A quartersmasters' nightmare in almost any aspect.
Tactics ranging from Napoleonic bayonet charges to almost modern squad ones.
A good range of figures (in several scales)to support the whole thing. I would still like to see someone (preferably Empress) bringing out 'regular' infantry for both sides but in the meantime I'll just keep converting.
Units switching sides at the drop of a hat.
Small(er) scale actions perfect for the popular rulesets like CoC and DH.

What's not to like?

[H.M.Stanley]

There are a few projects that i've started that i would happily swap for new "shiny things".

My SCW project is not one of them. It's difficult, for me, to explain. Once you read up you know why

Salud

James