SCW Moroccan Regulares, Republican Militia - updated 31/07

[H.M.Stanley]

Roger that - sort something on Wed

[scrivs]

I've added another ten International Brigade to my collection. Lovely figures from the oft-overlooked North Star range of 28mm Spanish Civil War.



As usual, more pictures and close-ups on Scrivsland

[PanzerKaput]

Nicely done there and lovely figures and I am going to have to check them out.

[scrivs]

Thank you.



I have been working away for most of this wee, but did manage to paint the Artizan Designs Eric Blair model and the Republican Pilot given away with the first few copies of Painting War: Spanish Civil War.




As usual, more pictures and commentary on Scrivsland

[scrivs]

It has been more than two months since I last added to the Spanish Civil War collection, but today I finished off and lacquered another 11 Spanish Foreign Legion figures to add to the collection.


As usual, more commentary and images on Scrivsland

[scrivs]

The past few weeks have been all El Cid painting updates, but this last week I took a break from that to work on the Spanish Civil War collection.

Before I moved to Wisconsin I picked up some more troops from Northstar and this week managed to get done:

Ernest Hemmingway



Two Anarchists



Ten International Brigade




As usual, more photos and commentary on Scrivsland

[scrivs]

Following on from the Republican reinforcements last week, this week it is the Nationalists who benefit from the addition of ten new members of La Legion.



I managed to narrowly avoid a Testors Dullcote frosting disaster.

More images and commentary over on Scrivsland

[scrivs]

Following on from last weeks update I have finished the last eleven  Spanish Legion for my Spanish Civil War collection. I can now field 54 of these and do a complete platoon for Chain of Command:Espana.



As usual, more text and commentary on Scrivsland

[Eclaireur]

scrivs - loving your project, inspired by it even  I've been doing CoC battles in Italy 1943-4 period. But I love the look of the Empress SCW range...
Just looking at the Espana army lists some of those 'platoons' look very big - anything up to 60 figs without even adding troops from the support lists. Have you had many games with CoC? how do these really large platoons, which I assume are usually the low grade miliciano type units, fare against the smaller ones of more professional troops? I assume there's a balance built into this...
EC   

[Arlequín]

I'm partly responsible for 'España' so I'll try to answer your queries.  

The platoons do look very big on the face of it, but there are only two sections in regular platoons (of all types), which is often missed. In effect then two sections of 18 and the small HQ, is pretty much in the same ball park as a typical three squad WWII platoon and of course the three squad organisation of the CTV.

The early militia were a problem as they tended to operate in 'squads' of ten or twenty, with their 'platoons' as a hundred or so men. We opted for a 'half centuria' as an un-historical compromise, as we imagined few players would really want to buy 100+ figures as the entry point for a militia force.  

From experience and feedback, the Early Militia can have a very tough time of things, even with the copious support they usually gain from facing troops like the Legion... but then in reality they did struggle against such opponents. The playing field becomes more level as the war progresses however. Other pairings of opposing forces tend to be perceived as far more 'fair'.

Beware of the SCW though, once it gets its claws in you it's hard to break free.  

[Eclaireur]

Arlequin,
many thanks for that informative and very swift response. The Espana supplement is very well produced - so congratulations for your part in in  I think you are exactly right about players not wanting a 100+ figure 'entry point'. I've got 4 forces for WW2 CoC and I reckon that 60-65 is quite normal once you've added a decent variety of support types to a basic platoon of 30-40. If it was going to be 120 in total, I'd find it easier to pass up on. I think also when you're in the 100+ figure per side zone you might want a larger playing area too!
I have come across the two squad platoon in my reading before - I think it was quite a normal arrangement in the Italian army of the 1930s and 1940s. I think I shall read up some more on the SCW.
Yes, the draw of the Spanish theatre is strong - in the late 70s / early 80s I used to play 20mm SCW with the late Robin Hunt, who was one of those who did much to educate people about the period. ...and those Empress castings are gorgeous ...and my 'Italian' WW2 buildings are actually the Grand Manner Spanish ones ...NOOOOO 
EC

[Arlequín]

I did warn you... 

Thanks for the kind words, it was very much a labour of love for both of us too. I keep promising to do a revision; nothing major, just some fine detail. It does look like a big hill to climb from the foot of it though.

 

Spanish tactics were somewhat different to WWII, the platoon advanced on a frontage of 100-150 metres, but closed up to 50 for the assault, so technically there should be more than enough room on a typical table. Militia tended to bunch up somewhat more, so even those out there with enough figures for a full centuria could still fit them on if they had a mind to.

The Italians are an odd bunch though, they went into Spain and Abyssinia with three squads platoons, when the rest of the World was using two or four, then changed to two (or four depending on your sources) when everyone else had pretty much gone to three. I suppose they dared to be different.

 

It is certainly a different game to WWII and while I am biased, I much prefer it.

[scrivs]

scrivs - loving your project, inspired by it even 

Thank you

how do these really large platoons, which I assume are usually the low grade miliciano type units, fare against the smaller ones of more professional troops? I assume there's a balance built into this...

I think we have used an 80 before! As per history they tend to get the shiney shot out of them, just take longer to die. As they have few command dice you cannot add too many more units and tend to end up with huge sections. Shock soon mounts on them and it is a bugger to get it shifted.

[Eclaireur]

scrivs,
yes I figured it might be rather had to activate such big units, with that number of leaders and command dice. But I guess that and the low grade troops going to ground with shock just shows the rule system working historically...
EC