Spanish Army and Police Uniforms in 1920s and '30s

[Onebigriver]

At some point I want to do some Cthulhu skirmish wargaming, originally I was going to use the Innsmouth setting, but after seeing "Dagon", I've decided to set it in Spain in the 1920s/30s, allowing me to use my Sharp Practice buildings. It will be set pre-Civil War, and I imagine I can use alot of civil war figures for the armed forces, but I was wondering if the Osprey Spanish Civil War book covers uniforms pre-civil war for the army and armed police forces, or even if there were any changes at the outbreak of the civil war, seeing as soldiers and police ended up on both sides?

[WillieB]

At some point I want to do some Cthulhu skirmish wargaming, originally I was going to use the Innsmouth setting, but after seeing "Dagon", I've decided to set it in Spain in the 1920s/30s, allowing me to use my Sharp Practice buildings. It will be set pre-Civil War, and I imagine I can use alot of civil war figures for the armed forces, but I was wondering if the Osprey Spanish Civil War book covers uniforms pre-civil war for the army and armed police forces, or even if there were any changes at the outbreak of the civil war, seeing as soldiers and police ended up on both sides?

Alas, the Osprey book doesn't show any pre- civil war details. The good news is that the Spanish Army uniforms didn't change all that much since the 1920s. As you already thought you could use most of the SCW figures, except those with the cazadora blouse since that was introduced later. So you're looking at figures with the earlier, longer Guerrera tunic or those in shirtsleeves.
Both the  buttoned trousers and puttees were worn long time before the civil war.
Headgear can be almost anything from a slouch hat to the Isabellino side cap or even the earlier (1920s) pillbox cap.
At one time the Spanish army, or at least those in North Africa were issued with tropical  helmets, but I've only seen one or two pictures of it. Looks very similar to the Wolseley however.
The Guardia Civil and most of the Asalto figures can be used as they are since those uniforms didn't change at all. Some of the Anglian Asalto SCW figure are wearing a 'mono' overall so these can't actually be used pre-SCW.

Hope this helps a bit?

[Onebigriver]

Helps alot, thanks WillieB, now know which figures to look out for.

[Mancha]

I can't help you with this question, but I wonder, what is "Dragon"?  I've been on a SCW-movies kick, and I'd love to see anything from around that time period.

[pnweerar]

Sorry Mancha, Dagon is a Lovecraftian movie set in the modern day. It's essentially a retelling of the Shadow over Innsmouth, but is set in a Spanish fishing village. Been a while since I watched it, but it was pretty disturbing and creepy.

[argsilverson]

So, the obvious source of figures is Anglian miniatures and most useful rangew are guardia civil and assaltos.

Just a couple of notices:
Guardia Civil usually was deployed in smaller towns and villages
Police units (similar to assaltos) were deployed in larger towns [Policia Urbana]

Same happens (with similar iniforms) till today in general [of course now it exists other units as well, like the municipal police etc, but I do not think that it existed in 1920-1930]

If your setting is a spanish fishing village you only need some Guardia Civil in uniform.
some spanish uniforms in 1921-1930

http://images.google.gr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.miniaturasjm.com/userdata/image/v1125.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.miniaturasjm.com/uniformologia/uniformes-espaoles-espaa-1921-a-1930/&usg=__vZQFhX9hiQA2jgcGScoJ7OXJGbE=&h=478&w=325&sz=61&hl=el&start=4&tbnid=0DZ98QXMfQzUBM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3DGuardia%2BCivil%2Buniformes%2Bhistoricas%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Del%26safe%3Doff%26rlz%3D1T4GGLJ_elGR316GR309

and some 1912-1920
http://images.google.gr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.miniaturasjm.com/userdata/image/v1035.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.miniaturasjm.com/uniformologia/uniformes-espaoles-espaa-1912-a-1920/&usg=__rbvbjqXbOvv9UxULdrWAoL4gGdg=&h=484&w=325&sz=77&hl=el&start=15&tbnid=1PSozAshBMFy2M:&tbnh=129&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3DGuardia%2BCivil%2Buniformes%2Bhistoricas%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Del%26safe%3Doff%26rlz%3D1T4GGLJ_elGR316GR309



 

[Onebigriver]

Thanks for the info Argil, but I'm going for dramatic licence! The story that the film is based on has a visitor seeing the full horror of Innsmouth but manages to escape, and he alerts the government to the threat posed by the Deep Ones. The government sends in troops to deal with the threat, so here I planned to use a mix of Assaltos (a good excuse to buy some Bilbao armoured cars) and the regular army (I really want an FT-17!). I could use some Guardia Civil as the town's police force, so they would have the Innsmouth look! Thanks for that!

[Mancha]

Great links argilsilverson.  Thanks for posting them. 

Notice any similarity in this guy to President George W. Bush? 

[Tsune]

As Arglsiverson says, the more accurate would be use some Guardia Civil units. A little village as "Innsmouth" would be, probably did not have a police sation. Perhaps some Guardias Civiles (3 or 4) or none at all. It would be more plausible that they would be in a near village.

You have to thing that the Guardia Civil is a military unit (they are not policemen), and probably they would inform that something rare was happening in the nearby village.

So, I would do some GC units and a regular units to assault the village.

A very nice idea to do an spanish Innsmouth. I has a similar idea when viewed Dagon too (and being spaniard, It is a very atractive idea indeed  ).

Please, tell us how do you develop the idea.

Regards

[Onebigriver]

Thanks Tsune, but like I say I really want to use a Bilbao armoured car, so I plan to use Assaltos. I might buy myself a pack of Guardia Civil figures, have a few as resident, tainted "policemen", and a few accompanying the Assaltos and Regulares as advisors. It's very much an evolving idea so all advice is welcome. The worst part is going to be collecting enough Deep Ones - I don't like using doubles. At the moment I've earmarked RAFM, EM4, Reviresco and Strange Aeons, and I'll mix in some citizens that still resemble humans from a range of manufacturers.

I'm glad the "Spanish Innsmouth" has appealed to people, makes sense to me from a terrain point of view and allows me to paint some figures I wouldn't normally buy. The "Dagon" film is not great but I'm quite taken with it, but it makes more sense to switch it back to the 20s/30s, so that civilian figures can be pressed into service with other pulp/Cthulhu games.

[Mancha]

For what it's worth, when I asked Nigel, of Anglian Miniatures, which vehicle he would recommend to go along with my Guardia Civil purchases, he suggested the Bilbao.

[argsilverson]

Thanks Tsune, but like I say I really want to use a Bilbao armoured car, so I plan to use Assaltos. I might buy myself a pack of Guardia Civil figures, have a few as resident, tainted "policemen", and a few accompanying the Assaltos and Regulares as advisors. It's very much an evolving idea so all advice is welcome. The worst part is going to be collecting enough Deep Ones - I don't like using doubles. At the moment I've earmarked RAFM, EM4, Reviresco and Strange Aeons, and I'll mix in some citizens that still resemble humans from a range of manufacturers.

I'm glad the "Spanish Innsmouth" has appealed to people, makes sense to me from a terrain point of view and allows me to paint some figures I wouldn't normally buy. The "Dagon" film is not great but I'm quite taken with it, but it makes more sense to switch it back to the 20s/30s, so that civilian figures can be pressed into service with other pulp/Cthulhu games.

1.- for civilians: you also may use the perry's civilians from their carlist wars range. they are a nice set of figures in traditional dress. lots of people in traditional dress were around during the '20s. some also beretted ones could be also suitable. remember that the beret is originated from the vasque country.
2.- guardia civil is an armed "military police" unit, as all gendarmeries, so easily they could have armoured cars like bilbao car, etc.
3.- what units to use: personnal taste dictates it. if I were doing it, I would have used uniformed assaltos/guardiacivil etc according to the figures I would have !

[Onebigriver]

Thanks Tsune, but like I say I really want to use a Bilbao armoured car, so I plan to use Assaltos. I might buy myself a pack of Guardia Civil figures, have a few as resident, tainted "policemen", and a few accompanying the Assaltos and Regulares as advisors. It's very much an evolving idea so all advice is welcome. The worst part is going to be collecting enough Deep Ones - I don't like using doubles. At the moment I've earmarked RAFM, EM4, Reviresco and Strange Aeons, and I'll mix in some citizens that still resemble humans from a range of manufacturers.

I'm glad the "Spanish Innsmouth" has appealed to people, makes sense to me from a terrain point of view and allows me to paint some figures I wouldn't normally buy. The "Dagon" film is not great but I'm quite taken with it, but it makes more sense to switch it back to the 20s/30s, so that civilian figures can be pressed into service with other pulp/Cthulhu games.

1.- for civilians: you also may use the perry's civilians from their carlist wars range. they are a nice set of figures in traditional dress. lots of people in traditional dress were around during the '20s. some also beretted ones could be also suitable. remember that the beret is originated from the vasque country.
2.- guardia civil is an armed "military police" unit, as all gendarmeries, so easily they could have armoured cars like bilbao car, etc.
3.- what units to use: personnal taste dictates it. if I were doing it, I would have used uniformed assaltos/guardiacivil etc according to the figures I would have !

Funnily enough I was think about civilians last night, so thanks for the Perry tip-off.

As for the Bilbao, I'm going off the information on this site

http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/spain/spain.html

which says that only the Assaltos and cavalry were issued the Bilbao, and I like the description of the Assaltos as shock troops, they just seem appropriate to deal with the Deep One infestation! This is going to be a joint operation, so I'm sure that the Guardia Civil will be present. I like the chance to paint different figures.

[mendoza]

Hi, I'm from Valencia, Spain....and assaltos??¿?¿?¿ I think you speak about GUARDIA DE ASALTO, http://www.heresybrush.com/2009/como-pintar-azul-y-rojo/....it was born in 1932, with "The republica".

La guadia de asalto is police man in the city together guardia civil....in the country you have guardia civil. They live in "Cuartel" in towns

[CPT Shanks]

I would also recommend Force of Arms for troops and vehicles. They match well with the Anglian miniatures though they are a different style and feel they do offer a variety. You can also look for militia type in the Bolt Action Miniatures and North Star ranges for the time period.