CNT die hard against the Legion

Militia prepare to man the barricades against the Fascists

A couple of weeks ago, James and I played a game of Spanish Civil War pitting James with La Legion against myself using International Brigade. Last night we had another crack at it, but rather than using the International Brigade I would use the C.N.T. Anarchist Militia.

We would be playing the Attack / Defence (scenario 3) and as I have the No Pasaran! rule I elected to defend and chose the half of the table with a small village to start out from.

Now with a force rating of -8 against the +9 of the Legion I was going to have a lot of support, but, with only four command dice I did not want to be adding too many troops so I went for some boosts.

Republican Militia Shirt

I first chose 'Fanatic Milicianos' as I would be really suffering from shock otherwise. I also decided on 'El Hombre' otherwise any threes I rolled would be worthless and for the same reason picked a T-28 tank so that I could also use those ones. As I only have a single Senior Leader whose presence would certainly be needed on the field of battle I chose an Adjutant to feed in the reserves. I don't know why I did it but I picked the completely unnecessary Flag upgrade.
I rounded out the 17 points with a couple of sections of Heavy Cover barricades to give my Green troops something to hide behind.

Of course I was wearing a suitable T-Shirt again, P.O.U.M. rather than C.N.T. but a Republican Militia all the same. These Philosophy Football shirts are ace, but their web-site a pain in the arse. I have one more Spanish Civil War shirt of theirs, I'll have to wear it next time.

I would chose to fight my Militia as four sections of ten men.

As attacker James then rolled up his supports and threw a six electing to add a CV-33 light tank with AP ammo, one allotment of Molotov Cocktails and an Adjutant. I added a Renault FT MG tank and an LMG to one of the Militia sections..

La Legion mass behind the walled field

Rolling for Force Morale, we both came up as a starting point of 9.

The Patrol Phase started with myself placing my four markers in the village and James went heavy on his right flank to take advantage of the walls and hedges there rather than the more open terrain in the centre or wooded terrain on his right.

By the end of the Patrol Phase we had turned the table through 90 degrees, James Jump Off Points were behind the walls and hedges on my left, two of mine were in the village and the third was on James base edge behind some hedges (this was a bit of a mistake really as his tank would be coming on here).

Militia in the village

The Legion took the first turn and started to amass behind a pair of walled fields. The Anachists rushed from their trucks (Jump Off Points) and started to man the barricades. First blood went to the Anachists as the Sargento (Junior Leader) leading one of the Pelotones (Sections) was hit and wounded! The return fire was withering though and Anarchists were soon falling down dead behind the barricades. The Legion were not having it all their own way, the Sargento was hit again and killed this time and a few more of his colleagues fell.

The Anarchists had three consecutive 'double six' phases and the Legion started to suffer, but some mettle was put into them when the Sargento Primero arrived to push on the assault. A 'double six' by the legion meant that the Molotov team were able to storm the Reanault FT tank, the first three did nothing, but the fourth caused three hits and the tank exploded, fortunately taking out two of the attackers. With that flank to the village open the Legion were able to launch an assault around the corner of the barricades hitting the Anachist defenders in the rear.

No Pasaran!

However it was a hard fought fight, the Legion squad lost the first round (by one) but being aggressive did not fall back. In the second round of combat the Legion were wiped out to a man but in the process finished off one Anarchist section and badly damaged another along with lightly wounding my Jefe de Centuria,

On my right flank, my barricades were compromised when the CV-33 - ignoring the open Jump Off Point - manoeuvred around the flank and started pouring fire into the defenders there forcing them to re-deploy.

The Renault burns!

It was now getting late and both sides had suffered tremendous casualties, but with us both being Die-Hards shock had no effect on us so were both able to man the barricades and push on attacks regardless. We decided to wrap up calling it a draw, I was on Force Morale six while James was on Force Morale seven.

What a great bloody game!

Thinking about what I would do differently, I think I would fight my Sections as two twenties rather than four tens, the Militia just don't have enough command dice and being Green soon get shot up! I also think that adding an MMG to one of the sections would be a smart move.

Having played this I think we need to do some tweaking on the Die Hards rule, it seemed that with us both not suffering from Shock we were only playing half the game. My initial thought is that Die Hards should suffer from Shock but only count half the shock markers on them.

All the figures and terrain are from James's collection. I'm working on my own an have already purchased / acquired a Sección of Moroccan Regulares, some 50mm mortars and a Panzer I of my own and will slapping on some paint soon.