¡En el filo! - Renewed attack on Gran Salchichas.

Asaltos kick in the door of my newly made building

Yesterday evening saw the latest instalment of the Spanish Civil War campaign being fought out between James with his Anarchist Militia led by Durruti himself and myself with Moroccan Regulares.

Republicans celebrate the disabling of the Panzer I

Following on from the previous game and consolidation campaign turn James was down by 4 Asaltos and 2 Milicianos while I was down by 5 Regulares. The opinion of James' Commanding officer started at -3 while mine is currently at +2, likewise for the mens opinion James is at +1 while I am at +2.

As the previous attack on Gran Salchichas finished with a stalemate we would be playing the Attack & Defend scenario again, as in the last campaign phase James elected to dig in and pass the initiative he would have an extra set of barricades.

Due to my earlier losses I left one Peletone as normal and then combined the HQ runners and rifle section of the other Peletone. James fielded two teams of seven Asaltos and took two Milicianos from one of his twenties.

In the previous game not only did I fail to achieve the objective but I also lost the Panzer I to a Molotov Cocktail, James has been regaling the world of this feat, so it seemed only right that this should be included in this mission.

We looked at the photos of the previous game and set that part of the table up to contain the burning panzer, roadblock, church and building as per the previous game, but the rest reflected the new Nationalist angle of attack. Arrojo chose to attack the village of Gran Salchichas from a new angle so Durutti, having forced a stalemate in the last turn had  started building barricades to counter this and abandoned the area with the church and burning Panzer.

We rolled off for Force Morale and mine came up a respectable 9, however James rolled a 1, still modified to a 2 he would only be Force Morale 8, for the first time in the campaign, I would have the higher force Morale!

We then played out the Patrol Phase and the Jump-off Points ended up as per the aerial photograph. The Republicans in red spread along a road that ran past several houses, the Nationalists in blue clustered in a small copse and behind a building.

Milicianos debus and move to occupy the buildings.

I then rolled for my Force Supports and threw a creditable 7, my best roll of the campaign so far. Having promised not to use the Panzer I - it was after all still smouldering - I thought I should have some additional troops so added one section of Foreign Legion (5) and a Preparatory Bombardment (2). As he was at -1 for Force Supports James only had two available so chose to utilise the services of a Army Officer Advisor (2) - those re-rolls would come in handy. James also took the option of a Chain of Command dice and a length of barricades to add to the length of barricades he built in the previous campaign phase.

With the higher Force Morale, I took the first phase and deployed a Peletone of Regulares, placing the LMG team in the woods and the two rifle teams to the left of it. I also deployed Arrojo. James utilised his Chain of Command dice to end the turn and so stop my Preparatory Bombardment.

Milicianos in the woods

James then pretty much played his hand deploying the section of 10 Milicianos with the LMG in the woods on his left, the large section of 20 Milicianos behind the large building in the centre and his section of 18 Milicianos behind the building on his right. My LMG team was soon engaged in a desultory fire fight with the LMG armed militia .

Arrojo advanced with his two rifle teams towards the wood and field in the centre of the table. I deployed another Peletone of Regulares again the LMG team occupied the woods covering the large building to the fore while the single large team of Riflemen deployed on the left. I also deployed the Legion on my right behind the large building, to complete the disposal of my forces Sargento Primero Al-Makawi also deployed with the rifle teams on my left.

Arrojo and the Regulares advance

Soon the Asaltos were deployed, one section taking cover behind the barricades and another moving to support the LMG armed section on the left. The Milicianos on James' left and in the centre moved to occupy their respective buildings.

My Legion placed their LMG team in the church tower and were soon engaged in a fire-fight with the Asaltos behind the barricades. My Moroccan LMG continued it's duel with the Republican LMG and the first casualties fell, we both took a casualty and a load of shock. Al-Makawi had to leave the rifle teams and rush to rally the troops around the LMG. The Republicans also fell back into deeper cover to lick their wounds.

My envelopment continued. Teniente Arrojo was leading the riflemen into the centre, deploying two in the woods and one in the field led by himself while the Legion LMG provided fire support as their troops skirted the church and took up positions.

La Legion

The Milicianos were now starting to take their positions and return fire, soon another Regulare and a Legionnaire were down but I pushed on. A brisk exchange of fire with the Milicianos in the building on James' right put down all five of the Milicianos in there, and forcing a Morale test for the loss of a team. It was not all going the way of the Nationalist. The Republican LMG redeployed and tore into one of the Legionary rifle teams felling three of them.

With the Regulares rifle teams in position it was time now to start to bring up the LMG teams to offer support and soon they were deployed, one in the large central wood and the other on the low hill.

Seeing that I was soon about to outflank his position Durutti decided that now was the time to withdraw his troops before I started to contest his Jump-off points. A win to the Nationalists - Viva Espana!

The aerial photograph on the right explains the main manoeuvres.

The Moroccans had lost two Regulares and four Legionaries, the Republicans had seven Milicianos down. Due to the Force Moral Difference of 9 to 7 I did not lose any casualties while three more Milicianos are now dead and two more will miss the next game.

Checking for the Commanding Officers opinion, Teniente Arrojo is a rising star and goes from +2 to +4. Unfortunately, the Communist Commitee fails to be impressed with Durruti who drops from -3 to -5.

Again we rolled for the mens opinion, due to the low casualties Arrojo rises in popularity going from +2 to +5. Durutti still maintains support but drops from +1 to zero.

In more good news Arrojo recaptures the Panzer I and soon FahnenJunker Schmidtis able to repair the damage and get it going again.

About that Panzer !

Here are some more images from the game.

Regulares advance

Militia and Asaltos man the barricades

Solid base of fire and movement

That new building