Near Cordoba, July 1936 - People's Militia vs. Penninsular Army

I finally got my militiawomen and militiamen painted up and ready for action. I don't quite have enough to field a full platoon, so they're being "stiffened" with some Civil Guard for the time being. Time to see how they play on the table. I've been warned by those who would know that militia are difficult to play given their lack of command assets and general fragility. Let's see how they work!

Briefing:

On July 17th, the Rebel generals began their coup in Morocco and strategic cities and towns in Spain itself. While taking Morocco was a given, the rebels faced a harder time on the Peninsula than they were expecting, no thanks to the Popular Front Government in Madrid.  Marxist trade unions and political organizations called for the arming of the populace, as to them the military coup was proof that the army could not be trusted. Prime Minister Casares Quiroga turned down the offer of assistance from these groups the day after the coup began, believing that the rebel officers could be dealt with by existing forces, and that the coup would not succeed in Spain itself.

            The leftist trade unions Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) declared a General Strike on the 18th in response, effectively mobilizing their forces. They either broke out weapons caches which they'd retained from previous times of trouble or else seized weapons from government controlled armories and tried to stop the rebel coup themselves.

            Cordoba fell quickly to the Nationalist Rebels in the first few days of the coup, the Military Governor Ciriaco Cascajo being part of the conspiracy to overthrow the newly elected government. Arresting the civilian governor and with his lapdog "Don Bruno" began bloody reprisals against the 'reds' among the populace. Two thousand people were killed in the first weeks.

            With such ruthlessness, the loyalist elements and leftist militias were unable to put up a fight and Cordoba fell almost completely. However, on the outskirts the rag-tag militia did a little better. With some help from loyal members of the paramilitary Guardia Civil (most of whom sided quickly with Cascajo and Bruno), they gathered some small arms from the Guardia station and determined to do what they could to prevent further gains by the rebels in the area. Seizing a delivery of weapons intended to reinforce Governor Cascajo in Cordoba, they now stubbornly hold the road to Seville. The Governor, needing to link up with the other rebel officers, orders Don Bruno out with a company of Peninsular Army to destroy the undisciplined reds and open the way for Franco and the other rebel officers which are flying into Seville on German planes from their bases in Africa.

            Will the brave milicianos hold out and frustrate the rebel plan, or will they give way before the cruel Don Bruno?

The scenario is "Attack/Defend" from the CoC book, and my militia is facing a "peacetime" force of Peninsular Army, untested in battle, but loyal to Governor Cascajo and the Rebel Generals.

Rolling for force morale, Fritz and I got opposite rolls on the die. He ended up with 8 morale to start, while I had an ungodly 11. We both had  -2 to the die initially for being Green, but I declared that I was taking "Highly Motivated Militia" which turns that -2 into a +1. Thus, I ended up with an unbelievable 11 morale. These militia were going to be hard to drive off.

The patrol phase went very well for the militia. The army gets 4 free moves, but has to start on the table edge, while the defenders get to start 18" in. Fritz, playing the Nationalists, kept his four markers in tight formation, trying to take the center of the board.  We locked down very quickly.  He ended up with three jump off points very close together. One behind the fence at the top of the vine-planted hill, one in the field behind a hedge, and the last at the table edge behind the field.

Mine were much further apart, possibly too far.  One was near the large barn...

Another at the center, behind a stone wall at the bottom of the vine-planted hill.

And the last was inside the house on the far left.  Useful in presenting a wide front, but as it turned out, these points couldn't easily support each other.

The enemy jump off points. The third is just barely visible (a wheel) at the top left.

Rolling for support saw Fritz got 7 points for his Peninsular Army.  I got half that, plus an additional +9 due to the difference in the quality of our forces, allowing some serious upgrades. Knowing I'm limited to only 4 command dice to Fritz's 5, I refrained from taking lots of extra units that might never activate.

I took: 'El Hombre', an Adjutant, a roadblock, molotov cocktails, LMG for a squad, a MMG for a squad, and upgraded the platoon to "Highly Motivated Militia". I also bought a Bilbao armored car, which was the first thing I was able to deploy onto the table.

Fritz took a UNL-35 Armored Car (yes, I know its anachronistic, but I didn't have any Tiznao vehicles), two LMGs, and a 70/16 Field Gun. The roadblock once again turned out to be one of the game's MVPs. Due to the heavy hedge on the left and the stone wall on the right, Fritz had an unenviable choice to make when he deployed the armored car. Try to cut across the fields (slowly), and spend many phases trying to find a good position, or drive right up to the roadblock and park there, essentially making the car into a stationary gun. He chose the later.

The field gun also came on, hoping for a shot at the Bilbao.

The barn on the Militia's right had a solid line of sight from all of its windows to the army's jump off point at the top of the hill. So, I deployed a section, including the MMG, into it, along with my senior leader, who I made sure to place downstairs and out of line of sight of the enemy. As the front of the building is open, we allowed him to still give orders, but he was considered "unattached".  This, I think, is the key to winning as militia. Don't let your one leader die.

The Bilbao moved up and began a long range duel with the field gun.

Doing some damage...

It also found a better parking spot, giving it a clear view of the enemy gun. It also had the advantage of totally blocking the UNL-35's line of sight to a very large extent.

In short order, the field gun crew was pinned, making it very difficult to actually kill the car. It reserved its fire for the house, wherein I'd deployed another section.

With both the field gun and the armored car concentrating fire on the farmhouse, I made a call and decided that it was pointless to try and stay inside the building. I moved them outside, out of line of sight of both the car and the gun.

Fritz brought on his main leader to shore up the gun, chipping away at its shock.

And then deployed both of his main sections at once. One among the vines at the top of the hill...

And the other in the field nearby. As his army was rated green as well, he had a hard time achieving good frontage on deployment (4" from the JoP doesn't give you a lot of space).

Both sections took aim at the militia which had recently vacated the farmhouse to significant effect. As they caught the section in the open, it took extra shock (part of the militia rules).

Needing to cover them, I brought a section on at the center, backed up with an LMG, hoping to divide the enemy's fire.

With that section firing, backed up with the MMG on the right, the section at the top of the hill was in for a rough time.

Meanwhile, I sent my farmhouse section back into hard cover, where they immediately came under fire from the gun again, pinning them. At this point, with no leader attached and my senior leader entirely across the table, I knew this section was out of the fight.

The firefight largely stayed at effective range, with bullets whipping through the vines. With my advantage in cover (the stone wall), I felt confident that I'd win the firefight in the long run, even if it cost me.

The section in the farmhouse, reduced to three men (well, one man and two women), finally broke and made a run for it, costing me a force morale point. I was still two higher than my opponent.

I focused all of my fire on the top of the hill.

And with the amount of fire being thrown down, it really started to mess them up. Two of the three teams were pinned, and the LMG was firing at -2 dice. Worse, the junior leader was knocked unconscious for the rest of the turn, so there was no one to manage shock (also a morale hit). He was forced to deploy his second senior leader to deal with the shock.

At this point, Fritz realized the trouble he was in and said something to the effect of "that damned hill is going to cost me the whole battle".  I got a double phase, and pounded the hell out of them, triangulating my fire from three sources. The Bilbao on the left with its MG, the section firing from the barn on the right with its tripod-mounted MMG, and the section at the bottom of the hill with a LMG. The sheer volume of dice was breathtaking. Especially as they were all firing on green troops into the light cover of vines and fences.

Fritz followed suit and concentrated fire on the section at the bottom of the hill, which appeared to be the weak link (and it was).

Thankfully, I'd kept my last section in reserve and moved them into the same area to bolster the line. It was clear that the first section there was going to break soon enough.

Yet one of the army's teams broke first, dropping their morale to a 6.

In the return fire, the inevitable happened...

The pinned section at the center finally broke, making for the rear.

However, the other section had no shock, and replaced them on the line. With Fritz's section on the hill rapidly breaking, he wouldn't be able to bring quite as much firepower to bear.

Realizing his predicament, he started going after the broken sections, hoping to wipe them out and force more morale roles. We noticed something interesting about the militias - no leaders and no subteams means that a destroyed section only forces a maximum of 2 rolls for morale, while a destroyed army section (which is admittedly far more robust) forces a maximum of 10 rolls.  With my morale as strong as it was from the start, Fritz really needed to wipe out those broken teams in order to have any hope of winning.

Between the roadblock and the Bilbao blocking it, the UNL-35 was pretty much out of the fight, lacking anything to shoot at.

Finally, the army section on the hill fragments, a second team breaking. His senior leader takes a wound in the fight, and the broken team contains both the wounded senior leader and the unconscious junior leader. This forces a massive loss of morale. Fritz moves to withdraw the LMG team to prevent more hits to morale.

Fritz is now at 3 force morale. The scenario specifies that he needs to break the defender and retain at least 3 morale. If he loses any more, the game is over.

Desperate, he tries to pick of more broken soldiers.

He successfully wipes out a section, dropping my morale to a 7.

With hill vacated, the barn on the right has no line of sight on the enemy. The hill utterly blocks their view. As two of my sections are out of the action, and one still taking fire in a weak position, I can't afford to have my last section (or the MMG) out of the action. I order them out of the building.

The section on the bottom of the hill is starting to show signs of wear.

Don't worry comrades, we're coming!

The army continues to shoot down anyone who runs. Do we have commissars hidden among them?

Seeing me vacating men from the barn, Fritz puts the remaining LMG team from the broken section on overwatch, covering the hill.

I get a double move, and make a run for it. The LMG cuts down a Guardia, and delivers significant shock to the team.

The MMG is slower, and still has no LoS. My senior leader is still holding back. No one likes being shot at.

But then I realized that the game was already over. I had a full chain of command die, and Fritz had a junior leader in a broken team. I used the CoC die to end the turn, causing the team and the leader to rout from the board, forcing another morale check, which cost him two points, dropping him to an abysmal 1, and making the scenario unwinnable. I still retained 7 morale, so the militia definitely retained control of the Seville-Cordoba road, making life for Don Bruno and his allies a little harder.

¡Viva la Revolución!

This battle provoked quite a bit of thought in me, bringing up questions about game design re: militia and tactics while playing them. I'm hoping to share my very inconclusive thoughts in another post soon.

People's Militia, Arise!

Here they are, my freshly painted "People's Militia" for Chain of Command. I don't quite have enough of them for a full platoon (41 figs), so I've filled out their number with 8 loyalist Civil Guards.  At least, that is, until Minairons releases its new Militiamen box sometime this Autumn.

The group is built around a core of Minairons Militiawomen which are just gorgeous sculpts, and as usual needing next to no clean-up.  All of the male figures, including the Civil Guard are from Irregular. The militiamen type figures are from their WWII French Resistance line, and by and large they look pretty good. Everything is 20mm of course.

I'm particularly impressed with the Militawomen's weapon teams which come with these sandbags.

Civil Guard. I really like how they look. I may need to work towards a full platoon of these.

Aragon Front - Foraging Party - Chain of Command Introduction game.

My new wargaming buddy Michael has been wanting to try Chain of Command for some time, and that time has now arrived. Break out the armies!  I wanted to keep things simple for this introductory game, so we're playing "the Patrol" scenario, rolling a mere 1 for support. Michael loves context for his games, so I sent him the following briefing:

Late Summer, 1937 on the Aragon Front.

After the tumultuous events of the early days of the war, the Aragon front, stretching for over 200 miles of rural land, much of it sparsely populated, has been more or less static. The Republican positions had until recently been under the command of revolutionary militias such as the POUM and CNT which have recently been made illegal by the central government, and its columns finally subsumed into the regular army. An additional 40,000 men have been sent into the area, perhaps as much to hold the line as to keep an eye on the demoralized and bitter militias that still nominally hold the hills in the name of the Republic. While the region presents many tempting targets for the Republic, Zaragoza above all, the political divisions and the needs of other fronts keep things relatively quiet in Aragon.

For the Nationalists, manpower shortages have limited reinforcements to the Aragon front. Generalissimo Franco knows he can only concentrate his force effectively on one front at a time and has dedicated himself to destroying the Republican Northern Zone on the coast of the Bay of Biscay. Yet the city of Zaragoza, the capital of Aragon and one of the few industrial centers to support the Rebel Officers, remains an crucial location for the Nationalists, one which must not be lost. Therefore, the front is not completely neglected, being held by defensive formations. Like the men on the hills opposite them, these soldiers have little to call on in the way of support.

As it stands in the late summer of 1937 the Aragon front is quiet, the silence broken by occasional sniper fire from hill to hill, or on the foraging parties that snake their way through the dry and parched valleys in search of water and food.

You, as the commanding officer of your platoon, have sent a foraging party down into a valley that is known to have a well and an orchard. Unfortunately, there's been an encounter with their opposing number in "no man's land", in this case a farm between the lines. This encounter will be a brief flashpoint shattering the quiet of the Aragon front, drawing in men from both sides in an effort to bloody the other's nose and maybe grab some water for their canteens.

The Patrol Phase was pretty brutal in a way. You roll for the third of the long edge you will deploy from, I rolling for the center, and Michael taking the corner (upper left of the below photo). While he was able to lock my left marker down quickly, thereby securing the large stable and courtyard, I was able to lock him down in the vineyard on the left. The effect of this is that we ended up playing this game on perhaps 1/4 of the total table. It didn't leave Michael much room to maneuver - I offered to restart, but he refused.

We both rolled low for force morale, his Republicans starting as an 8 and my Nationalists as a 9.

I didn't take as many images as normal as I was teaching the rules.  My first few moves however were very aggressive, as I had a run of 3 phases in a row before he even got to deploy anything at all. Deploying a section near the jump-off point on the road, I was able to get most of the section into the small house. Below, one straggler didn't quite make it inside.

Finally getting to go, Michael deployed his section into the vineyard opposite the house, immediately jumping into a firefight. Deploying my second (and last) section on the same jump off point, I was able to catch some of his men in the open.  It was risky, as my two other jump off points were now unprotected, and Michael's two other sections were still unaccounted for.

To cover the other jump off point, I put my LMG team on overwatch covering the courtyard, since I'd originally put them on the upper floor, making them useless in the current firefight, as there aren't any windows up there facing the vineyard. While one team on overwatch isn't that much of a real threat, it was enough of one psychologically. Michael hesitated on several occasions to put men out there, and that was enough for me.

With the one window opening onto the vineyard, rifle fire was pretty ineffective, so I used covering fire (trying to show as many different options as possible) to suppress much of the front line, while the second section opened up en mass.  His poor Republicans were getting torn apart. His junior leader was quickly killed, forcing a morale reduction and making it impossible to deal with the shock.

This close range combat was pretty one-sided, but with the other approach covered by the house, Michael decided to deploy another section into the vineyard, along with his senior leader to help with shock. Things didn't go well at first.

Finally, desperate to break out of the terrible position, the Republicans ordered their fresh section to charge the house. With the gradual accumulation of casualties from the firefight, and a rather poor roll on my part, they were able to clear the house. However, they took significant shock and casualties, and the senior leader was knocked unconscious!

The previous inhabitants were forced back 18" and were pinned by the action, the junior leader killed in the melee. Yet none of the teams were broken or destroyed, keeping my morale at a 6 while Michael's dropped to a 5.

Returning the favor, my other section took advantage of the enemy's disorganization to try and retake the house. Having greater numbers, far less shock, and conscious leaders, the Nationalists were successful, completely wiping out the section inside. With three teams, a section, and a senior leader killed in the fight, there was no way to keep the Republican morale intact, and it dropped to zero, ending the game.

In all, by far the quickest game of CoC I've played to date, taking about 2 hours from patrol phase to finish. With so much concentration in such a small area, with all combat happening at close range, and with us throwing everything into two close assaults, it was also phenomenally bloody. I think I lost half my platoon for this "win."

We can only hope that the men find some seriously tasty water in those buildings.