The Spanish Civil War Afloat

Designed with the author’s Find, Fix and Strike WW2 naval rules in mind but would be readily usable with any rules set. From the pen of the renowned naval wargamer and all round good chap, Mr David Manley. Available as usual from Wargames Vault under his Long Face Games label.

The naval section of my Spanish Civil War library. I also have a copy of the 1922 to 1946 edition of Conway’s Fighting Ships. More than enough to be getting on with methinks!

Following on from my acquisition of a painted 1:3000th Spanish Civil War naval collection awhile ago, I have been occasionally dipping in to my modest selection of books on the subject with a view to getting some games in. I was in no particular hurry to do so, simply because I needed to rebase the models and also add a few more models to the collection. Two things then happened to push this idea a little further up the ‘to do’ list - the release of the latest offering from the indefatigable David Manley and the appearance of a new book on the subject.

A more detailed description of A Fleet Torn Asunder and much more besides can be found on Bob Cordery’s blog - Wargaming Miscellany.  I can add little to what he has written other than to say it really is a cracking piece of work. 

The Fleet that Fought Itself by Laurence R. Heinz (published by Seaforth, ISBN 978 1 0361 1398 8) tells the story of the naval dimension of the Spanish Civil War from what I would describe as ‘the big picture’ level. There are plenty of maps and descriptions of various battles, blockades and bombardments, along with technical details so all in all it is a pretty good one volume history from what I would have read thus far. A worthy addition to the library.

Meanwhile, back to the ironclads….