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….

The Spanish Civil and Chaco Wars

The entire Chaco collection. There is a soon to be published book from Helion on the naval dimension - gunboats and such like - which I will add but other than some figures from Irregular that should be pretty much it.

The back of the box. This is an old school hex and counter game that is largely the same as the original, just a lot better looking!

I flirted with the Chaco war some years ago but never really did much with it. This proved to be a mistake and I blame Compass Games wholeheartedly for making me revisit it!

Many years ago I played an old GDW board game designed by Frank Chadwick and Marc Miller called, perhaps unsurprisingly, Chaco. At the time I only played the game and did little research into the war as a whole. My last dabble in the period was when Irregular Miniatures released their 15mm range which, although modest, had pretty much everything you needed to raise the opposing Bolivian and Paraguayan armies.

For a variety of what seemed like good reasons at the time, I quietly disposed of the whole lot as it had sat on the shelf of shame with little chance of progressing to the tabletop.

To bring this story up to date I noticed some while ago that Compass Games had taken the original game and brought it up to date in respect of the board and counters (it now has a mounted board with larger counters that are far more attractive than the original version) and so when Second Chance Games included it in their catalogue and then their sale, I snapped a copy up!

Naturally this meant that I would need to reacquaint myself with the period and this coincided with a couple of titles heavily discounted on eBay, along with the withering rump of an Amazon gift card. These additional titles were speedily acquired, along with an updated version of Adrian English’s The Green Hell entitled The Chaco War and published by Partizan Press in hardback. So where is this heading? Well the heart part of me would love to raise a couple of representative forces in 15mm, probably with the Portable Wargame in mind. The head however, is saying to exercise restraint. I will have to think about this as I have W-A-Y too many other things to think about, not to mention the small matter of an editorial deadline. We shall see. In any event there may be a short term occasional solution which I will explain at the end of this post.

The Spanish Civil War afloat. Again, another small project idea and like the Chaco War, something that I have looked at previously.

The naval dimension of the Spanish Civil War is something that I have looked at in the past but again, not in a sustained way. It is something I have in mind to revisit and so the inevitable fleshing out the library prior to looking at models has begun with the acquisition of the above. 1:3000th would be the scale of choice for this and mercifully it would need many models to have a representative set up. Again, one for the project list. The trouble is, there comes a point where all the small projects become a huge big project which usually means that things are either parked on the shelf of shame or disposed of!

Try before you buy….

As luck would have it, my old friend Mr. Nick Huband already has table ready forces for both the Chaco and the Spanish Civil War afloat so I reckon I might be bending his esteemed ear for a cheeky game or two in the not too distant future, purely in the interests of research, naturally….

Risings and Rebellions 1919 to 1939

The follow up volume to Small Wars and Skirmishes 1902 to 1918

Definitely some very entertaining looking campaigns to look at and all very Portable Wargameable !

 It was a pretty lean November as far as blog posts went. No particular reason for this other I have been beavering away on the rules for the new book. I think they are now there or thereabouts and so I am arranging a further test game next which will be the largest action fought with them so far. It should be fun!

In the meantime though, I have been able to pick up a few items on the acquisition list, all of which will find their way onto the blog in due course but today I shall focus on just one of them.

The ‘tribal’ block armies - originally designed for Zulus (predominantly brown) and Afghan/Mahdist/Arab types.

There is an abundance of ‘small wars’ in this book and the preceding volume (which I am awaiting delivery of) so for me, there is certainly plenty of mileage. Couple with my earlier acquisition of Colonial Armies of Africa 1850 to 1918 by Peter Abbott, I reckon that I have more than sufficient for needs in terms of inspiration. I am leaning towards using the block armies again - they have been sitting patiently in their storage boxes for way too long - but I am conscious of the fact that they may need a little upgrading. Again, nothing major, just a few minor additions. This option of course means that I can get into action far sooner than painting figures!

Painting figures? Moi? How very dare you.....

After a busy weekend due to an overnight stop in Ipswich with SWMBO for a very enjoyable music event I was this afternoon able to make a start on painting the first of the 40mm plastic figures for the 1930s Fezia and Rusland project.

I managed to find a box of assorted acrylic paints lurking in deep storage in the man cave - some GW and some from the Orcs Nest in London - which will be sufficient for my immediate needs although I will need to add a couple of shades to the selection.

The first batch of figures - 24 in all - are for the Ruslanders and the base coat for them in Khaki. The base uniform coat has been applied so next will be the details - equipment and flesh etc. It is funny though how the application of paint really emphasises just how bad these figures are in terms of details. To anybody that can remember the old Spencer Smith plastics you will know what I mean! I am enjoying the process though and will hope to get these finished in a couple of weeks or so.

It has been a long time since I painted plastic figures but I am keen to push on with these and get them into action. I have some terrain for use with the models and have also settled on how the tanks will take shape. They are going to look suitably 1930s but I will not be doing anything with them until the infantry for both sides is ready.

Fezia and Rusland....1935 style

It has been a pretty productive weekend both on the domestic and gaming front. This afternoon I was able to get the 50 x 40mm plastic figures for the 1935 Fezian and Rusland undercoated so the next step will be to tackle the painting in earnest. I have the colour schemes worked out and am already thinking about further additions - primarily support weapons and crews and any 'specials' I may want to add. Machine guns and mortars are the obvious first port of call but I will of course be looking at artillery crews - especially now as I have a good source of wheels.

The figures are going to be gloss varnished but I will be adding to the bases. My standard method is to add coarse sand to PVA and then paint and highlight the same and so I shall be doing this in due course. As befits armies operating in what is effect a desert environment the bases will be sand/brown/rocky/dusty and whilst deciding this I rediscovered a couple of bages of palm trees which will be ideal for what I am planning.

I have also been thinking about the whole tank thing. The 1930s was a great period of experimentation in respect of what tanks should look like and how they developed tactically. I want mine to reflect this and so will producing both anti tank and infantry support version - possibly even some machine guns armed types. I rather fancy cobbling together some armoured cars as well.

Lots to play around with then but the infantry must come first of course.

Tanks for the memory....

The 40mm Fezia and Rusland 1930s collection has just gained some armour! I have been pondering about how best to model some tanks for both sides in 40mm and was more or less resigned to scratch building some suitably generic looking vehicles. The main problem I was trying to avoid was one of table footprint. Any vehicles for this project need to fit on a Hexon tile which is 4" across the flat sides. Any vehicles would also need to be proportionally taller so that the figures looked right alongside. Bob Cordery mentioned a while ago that he had seen some tanks in a local pound shop so I made a mental note to scour these at the earliest opportunity. Up until now I had been unsuccessful but today that all changed.

Rather futuristic looking plastic tanks that look as though they would be home in Warhammer 40K

By no stretch of the imagination would I use these as they are but as the raw material to create something unique and more in keeping with how I visualise the tanks of the period looking they are ideal. You get two of the above for 99p and despite the almost Games Workshop Warhammer 40K look they are rather cleverly put together. the track sections detach and the white knob you can see protruding from the side is to wind up the motor. Needles to say that will be removed and so I took one to pieces. The engine has two rather nice wheels that are ideal for use on artillery gun carriages which is an added bonus (and saves me having to buy them!). The turrets are fixed and the strange radar dish at the rear comes off, as does the muzzle brake. I will certainly lose the gun barrel and will replaced it with something a little more reasonable in terms of calibre. The two figures are alongside so you can get an idea of the scale. All in all not bad for 99p - so I purchased four packs and immediately wished I had gotten six instead!

The Wilko pick and mix deal - with thanks to Chris Hardman for drawing my attention to the same

The next purchase was a little beauty! Wilkinsons are now operating a 'pick and mix' in their hardware section for nuts, bolts, screws, nails and washers. A small bag is £1.99 and the large is £2.99. In the past I have never used washers for figures - usually because the washers tended to be dearer than the equivalent use of a 1p or a 2p coin. In the above deal I was able to fill a large £2.99 bag with 166 30mm washers and 147 25mm washers which works out at less than a penny a go. They are also magnetic. The larger of the two sizes were used this afternoon to rebase the 50 odd 40mm figures I am working on - it was a darned sight easier than clipping and filing the 30mm plastic square bases they were originally mounted on I can tell you!

I am now back on course to get he 50 figures undercoated this weekend so that the painting can begin in earnest. I shall also spend some time looking at tanks - which is never a great hardship!

Creating the armies for a 1930s Imagi-nation

This is something of a no-brainer in many respects as the 'imagi-nations' in question are those two old adversaries of Rusland and Fezia. The historical situation as I envisage it is centred around a longstanding border dispute - longstanding as in centuries old. The rationale behind using this as a kind of causus belli is that when I tackle the 19th century the spade work in terms of the campaign map etc will already be in place.

The forces for the 1930 version of this continuing struggle are going to be very much in the nature of an experiment. To begin with I am using possibly the cheapest figures I have ever found and in a scale that does not lend itself well to such things as vehicles, artillery etc. Irregular Miniatures produce a large amount of usable kit in their 20th century range but, if I am honest, I rather fancy knocking it up myself. The tanks will be quite small in any event - machine guns and light calibre main guns at best - and I reckon that making a suitably generic series of simple vehicles should be easy enough - the figures are very crude so the models do not need to be super detailed. Artillery is a little more problematic but I shall only need a field gun and possibly a small calibre anti-tank gun in any event. Bob Cordery drew my attention to the Airfix 20mm 5.5" gun and suggested that with a wheel change and the addition of a simple shield would suffice for a infantry type gun. With the barrel cut down it should provide sterling service. It certainly got me thinking I can tell you.

Mental note: I must source some wheels scaled for 40mm - perhaps a call to that very nice Ian Kay at Irregular Miniatures may be in order!

Mortars and machine guns could be scratch built as well and I am thinking along the lines of something akin to a Hotchkiss for the Fezians and a Maxim for the Ruslanders - not sure about the wheeled version though!

The first order of business though is to get the infantry ready and I have spent some time on this today despite having hit a minor snag. Originally I had based the figures on a 3cm square plastic base from Peter Pig. It is a little on the large size so I decided to round off the corners. This has involved cutting off each corner and then rounding it off using a file. It is not difficult, just messy and time consuming and also has made my still recovering hands ache somewhat. The end result looks a lot better though and so I will be able to start the serious job of painting over the next few days.

Lion of the Desert

Lion of the Desert - the story of the latter years of Omar Mukhtar

This weekend has been one that turned out completely different from was originally planned - Christmas domesticity rearing its seasonal head once again - and the panting plan has gone right out of the window!

I will not bore you with all the tawdry details - suffice it say that much driving around, raking of leaves, redesigning the Christmas decorations and shopping - but the battleship painting has barely moved from last week. What I have managed to do though is to catch up on a film that I have never seen before - the Lion of the Desert starring Anthony Quinn and Oliver Reed. I recently picked up a cheap copy on Blu-Ray and I have to say I was really impressed! The whole campaign - about which I know absolutely nothing although I have some material on the earlier Sanussi Revolt and the Italo-Turkish War - would make for a really interesting wargames campaign.

Omar Mukhtar (played by Anthony Quinn) was fighting against the Italians since 1911 until he was captured and hung by the Fascist colonial forces under the command of General Rodolfo Graziani (Played by Oliver Reed).

During this time Mukhtar gave the better equipped and far more numerous Italian forces a real run around using his superior knowledge of the terrain to full effect.

I certainly need to find out more about the Italian occupation - starting with the original invasion during the war with Turkey.

The Birthday Weekend

For a variety of reasons I have not been anywhere near the blogosphere this weekend - chief of which is simply because I have been too tired. Friday was a particularly draining day; both mentally and physically and so the last couple of days, including my birthday on Saturday, have been spent relatively quietly.

However, there was still the small matter of my birthday on Saturday to celebrate and so the family duly rose to the occasion in its usual inimitable style. The birthday present haul was a very satisfying one with the gifts of interest to readers being a number of Blu-rays including the extended versions of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy - over 12 hours of Middle Earth - and also the extended version of The Kingdom of Heaven, the crusader epic by Ridley Scott. As well as various consumables (one can never have too much chocolate in my opinion....) I have also received £75 in vouchers for Waterstones so the library will be receiving some TLC in due course.

As far as the 42mm 1930s/WW2 project goes I was able to make some significant progress although not quite as much as I would have liked. The figures for the first batch of painting have been washed, cleaned up and based in readiness for the first round of treatment. This will be some form of sealer prior to being undercoated. I have more or less settled on the uniform schemes I shall be using and the style of painting I shall be employing. The three forces I shall be creating (the third has yet to be started) will use green, brown and grey respectively as the base colour. The paint style will be 'old toy soldier' as it suits the detail of the models better than anything more detailed. the only debate I am still having is whether or not to do anything with the bases. I am not sure properly textured and flocked versions would be within keeping with the tone of the figures and so plain and unadorned bases will probably be the order of the day. I will wait and see when the figures have been completed before I make a final decision on this one though.

Similarly, I am undecided about vehicles and artillery but I will fall off that particular bridge when I get to it - after the first batch of figures are completed..

A tiring day but one with optimism...

I have been off work today as my company gives you a free day on the occasion of your birthday (which is tomorrow) which was much appreciated. The day has been a tiring one though - not least of which because my son, SWMBO and I had to drive to Reading and back (nearly five hours for the round trip). I won't bore you with all the tawdry details but suffice it to say it was worth the trip and the outcome went a long way towards a particular goal.

After we had got home SWMBO decided that tackling the weekend shopping would be a good idea this afternoon rather than tomorrow and so after having undertaken this as well I am now feeling rather tired. However, I am going to tackle something on the gaming front and so I will be preparing the first of the figures for use with my 42mm 1930s/WW2 project. I previously mentioned that I am going to use 30mm square bases and so have a supply currently winging their way from Peter Pig. Inspired by Battle I have decided on the composition of the forces I will be aiming at from the outset. They are quite modest and can be added to as required in the future. I am going with the following organisation:

• 4 x 8 figure sections, each of an NCO (Smg), 2 x Smg figures, 3 x Rifles firing, 1 x Rifle advancing and 1 x grenade thrower.
• HQ of an officer, a radioman, a senior NCO and a Rifleman
• 2 x HMG each of two figures 
• 1 x Mortars with a crew of two figures 

I have yet to decide about artillery and vehicles although I have seen some rather cunning and top secret ideas currently in progress by a renowned fellow blogger.

The organisation started out as mirroring that in Battle but as written these were intended for 1944 -1945 whereas I am looking at much earlier so I will have no need for rocket launchers. I have fudged the line up slightly to allow for HMGs and a Mortar at quite a low level but as we are missing LMGs this does not seem too harsh - fewer HMGS than LMGs seems better compromise in my opinion.

I have been thinking about uniforms and have decided to go with green and brown as the base colours, one for each side and thinking ahead will use camouflage jackets for units designated as elite so they are easily identifiable. 

The next step will be ready the 84 figures I will be suing and so my plan is to have these based and undercoated before the end of the weekend.

Where did that come from?

I know, I know....but I can resist anything except temptation....

By now most readers of the blog will have gathered that I am a very single minded and determined person, not easily swayed by anything other than chosen path I happen to be on at the time....

I know, only kidding!

Today has been a pleasant day for a number of reasons. To begin with, I spent the morning at the Skirmish Plastic Soldier fair at Sidcup in Kent - originally planning to pick up some bits and pieces for my old toy soldier WW2 based collection. Despite some earnest rummaging I did not manage to get anything I set out to but I did come away with some cracking ideas that I will share in due course. I met up with some Skirmish stalwarts in the shape of Fran and Postie from the Rejects, Clint and Bob Cordery - with whom I spent a very pleasant half hour or so discussing projects many and varied.

We discussed the advantages that Postie would have if he was to get some air conditioning in his den (if only to avoid certain wargamers taking their clothes off when the temperature rose!) and also the the fact that as wargamers get older they appreciate their creature comforts rather more....

Bob was on fine form and regaled me with tales of his huge collection of Roco vehicles and the plans he has - as well as the Aladdin's cave that is his shed that, the contents of which are soon to be unleashed upon an unsuspecting public, once he has hacked his way, Indiana Jones-like, through the undergrowth to find it.

Those very nice people from Pilum Painting were present, eager to chat and listen to me droning on about my latest bout of project insanity as was also Dave Lanchester of David Lanchester Military Books who, as usual, managed to have a couple of items I simply could not do without.

The book you see in the picture above is just one of those and is something obscure even by my standards - but what an absolute treasure trove it is! Although it is less than 90 pages long this slim little hardback really punches above its weight in terms of the information contained therein. Lets see now, a usual checklist of a good book for a wargamer has the following:

• Maps
• Line drawings
• Colour uniform plates
• Organisation
• Orders of Battle
• Campaign history
• Biographies of some of the leading personalities.

Ron Weaver's book has them all covered and the colour plates are really good. The uniforms look like formal late Napoleonic types and there is plenty of colour to be seen as each of the Swiss Cantons had their own armed forces and uniforms. It would be easy enough to raise armies for this 'period' if needed but I have a rather different agenda with the contents of this book. There is much be inspired by - but to what end?

Well, that is an easy one to answer. I have absolutely no intention of fighting the Swiss Civil War of 1847, not now, not ever but that will not stop me using this book as a guide to some central European 'imagi-nation' type action. Off the top of my head you could merge some of the cantons into nations, call the entire country a continent, flatten some of the mountains, enlarge the lakes so you could factor in the naval dimension and away you go!

Now if only I could somehow add a Turkish frontier (possibly via Austria) this could work out rather nicely.

Joking aside, the potential for me with this is rather alarming albeit in a good way.

As a postscript, Switzerland has featured rather a lot for me recently so I am wondering if a higher power is at work - I have large business deal in the offing through work and centred on Geneva, Chelsea were beaten by a Swiss team at football during the week and now this....

Cue the X Files music....

The Chaco War - 1932 to 1935

The Osprey title covering the conflict

I have a confession to make. Were it not for the fact that Bob Cordery (Chaco War Blog Posts) has an interest in this war and had not only devised some rules but also produced some unit counters to use instead of figures (and thereby sowed this particular seed) it would have in all probability completely passed me by. I had never even heard of it!

However, and for a variety of reasons, I am now the proud owner of the above Osprey title which will serve as a good little primer to the conflict. I also have another title on the war set to one side and the news that our friends at Irregular Miniatures have launched a 15mm range for the war has absolutely no bearing whatsoever in this not-so-sudden interest in a new period.

9/4/13

We have added a 15mm Chaco wars range.

Paraguayans

CHAP 1	Infantry rifleman advancing	A
CHAP 2	Infantry SMG man advancing	A
CHAP 3	Infantry LMG man advancing	A
CHAP 4	Infantry engineer/standard bearer (please choose tool or flag-pole)	A
CHAP 5	Infantry officer with pistol	A
CHAP 6	HMG & 2 crew	F
CHAP 7	Cavalryman	B
CHAP 8	Horse holder and horse	B
CHAP 9	Mortar & 2 crew	F
CHAP 10	Mountain gun & 4 crew	J

CHAP 11	Field gun & 4 crew	J
CHAP 12	Howitzer & 4 crew	J

Bolivians

CHAB 1	Infantry rifleman advancing	A
CHAB 2	Infantry SMG man advancing	A
CHAB 3	Infantry LMG man advancing	A
CHAB 4	Infantry engineer/standard bearer (please choose tool or flag-pole)	A
CHAB 5	Infantry officer with binoculars	A
CHAB 6	HMG & 2 crew	F
CHAB 7	Cavalryman	B
CHAB 8	Horse holder and horse	B
CHAB 9	Mortar & 2 crew	F
CHAB 10	Mountain gun & 4 crew	J
CHAB 11	Field gun & 4 crew	J
CHAB 12	Howitzer gun & 4 crew	J

Also use our Renault FT17 tank from the WW2 range

100 piece armies (Paraguayan or Bolivian) £25

None whatsoever.

None.

(If I keep telling myself this for long enough I may even begin to believe it....)

It is obscure, little known and features some rather novel troops with a range of odd equipment including biplanes and Vickers 6 ton tanks so in honesty, what's not to like?