El Asalto a San Sebastián - an SCW Solo Game

 I have finally got around to giving a few of my 20mm SCW figures an outing. I did have an abortive attempt about a week ago, using the Chain Reaction Three rules again, but they were too finicky for more than a very few figures on the active side, so this time, I used the two-page rules Andrew created for skirmish/Pulp/fantasy type games, that I have used a couple of times for solo Pulp actions. 

I had to add a few bits to create a kind of AI for the defenders, but it seemed to work ok, so hopefully you will find the following report and the large number of photos of interest!

August 1936, and the recently airlifted Army of Africa strikes out across Extremadura, in an attempt to reach the capital of the Republic in Madrid. Small towns and villages on their route are defended by hastily thrown together local Republican forces.

One such place is the small village of San Sebastián. A force of Moroccan Regulares commanded by Captain Pablo Cortez and Lieutenant Pedro Estefan advance on the village from the south, unsure if they will meet any resistance or not.

The village of San Sebastián -  the Regulares will arrive from the bottom table edge. The red dice mark potential deployment locations of the Republican defenders. The attacking Nationalists had a force level of 30 points and the defenders 20 points. I split the Republicans into four "commands" and wrote each of them on a piece of paper, along with two blanks, so I had pieces of paper numbered 1-6. I then rolled a red (for location) and white (for the paper) D6 and placed the appropriately numbered paper in the right deployment zone.

The Nationalist forces comprised Captain Cortez, a grade 3 leader, Lieutenant Estefan, a grade 2 leader. two grade 1 junior leaders, 2 grade 1 light tanks and 15 trained soldiers.

The leader of the Regulares, Captain Pablo Cortez, a veteran of ten years combat in North Africa

Where the Republican defences ended up.

The Nationalists advance in three columns. 

To begin with, a roll of 6 on a D6 was required to activate one of the Republican units.

It took quite a while for the first Republican unit to be revealed - the Nationalists reached the outskirts of town, I reduced the required roll to a 5 or 6 - still no defenders appeared, then, with the left-hand Nationalist column moving down the main street of San Sebastián, the required roll dropped again to 4 5 or 6 - and finally, a success was rolled in the Republican phase. 3 was rolled for the paper to be turned over - and it was a blank!

Meanwhile, the Nationalist forces continue a nervous advance across open ground in the hot Spanish sun.

The left-hand group, led by a PzKfw I, breaches the hastily erected makeshift barricade at the entrance to the town square.

In the centre, the bulk of the infantry follow Captain Cortez into the outskirts of the village. Evidence of the preparatory Nationalist artillery bombardment is all around them in the smoking ruins of the buildings.

To the right, a small group under a tough Moroccan NCO follows the second Panzer into the outskirts of the small town.

Lieutenant Estefan leads his men down the main street, which is still eerily silent, apart from the rumbling clank of the advancing panzer.

Nothing stirs as the sun beats down on the Nationalist troops.

Captain Cortez feels the sweat run down his spine, is the small town undefended after all?

But no, on the heights where the church of San Sebastián is built, a sudden movement catches his eye - a Republican T26 tank bursts into view. right on the flank of the advancing panzer!

The T26 fires at advantage, given it has sprung an ambush - three D6, counting the two best scores = 9 + 2 for a medium tank. The Panzer is hit and brews up (I realised later I got this wrong, as a light tank, the panzer has a skill value of 1 and should have taken a hit marker that can subsequently be rolled for removal, ah well!)

We will just have to carry on with the story, despite that slight faux pas :)

With the sudden arrival of the T26 on the battlefield, the Nationalist leaders pull their infantry back from the exposed positions they had been in. The Republicans pass another reveal test for the marker right next to Lieutenant Estefan - its turned over to reveal - another blank! 

This means all the actual Republican defenders are clustered together on the hill beside the church - the next die roll reveals a Miliciana junior leader and MG.

And in the next couple of Republican activations, their entire force appears, a mixed force of FAI/CNT militia lead by Lieutenant Maria Sanchez.

Having lost their tank support, the Moroccan NCO leads his five men back through the cover of the maize field and towards the tree lined road into town.

At this point I did another improvisation, using the reveal number of each unit to identify who would move in any Republican turn - 1 was the NCO and MG, 4 was the T26 5 was Lieutenant Sanchez and 6 was a single junior leader. I also decided that as most of the Republicans were within 25mm of each other, if I rolled 5, the Lt. could move the entire force as a group move.

Sgt Vladimir Ivanchok advanced his T26 and fired at the group of Nationalist infantry before him. Despite moving, the Russians scored 10, with the 2 for a medium tank added - the Nationalists rolled 11 - so close, but a Regulare bites the dust!

In the next Republican turn, the T26 moves and fires again, this time scoring 10 +2 - 7.62mm rounds blast into the Moroccan troops and a saving roll of 7 means another of Captain Cortez's men falls lifeless to the hard Spanish ground.

I realised at this point that I had forgotten some important elements of the rules, such as infantry can move twice if they don't fire, and the vehicles should move 12cm plus a D6 extra. I started doing this from this point onwards.

The group of Regulares lead by the NCO had now made their way back to the cover of the tree lined road into town, and commenced firing on the Republican infantry - their three 5's caused a hit on the junior leader.

I realise several photos of dice are not that exciting - but I had to record some of these scores - both sides were rolling incredibly!

Above, Moroccans moved and fired so roll 3 D6 and add the lower scores - it was still a ten - but the Republicans saved!

Then Lieutenant Estefan went one better and rolled 3 x 6 - add his ability level of 2, and that 14 - impossible for a standard infantry man to save, so one Republican miliciano, drops dead.

The second Panzer advances up the hill to confront the Miliciana NCO and MG gunner. Its twin MG's blaze away but to no effect.

The tank commander decides to crush the red bitches and drives straight at them - but more amazing dice rolling ensues...

The panzer rolled a 9 + 1 for light tank...

The Milicianas did even better in their saving throw and dodged round the side of the church to safety!

After having rolled the Republican Junior Leader or the MG crew for several turns in a row, the Republicans finally rolled a 4 and activated the T26, which swung around and fired at disadvantage against the PzKfw - 3 x D6, count the two lower scores.....see below

Yes, another unsavable hit - 12 +2 from the T26, the best the panzer could possibly do is 12 +1, so it took a hit marker.

The Miliciana NCO and MG gunner repositioned by the church and ready to engage the group of Regulares lead by Lieutenant Estefan.

The panzer pivoted at the top of the hill and poured MG fire into the Republican infantry below, but to no effect. The T26 fired again, scored an 8 +2 for its skill value - and the panzer saved on a 10 + 1 for its skill value!

Meanwhile, Captain Cortez skillfully repositioned his veteran infantry, so they were obscured from the T26 by the ruined building on the outskirts of the village, but themselves had a clear LOS to the Republican infantry led by Lieutenant Sanchez.

Another series of extreme dice rolls - I never do this in a face-to-face game with an actual opponent!

Looking at my notes, I believe this represents a series of throws that resulted in the death of Miliciana Lieutenant Maria Sanchez

The writing was now on the wall. The second panzer inflicted a couple of casualties on the Republican infantry before succumbing to a double 1 blunder and becoming unserviceable!

The T26 and reduced numbers of militia men and women continued their staunch resistance, but it was an unequal struggle and the professional soldiers of the Army of Africa whittled down their numbers with a blaze of accurate rifle fire. 

The miliciana NCO had led her MG gunner through the small, cobbled alleys of San Sebastián to pop up behind Captain Cortez's Moroccan troops. They managed to get a shot in and kill one of the moors before Lieutenant Estefan pulled a number of the Regulares back to man the barricade. Exposed in the middle of the sun baked square, the Republican girls chose discretion over Spanish machismo, and ducked back into cover.

The defence of San Sebastián is at an end - only a single miliciana remains alive, and she beats a hasty retreat, covered by the T26, the threat of which keeps the moors in cover as she makes her escape.

The few remaining Republican heroines of the Assault on San Sebastián (all the men were killed, funny that!)

And to the victor, the spoils. Captain Cortez and his hard bitten Regulares take control of the town, as some cavalry move through to try to run down the retreating Reds. Tonight, they will rest, and remember their fallen comrades, but tomorrow, the advance will begin again. 

That all worked out quite well and I think I can use these rules for games of this size or even a bit larger with no real problems. Next time, I will probably reduce the amount of detail on what die rolls occurred etc, but I really was surprised by how many really good scores I rolled for both sides in this game. Its also good that the "AI" allowed the Republicans to put up a good fight but didn't let my natural sympathies to their side of the war colour how the game went or the ultimate result!

Finally, on Saturday, we had a day out with a couple of friends, and drove down to the Waikato to reprise our visit to Waihou (the Blue Spring) at Putaruru, which we last visited a couple of years ago (see here Bydand: Road Trip (1808534.blogspot.com))

Following are a few images of the trip for those who like to see our great outdoors :)

The two wives club, mine on the left.

A waterwheel that was installed in the thirties to generate power for one of the farm cottages (I think) the squeaky tune is just a fluke, when we were on the way up, it was just a single squeak, squeak sound, but by the time we got back, it had trnasformed to this!

Late lunch in Tirau, including a couple of these - great to have a sober driver for a change, I had a nice snooze on the two-hour trip home!

Thanks for visiting and please do leave a comment!