¡En el filo! - el Puente de Queso

Durutti is dead and his column is scattered. Those Milicianos caught by the Moroccans have been dealt with out of hand while many of those who made it back to the Republican lines were summarily executed as defeatists and deserters by their Communist 'allies'.

Following the deaths of Teniente Arrojo and Sergento Primero Al Makawi, el Coronel has put the Caid, Al Alambri, in charge of the Sección while Sergento Masfiwi is promoted from leading one of the Pelotones to become the Sergento Primero. 

To block the Nationalist advance on el Puente de Queso the Republicans have rushed a company of 5th Legion veterans to the front. El Coronel has provided the Sección with a draft of reserves and promised Al Alambri that this could be his day. The Soldados shoulder their rifles and prepare to assault the village around el Puente de Queso.

The Caid leads the attack

Following on from the previous campaign games the Republican Militia is no longer a fighting force, their Jefe is dead and most of the men are dead, captured or scattered. James will instead be fighting with a Secciones of 5th Regiment, taking the Regular option with four Command Dice. The Moroccan Regulares were in much a better shape, both Senior Leaders were dead, but a draft of replacements bought the Sección back to pretty much full strength.

I set up the table with my river and bridge, but when James arrived he bought his river and it was much more impressive, but too wide for my bridge so the battle changed from el Puente de Queso to el Vado en el Queso.

James balanced the forces by adding two LMG, an army officer advisor and the T-26 that he had been itching to use all campaign.

Rolling for Force Morale, I was at +2 while James' new force was at +1. I rolled a 4 so was at Force Morale 11 while James unfortunately rolled a 1 was was at Force Morale 8.

We played out the Patrol Phase and ended up with the Jump-off points as per the image on the right. I then rolled for Force Supports and rolled a 7 that was modified to a 9, choosing a Pre-game Barrage, a pelotones of Foreign Legion, an Adjutant and two VB Launchers. James spent his four points on two teams of 6 Milicianos.

The Regulares took the first phase and things started very well, I double-sixed the first phase so deployed a Pelotones of Regulares with Sergento Masfiwi on the Jump-off on my left and then immediately ran them towards the Jump-off point between the building and the ford on the subsequent phase. James tried to counter by bringing on the T-26 and a Pelotones of Milicianos but they were disrupted by the barrage and did not arrive.

Republican Milicianos

Urged on by Sergento Masfiwi the Regulares pressed their advantage and were soon holding the Republican Jump-off without any opposition.

The barrage continued to be effective, but the Republicans managed to deploy a Pelotones of Milicianos on the Jump-off on the ford although the fires was desultory and the Moroccans soon started making used of the ground to take cover.

The Nationalists pressed on, the Legionaries pushed up the centre while the other Pelotones of Moroccans pushed up the right. Soon the T-26 arrived and was pouring fire into the Regulares on the left with some effect. The Jefe summoned his Milicianos and covered by the LMG team the two rifle teams assaulted one of the rifle teams, but I used a Chain of Command dice to move Sergento Masfiwi and his team into the fight. This was a resounding victory to the Moroccans, for the loss of four Soldatos and a light wound on Masfiwi they had wounded the Republican Sub-Jefe and killed all but two of the Milicianos who retreated swiftly back over the ford. The Republicans were down to Force Morale 4 while the Nationalists were only reduced to 9 due to the wound on Masfiwi.

La Legion advance

Due to the presence of the T-26 and the LMG team remaining from that section Masfiwi and his men were unable to take advantage. However the Caid, Al Alambri was pushing on up the other flank and had soon secured another Republican Jump-off. The Republicans countered by deploying another Pelotones of Milicianos but these were soon under fire from three flanks, the Legion in the centre, the LMG team that had accompanied the troops on my left and the entire Pelotone that Al Alambri was leading.

Al Alambri rousted his accompanying team and charged into the Milicianos, taking a wound himself they destroyed completely the opposing section. We were now at Force Morale 8 while the Republicans had collapsed to 3 and were now on only two Order Dice.

Scant resources contest the ford

The end was nigh for the Republicans, Al Alambri manoeuvred his team around a building and then joined them with another rifle team, under covering fire from his own LMG and that of the Legionaries he launched an assault on the Republican LMG team scattering them, with Force Morale two and me sitting on two of the Republican Jump-off points I ended the turn and caused their Force Morale to collapse.

At the end of the game the Republicans were at Force Morale 0 while my Nationalists were still on a very respectable eight.

I had had two senior leaders wounded and 14 Soldatos were down, for James he had a Senior Leader wounded, a Senior Leader dead and 26 Milicianos had been killed. The Legionaries I had taken in support were practically untouched, their only part in the battle was to provide a modicum of fire support with their LMG and to keep up the pressure in the centre.

Al Alambri pushes on his troops

The 'man of the match' award though must go to my pre-game bombardment, I had three phases before the Republicans were able to deploy anything on table so James was on the back foot from the start. James also admits to making the mistake of getting carried away in the Patrol Phase and deploying his Jump-off both too far forwards and too spread out allowing me to easily over-run them and preventing him from concentrating his forces to defend the ford.

This was a fine win for the Nationalists but rather an unsatisfying 'Death of a 1000 cuts' for the Republic.

The campaign is now over, many of the characters are dead, but the Republicans were pushed out of the village of Gran Salchichas and el Vado en el Queso is now in Nationalist hands. It's been a great series of games, but the Republicans really do struggle against the Regulares. In a couple of weeks, James and I will have another one-off game allowing me to give the newly painted Falange an outing and then we will be into a new campaign, this time I get to be the victims, errr.... Republicans.

¡En el filo! - The story so far

Following the previous game where Durutti and his column of Anarchists made a brave but futile stand at La Taberna against Teniente Arrojo with his Sección of Moroccan Regulares I thought I ought to do a round up.

At the start of that game Duruttis force had so far in the campaign lost 5 Milicianos and 6 Asaltos, also 2 Milicianos would miss this game. I had lost 5 Regulares so far in the campaign and had none sitting out this mission.

Durutti started at a -5 for the Commanding Officers opinion while his Mens' opinion was at 0. Arrojo was much better placed with a Commanding Officers opinion  of +4 while the Mens' opinion was +5.

The toll in Delaying action was huge, although the Nationalists had won the mission the Republicans had killed Teniente Arrojo and Sergento Primero Al Makawi along with 19 Regulares and 12 Legionaires out of action.

On the Republican side Durutti had taken three critical wounds and 32 C.N.T. Militia, 8 U.G.T. Militia and 11 Asaltos were down.

We did not think that the campaign would be able to continue but I have rolled up for the results.

As the difference between the Force Morale was five I immediately get back 5 Regulares, 3 more are also returned, while 4 miss the next game and 7 are dead outright, bringing the total Moroccan dead to 12.

The Nationalist Commanding Officers rating goes up to +6 while the mens' rating goes up to +6 despite the loss of popular Sergento Primero Al Makawi.

It is not so good for the Milicianos of the 32 casualties, 16 are out of the campaign for good and 8 miss the next game bringing the total Militia dead to 21. The Asaltos have 5 dead ( 11 in total ) and 3 miss the next game.

The Commanding Officers rating decreases to -6 and the mens' opinion decreases to -3

As for the officers, on the Nationalist side  Arrojo and Al Makawi are dead. The Colonel moves Sergento Primero Majid from the second platoon to take command of the Platoon. Sergento Masfiwi is also promoted to Sergento Primero to assist him and Hassan is made Sergento.

Teniente Arrojo is posthumously awarded the Red Cross Merit Order for his outstanding leadership culminating in the attack on the Republican machine-gun nest.

Majid requests reinforcements to bring the platoon back up to strength and is rewarded with 11 additional men, almost back to full strength.

Durutti dies of his wounds and in true Anarchist style the column disintegrates many are rounded up and summarily executed by the Communists on many trumped up charges of cowardice and likewise.

Next round we will play the Attack on an Objective scenario as Majid attempts to take el Puente de Queso
However as the Anarchist Column has ceased James will be using an International Brigade force to stem the tide.

James was unable to make the game this evening so I consoled myself with an Estrella Damm. We carry on in a fortnight.

¡En el filo! - The Probe

Yesterday evening James and I played our first game in the At the Sharp End campaign. My Moroccan Regulares were probing the Republican outposts defended by James with his Republican Militia stiffened with a section of Assault Guards in the Probe scenario from the Chain of Command rulebook.

We set the table out as seen in the aerial photographs, a fairly open plane was dominated by a substantial villa with walled gardens that stood on a road junction. In the centre of the table was a small hillock. The Republicans elected to defend in the area of the house and threw up a line of entrenchments north of the road.

We both rolled for Force Morale and both ended up with a value of 9 so set to with the Patrol Phase which ended up as per the photograph on the right with the Anarchist jump-off points shown in black and the Regulares shown in blue.

Durruti pisses up the wall!

As the attacker I then rolled for my supports and got four points, I enlisted the assistance of a Panzer IA commanded by FahnenJunker Schmidt of the Condor Legion and equipped my HQ runners with a VB grenade launcher. James chose to stiffen his Anarchists with a couple of WWI vintage Automatic Rifles and to give his small section of Milicianos three Molotov Cocktails.

The Moroccans took first turn and soon a Pelotones of Regulares was deployed on each of my outer jump-off points. James replied deploying the Asaltos in the building and a large section of 20 Milicianos behind the wood nearest my jump-offs. Teniente Arrojo joined the Pelotones of Sergento Hassan in the walled enclosure towards the top of the table while Sergento Primero al-Makudi joined that of Sergento Masfiwi.

al-Makudi and his men suffer the effects of tear gas

Leaving Masfiwi to direct the fire of the LMG al-Makudi took the two Escuadras of riflemen and made his way to the cover of the small hillock. Once the summit of the hill was reached the Asaltos in the villa let fire a burst of rifle fire and several tear gas canisters. Blinded by the noxious gas, al-Makudi rallied the Soldados and led them towards the safety of a large patch of woodland (seen in the bottom right of the aerial photo).

Teniente Arrojo made a similar move on his flank, deploying the LMG Escuadras in the cover of the walled enclosure and advancing with both Escuadras of riflemen. To counter this Durrutti ordered his squad behind the woods to move to cover the area that the Republicans were advancing into at the same time staying out of sight from their covering LMG.

FahnenJunker Schmid committed the Panzer I and was soon in the open ground between the field and the Republican barricades threatening any troops that rushed to support either flank.

Arrojo urges his men to advance from the cover of the stone walls

More Anarchists arrived behind the buildings and tried to stem the advance of al-Makudi but the Sergento Primero showed his worth although two of his Soldados were hit and went down. However some sharp covering fire from Masfiwi directing the LMG squad saw three Asaltos go down too. Another Soldado went down in the cross-fire while al-Makudi edged his troops closer to the objective.

Asaltos in the villa

The smaller section of Milicianos arrived to cover the two jump-off points behind the barricades from being over-run by the Panzer I but by now even though none of us had lost any Force Morale points James in his role of Durutti realised that the game was up. He was being enveloped on two sides and would struggle to stop me achieving my objective of exiting a team from his table edge so he called a general withdrawal and ceded the battlefield to me.

This was most likely the correct decision, if he had chosen to stay and fight he would still have been unable to prevent me exiting a team and would have lost many more men in the process - how playing in the context of a campaign changes your outlook on a game.

Situation at the end

Interestingly at the point where we called time on this mission I had acquired 13 Chain of Command points (and used none), while James had acquired none at all!

During the end of the campaign turn phase we rolled to see what had happened. The Communists at HQ were soon printing leaflets decrying the cowardly Durutti for giving up the ground so easily (Commanding Officers opinion of Durrutti goes down by 1 to -3) , while his men, thankful for not being wasted in a pointless sacrifice toasted his health (Mens opinion of Durutti goes up by 1 to +3)

On the Nationalist side it was good cheer all around. The Commanding Officers opinion of Arrojo went up 2  to +2 while the light casualties meant that his mens opinion of him went up by 1 to +1.

After doing all this we then played on in our 'normal' non-campaign manner, after another couple of phases James had lost a dozen figures and I had still managed to get my team off the edge of the board :)

The photos are a bit dark, the lighting is nowhere near as good at the White Hart as in the Polly!

Regulares deploy from their truck

Viva Espana

FahnenJunker Schmidt dominates in the centre

Sergento Primero al-Makudi urges the men on

The Anarchist try to cut al-Makudi off in vain

¡En el filo!

¡En el filo!

Well at least that is what Google Translate makes of changing "At the Sharp End" into Spanish. But reverse translating it comes out as "On the edge" which also works for me.

Durruti

Having had several practice games of Chain of Command James and I are this evening embarking on our first campaign using the At the Sharp End supplement.

Let me set the scene...

It is October 1936 and the Nationalist Army under General Mola are advancing on Madrid and making good headway against the rag-tag of Republican defenders thrown against them. Teniente Jorge Arrojo leads his Sección of Regulares and is tasked with capturing the vital bridge over a tributary of the River Manzanares. A column of Anarchists led by Durrutti* himself are rushed to the front in an attempt to stem the Nationalist advance.

More info on the Battle for Madrid here

I will be playing the Nationalists and James the Republicans.

Having rolled up the characters, Teniente Jorge Arrojo, just 23 years old and following time the Juventudes del Acción Popular entered the military and has seen some service with the Army of Africa in Morocco. He is assisted in his role by Sergento Primero al-Makudi a 38 year old veteran of the Rif Wars. The two Pelotones are each led by Sergento Hassan and Sergento Masfiwi.

Buenaventura Durruti is a 40 year old Anarchist, having been the veretan of many conflicts over the years. However, Communist influence in the military means that his CO's opinion is reduced (-2) which will start to have an effect if missions are lost, however his reputation as a fighter among the Anarchists means that the opinion of his Milicianos is enhanced (+2).

As the Force Rating difference is 14 points, I will start my campaign with a standard Sección of Regulares, James has a Column of Peoples Militia and has made up his rating with the following troops to start the campaign: Hardened Militia (4), Asalto with Junior Leader (4), El Hombre (1), Adjutant (1), Flag (2), 10 Milicianos (2), LMG (1)

This evening we fight our first mission, the Regulares will be attacking in the Probe scenario, clearing the outposts of degenerate Republican scum.

* The Republicans have not fared well in earlier games, so we are allowing them a Ranking Senior Leader instead of the usual Jefe de Centuria if James gets him killed there will be consequences :)