Tuesday 16 September 2014

Reject Civil War

I woke up Sunday morning feeling lethargic, I did not want to put a game on. But I had arranged one with the Rejects and this time rather than Postie being the referee, I would! Anyway I had written the rules the day before and had very little sleep so I would look and feel my best.
The View from my Position at the door way.

What follows is not so much an AAR I will leave that to Big Lee and Ray and I am sure they will do a superb job, Much better than I will.
El Postie (Fascist Leader)'s Armoured car under artillery fire.

Customary Picture of Postie in Action,
While Ray leans on the table.

Posties Armoured Car again survive the barrage.

The last few moves of the game.

What follows is not so much an AAR I will leave that to Big Lee and Ray and I am sure they will do a superb job, Much better than I will.

Here's the Situation:

Second Battle of the Corunna Road. January 1937

The Battle of Madrid in November 1936 had been fought to a standstill, with the Nationalists under Franco failing to take the city. They then started to besiege it, aiming to cut its links to the rest of Spain. Franco decided to attack the city from the north-west in order to cut off water and electricity supplies from the Sierra de Guadarrama and encircle the city. After a failed offensive in November, the Nationalists summoned a force of 17,000 men, led by General Orgaz, with four mobile brigades (led by Garcia Escamez, Barron, Saenz de Buruaga and Monasterio), backed by heavy artillery and Ju-52 bombers. The Republican army had a few battalions led by Luis Barceló.
Towards the end of December, Orgaz received reinforcements and decided to relaunch the offensive on 3 January. This offensive became known as the Battle of the Fog. The Republican high command redeployed their units in the Pozuelo-Brunete sector. The Republicans had an army corps led by Miaja with five divisions (led by Nino Nanetti, Modesto, Colonels Perea, Adolfo Prada and Galan) but had little ammunition or supplies.
The Nationalists' offensive started with a heavy artillery bombardment on the 14 December and Franco's troops occupied the town of Boadilla del Monte. Now In January a second big push is underway.
We will only tackle a very small part of the battle as the whole battle was really quite large and lasted over 1 month.
Now I must say that while each side (Republican and Nationalists) each had a main objective that was Unknown to the other players. And just to make it interesting every player had an individual secondary or even tertiary objective that was only known to them. This would mean that according to Ray "Not only do I need to worry about the other side of the table but these two git as well" Indicating both Lee and John. Yes and it was the same for them as well.
It is worth noting that some BUT NOT all the secondary objectives were conflicting with other players, but not nessercarily those of the opposition.
I won't Go into too much more details but when the game ended some elements of both sides were convinced that they had won and others that they had lost. I really needed a clearer ending to the game however life and war is not always like that.
Victory Points
1st Surgit (Nationalist)  Managed to achieve both primary and secondary objectives.
2nd Smiffy (Nationalists/Anarchists) Managed to achieve Primary Objective

=3rd John (Republican/Poum Militia) Failed the Primary objective but managed his secondary and tertiary objectives.
=3rd Lee (Republican) Failed in the Primary Objective but also managed in his Secondary and tertiary objectives

5th Postie (Nationalist/ Guardia Assulto) Marginally succeeded in the Primary objective. But completely failed in his secondary objectives and lost additional Victory points for using his heavy artillery.

6th Ray (Republican) Failed in Both Primary and secondary objectives and also lost additional Victory points for calling for tank support which never actually arrived!

So Technically a Nationalist win. Although Ray was up against it from the start.

The Real winner was me though because it was a good day despite me not being in the mood and I learnt a lot that should the opportunity allow for another game I will be able to implement.

SO CHEERS GUYS I APPRECIATE YOUR HELP

Thanks for taking the time and effort of reading today. Take care of yourself (and those around you) and with a little luck some more in a few days.

Cheers Clint

22 comments:

  1. When I saw the post title in my blogroll, my first thought was "what and Ray and Fran up to now?"

    Looks like a good game

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    1. I was going to have Ray and Fran with VASTLY different objectives. For example, Give Ray the Objective that Fran had to receive more casualties than Ray's troops, by whatever means..... if they were on the same side! Thank you Tamsin.

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  2. I think the table is 14 foot by 6 foot. Personally I find it a little wide. as it makes it hard to reach into the middle. But it's Posties Table so should get all the credit. Thank you Bob.

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  3. Congrats for putting on what looks and sounded a cracking game mate. Hopefully one day I might be able to join you.

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    1. Unfortunately that will not be my decision. But down to Postie! Personally It would be great to have you involved. Thank you Carl.

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  4. It was a great game, enjoyed by all.

    I think you have the sides mixed up in your post. Me, Ray and john were the Republicans and Smiffy, Postie and Suj were the Nationalists. You have it the other way round in your points summary above....You really are tired mate!

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    1. Thank you Lee. It would be a pleasure to put on another game in the future.
      You were right (of course) so I have corrected the Nationalist/Republican error. I was wondering how long it you take you to spot it! Well done.

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  5. Sounds like an excellent game. I'm interested in the nature of the secondary and tertiary objectives: were they all strictly military or did they include things such as "make off with the payroll", "find a good inn and get drunk" and the like?

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    1. Thank you C6 they were all military objectives but with some had a civil dimension as well. Like take that building so you can give it to a family member after the war. Or take that farm as it has a fine reputation for producing the best olive oil in the region!

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  6. It does seem that a good time was had by all ('cept possibly Ray) and there must have been much grinding of teeth throughout.
    A first game with new rules is always difficult but you seemed to have survived intact, so congratulations are in order.
    It'll be interesting to read the others' take on the game too especially Postie's attempt at Blitzkrieg with an armoured car !

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    1. Thank you Joe. Do not worry about Ray not enjoying it. He had the hardest job on the day and was against it from the start. Generally speaking he did very well and at some points I think it could have been a different outcome. But he did choose to be in that position. Mostly due to his secondary objective which was not worth a lot of victory points.

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  7. Oh poor Rayolla, things were stacked against him from the outset. Glad to see your game was a success and that you managed to keep that unruly pack of boys on task.

    Get some rest Clint!

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    1. Thank you Anne. Yes Ray was against it from the start. that is the joy of being in charge.

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  8. T'was a great days gaming Clint, it was one of those games where I didn't mind losing, it was so close at the end, with a few different morale roles the result could very easily have been reversed. Nice one Clint!

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    1. That's wonderful to hear. I am glad you enjoyed it. Talk next Sunday face to face. But always happy to put a game on for you lot. You're not a bad crowd. Cheers Ray

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    2. Just read the batrep over at BigLee's as well, cracking mate and I'm glad Ray is trying to cover the fact with flattery that he came last!!!!

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    3. 2 minutes before the game ended I had fulfilled my first and secondary objectives, then it all went tits up!!! but I would have still lost the extra points for calling in my reserve.

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    4. Thank you Fran.
      Thank you Ray.

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  9. It looks good and sounds like it was a hoot!

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    1. In real life you do not know if anyone has a hidden agenda, nor do you know your opponents objective. Well that was the idea behind this bash anyway. Thank you Simon.

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  10. Splendid game. I love the 'epic' scale of it. Too many games have the table packed so tightly with figures that there is little room for maneuver. This one looks like it was just right.

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    1. Thank you Allan. We are only playing with 3 companies of infantry. On an 8 foot by 6 foot table. it was mostly trying out some "homebrew" rules. My pet gripe is too many Tanks in the SCW games.

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