For Whom The Bell Tolls (FWTBT)

A game in the Europa series that covers the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War, plus provides the Grand Europa material for WWII Spain and Portugal (including a separate game covering a hypothetical attack on Spain/Gibraltar by the Axis). Designed by John Gee and Jeff Millefoglie.

For Whom The Bell Tolls is a very much updated and expanded version of ¡No Pasaran!, a scenario for the Spain and Portugal Europa series module from 1984 that was published in The Grenadier No. 27 (1986).

First Edition Game Components (1995)

1680 die-cut counters
One and one half maps
Rules Book
3 OB Books
Chart Set

Second Edition (2004)

Complete game, with all the original components of the original color box version except that it comes in a plain white box instead of the sold-out original yellow and black box. Includes a bonus pack of three sheets of game play markers not in the original game.

Game Reports

Game Report No 1: This epic write-up from a full-length game of For Whom the Bell Tolls was graciously shared with us by Friedrich H. Helfferich, who spent the better part of 1999 playing the Insurgets against the Loyalist player Elias Nordling.

Game Report No 2: This report from a full-length solitary campaign game of For Whom The Bell Tolls was written by Davis Stokes in 2001.

Invasion of Spain: Ralph Sunley tested the scenario "Invasion of Spain" included in For Whom the Bell Tolls. The solitary game took place in 2007.

Game Report No. 4: A game report by Ken Newall, who tried the variable start to the revolution in a solitaire game, played in 2017 and notable for lots of pictures documenting every turn.

Game Report No. 5: A very promising game report with excellent and extensive reports by Brian O'Connell from 2014. Unfortunately, Brian only found the time to write up the reports covering 1936, even though the game lasted until 1939.

Game Report No. 6: One of the earliest game reports of FWTBT, played and written up by Wolf Broszies in 1998/99.

ETO Newsletter

"A First Look: For Whom the Bell Tolls", ETO 52

The Europa Magazine

“Assaulting the Rock: Operation Felix.” By Peter Robbins and Rich Velay. TEM 62.
For Whom the Bell Tolls Counter Sheets. TEM 42.
“For Whom the Bell Tolls: A Civil War game report.” By Fred Helfferich. TEM 62.
“For Whom the Bell Tolls Design Update.” By Jeff Millefoglie. TEM 11.
“For Whom the Bell Tolls Errata Sheet - June 1, 1996.” TEM 47.
“For Whom the Bell Tolls Q&A.” By Rich Velay. TEM 62.
“Optional beginning to the Spanish Civil War.” By Fred Helfferich. TEM 63.
“Replacement and Production Charts.” By Bob Fulton. TEM 62.
“Still Tolls the Bell.” By Friedrich Helfferich and Elias Nordling. TEM 68.
“The Spanish Loyalist Army.” By John Gee. TEM 47.

Line of Communications

"Spanish Torch" by Ralph Sunley, LOC #3

Variable Rebellion Ramifications: N.52

Question:
Regarding forces that rise against the Republic that did not do so historically. For example, the N.52 Loyalist fighter rose against the Republic when the Insurgency gained ownership of the West Madrid hex. The Loyalist I Nov 36 OB says that N.52 withdraws? Should the Insurgent side withdraw the Insurgent N.52 on I Nov 36, or ignore the issue? Same question would apply to any other such unit that is referenced in one side’s OB when the unit or air unit is owned by the other side due to variable rebellion.

Answer:
A reinforcement activity – such as a withdrawal – only applies to the side it is specified for. For example, reinforcement activities specified for the Loyalists apply *only* to Loyalist forces. Therefore, if the sole N.52 fighter in the game falls to the Insurgency as part of “Variable Beginning to the Rebellion”, it is thereafter an Insurgent N.52 and any and all references in the Loyalist OB to a Loyalist N.52 (which does not exist in this game’s universe) are ignored.

Source:
[AEG, Developer, 03-Mar-04]

Rule 5 - Reduced Zones of Control

Question:
ZOCs: Are the effects of reduced ZOCs the same as normal ZOCs with respect to restrict enemy supply and isolation?

Answer:
Yes. The only difference between normal and reduced ZOCs is the movement costs required to leave or move through them.

Source:
[AEG, Developer, 1998]

Equipping Colonial units

Question:

The rule about equipping units says to spend the difference in the
strenghts of the unit’s sides in artillery RPs. This is quite clear.
However, the Army of Africa has confusing dual-sided 2-6/2-6* inf IIIs.
If one were to take the rules literally it seems that these could just
be flipped spending 0 artillery RPs since the strenghts of the sides are
the same. I assume that 0.5 artillery RPs should still be spent to flip
one of them? Or is it possibly intended that they can be only built to a
new standard when replacing them from eliminated units?

Answer:

If you are referring to colonial 2-6’s, they never fight in FWTBT as 2-6* III’s. Those counters are for breakdown counters during WWII scenarios.

Source:

Posted by Brian O’Connell (brian.oconnell.01@gmail.com) to EuropaAssociation@yahoogroups.com, April 15th 2015

Variable Rebellion Ramifications: El Ferrol and Cadiz artillery

Question:
Why do the El Ferrol and Cadiz artillery disbands cause the CD levels to drop, while the Cartagena and Mahon disbands have no effect on the CD levels? Was something dropped from the Loyalist OB, or is their a history based reason for this apparent difference in handling between the two sides?

Answer:
After looking at my FWtBT development notes I think both of the issues cited above about the disbandment of the static artillery units at the main Spanish naval bases were oversights on my part. Also, looking at this, I now see that there is also a potential problem with how these units are disbanded if Rule 44H (Variable Beginning to the Rebellion) is used. With variable rebellion, one side may start owning anywhere from 0 to all 4 of these static units, yet per the OBs the only ones they can disband are the historical ones. To fix all of these problems, consider the OBs and rules changed as follows:

Insurgent OB:

Add to Jan I 37:

Special: If ‘Variable Beginning to the Rebellion’ (Rule 44H) resulted in 1-0 Art X Mahon becoming an Insurgent unit:
Disband: 1x 1-0 Art X Mahon to:
1 art RP
Notes:

The Mahon Art X may be disbanded while isolated; the resulting art RP then accumulates at the port in the hex.
Reduce Intrinsic Coast Defenses of Mahon (33:4625) from Level 2 to Level 1 when the Mahon Art X is disbanded.

Add to Jan II 37:

Special: If ‘Variable Beginning to the Rebellion’ (Rule 44H) resulted in 1-2-0 Art X Cart becoming an Insurgent unit:
Disband: 1x 1-2-0 Art X Cart to:
1 art RP, 0.5 Nat inf RP
Note:
1) Reduce Intrinsic Coast Defenses of Cartagena (23A:4410) from Level 2 to Level 1 when the Cart Art X is disbanded.

Loyalist OB:

Add to Jan I 37:

Notes:

The Mahon Art X may be disbanded while isolated; the resulting art RP then accumulates at the port in the hex.
Reduce Intrinsic Coast Defenses of Mahon (33:4625) from Level 2 to Level 1 when the Mahon Art X is disbanded.

Special: If ‘Variable Beginning to the Rebellion’ (Rule 44H) resulted in 1-0 Art X Cadiz becoming a Loyalist unit:
Disband: 1x 1-0 Art X Cadiz to:
1 art RP
Note: Reduce Intrinsic Coast Defenses of Cadiz (23A:3428) from Level 1 to none when the Cadiz Art X is disbanded.

Add to Jan II 37:
Note: Reduce Intrinsic Coast Defenses of Cartagena (23A:4410) from Level 2 to Level 1 when the Cart Art X is disbanded.

Special: If ‘Variable Beginning to the Rebellion’ (Rule 44H) resulted in 1-2-0 Art X EF becoming a Loyalist unit:
Disband: 1x 1-2-0 Art X EF to:
1 art RP, 0.5 PA inf RP
Note: Reduce Intrinsic Coast Defenses of El Ferrol (23A:0313) and La Coruna (23A:0314) from Level 2 to Level 1 when the EF Art X is disbanded.

Change to 1937-39 Grand Campaign/Mid-War and Late-War Scenario Listings:
The Intrinsic Coast Defenses of both Cartagena (23A:4410) and Mahon (33:4625) at the start of these scenarios are Level 1 (not Level 2).

Designers Remarks:
The access to the ports of El Ferrol and La Corunya is through the same bay and thus the coast defenses of the bay are common to both ports (although in the main the coast defenses here were oriented more to protect El Ferrol than they are to protect La Corunya). However, in game terms this can cause problems when the ‘Variable Beginning to the Rebellion’ results in each side owning one of the ports at the beginning of the game. The only entirely clean fix I can think of to this problem is to specify that the coast defenses of La Corunya (23A:0314) are the same as the coast defenses of a friendly-owned El Ferrol (23A:0313). Examples: 1) El Ferrol has a current coast defense strength of 2 and both El Ferrol and La Corunya are friendly owned so La Corunya also has a coast defense strength of 2 and 2) Same as #1 except that El Ferrol is enemy-owned – La Corunya thus has a coast defense strength of 0. With the coast defense strength of La Corunya then dependent on El Ferrol you just ignore the mention in the OB of how disbanding the EF Art X lowers the coast defense strength of La Corunya.

Source:
[AEG, Developer, 01-Oct-05]

Aguilas not an Andalucian city?

Question:
Aguilas is not an Andalucian city, but rather a Murcian city?

Answer:
Yes, Aguilas is a Murcian city. I was aware of this and considered moving the border westward, but finally decided not to since the overwhelming majority of the hex was Andalucian and it had no effect on the game (Aguilas is on the plain represented by the clear terrain, but on the extreme eastern edge.)

Source:
[AEG, Developer, 1998]

Loyalist OB - Conditional Reinforcements, Barcelona Revolt

Question:
For disarming during the Barcelona revolt, should the Pe X never upgrade to its XX incarnation, it appears to be left off the disarming conditional reinforcement. Clearly the intention was that all POUM forces are disarmed. Should the Pe unit be included in both its possible incarnations?

Answer:
Yes, this is an oversight. If the Le X is in play instead of the XX, the brigade should be disarmed. Consider the Loyalist OB modified as follows:

Conditional Reinforcements
The Barcelona Revolt. Take the following actions the turn the Barcelona Revolt occurs:

Disarm:
1x 3-4-5* Inf XX 29 Le (P)
2x 1-2-5 Inf X An, Maur (P)

Special: If the Le X (P) is still in play (because it was not upgraded to the 29 Le XX) then disarm 1x 2-5 Inf X Le (P) instead of 1x 3-4-5* Inf XX 29 Le (P). Reduce any accumulated P inf RPs to zero.

Source:
[AEG, Developer, 23-Sep-05]

Spelling of Calatayud

Question:
Insurgent OB says Calatayud (23A:2702). Map says Calatyud. Which is right?

Answer:
Calatayud.

Source:
[AEG, Developer, 1998]

Insurgent OB - Calculating ARP Rates

Question:
How “in-play” are the air units in the Italian intervention box? I note that the naval units can be brought in at any time by the Insurgents, so long as they have not used their intervention for the year. All air units can come on board so long as the Loyalists allow it to happen via their own actions. I ask because the CTV has an air unit available in the intervention holding box on I Aug 36, so this unit may or may not be allowed into the ARP calculations when the I Sep 36 air cycle begins. I.e., though the CR32 arrives in Sep 36, they do not count for ARP calculations per the ruling above. Do the Mxd A floatplanes count for the calculations, or is their placement in the intervention box similar in nature to the France holding box and they therefore don’t count?

Answer:
For ARP purposes, don’t count any CTV air units in the Italian intervention box if they haven’t been released.

Source:
[DPS, Rules Judge, 13-Jun-05]

Spelling of Alcazarquivir

Question:
Insurgent OB says Alcazarquivar (23A:4131). Map says Alcazarquivir. Which is right?

Answer:
Alcazarquivir.

Source:
[AEG, Developer, 1998]

Insurgent OB - Conditional Reinforcements, Italian Naval Intervention

Question:
If the Insurgent player decides to use the Italian naval forces for on-map operations, must all 3x 6-pt TFs be used the same turn? Or is he allowed to use each TF in different turns? (Or even use them on their reduced sides, in order to have smaller but more TFs with which to “bother” the Loyalist player?)

Answer:
He must use them all in the same turn. Note that the OB entry says “3x 6-pt Task Forces…” not “up to 3x 6-pt Task Forces”. But note that while the 3 naval units are released at the same time per the OB, they don’t have to operate together while on the map.

Source:
[DPS, Rules Judge, 05-Feb-05]