Category: FWtBT AAR No 5 (Page 2 of 2)

The turn opens with a bit of a minor disaster for the Loyalists, when the French gov’t decides it no longer is interested in supporting their regime.  The French close the border (4 rolled), leaving the D.371 fighter unit that would have been available stuck on the wrong side of the border.  Moreover, having missed the 50/50 shot at keeping the border open, it is much less likely to open for the foreseeable future (the border is automatically open through Sep I 36… at that point, the odds shift to 1 in 6 open, 2 in 6 no change, and 3 in 6 closed.  Having closed, the ‘no change’ possibility means there’s just a 1 in 6 of it opening each turn until the Apr I 37 turn, when it closes for a few months with no chance of opening.)  Clearly a diplomatic coup for the Nationalist cause.

All Gobernito guard forces are in place facing Santander & Euzkadi.  Pacification in Albacete is completed as well, while purification in the last two unpurified cities in Cataluna (Manresa & Tortosa) begins.  The Loyalists replace the destroyed Cat Inf III at Barcelona, and then the destroyed 5 L Art, 23 GC Sec & 5 Car Bdr III’s at east Madrid.  Two more forts are quick constructed just north of Madrid at 2609 and 2610, facing the Nationalist mountain salient.  In another bit of a disaster for the Loyalist side, the BBTF’s mine storage compartment explodes due to poor mine handling procedures, sinking the Jaime I.  Only the supporting light forces remain in the TF (11 rolled, 2 hits are placed on the BBTF, dropping it to a 1 strength TF.)  The LC in Barcelona continues the trend of not being repaired as well (3 rolled.)  No air declarations are made by either side.

All Loyalist naval units first replenish.  The LtTF in the north then joins the wrecked remnants of the BBTF at Gijon and both prep for NGS (which suits Nationalist plans just fine, since this drops the San Sebastian strength from a projected 5 to 4, less DAS.)

In the far southwest, the Andalucia front remains static, though one empty hex is filled in the line.  Along the Valdepenas front, 5 L Arty from Madrid, and 4 MG II, rail in to help make up for last turn’s losses.  Puertoallano is abandoned without a fight, with the main line running from Cuidad Real to Valdepenas itself, thence southwest to 3514 before zig-zagging south into the mountains and the Andalucia front.  To the north of Puertollano the PA gives up the west bank of the Guadiana in Castilla la Nueva, with unsupported units creating a solid line along the east bank and then into the west Madrid front northwest of Toledo.  A few rail hits are placed by units in Puertollano, Ciudad Real and Valdepenas.  In the west, north and east Madrid fronts, things remain roughly stable, with some arty to the west facing Nat supported stacks, and unsupported units, sometimes paired, forming the rest of the front around past Guadalajara on the east side.

On the Teruel front, the big Mtn unit ‘corps’ shifts left again in and attempt to get around the right flank of the Teruel defenders.  They appear poised to launch an attack against the 24^th Inf defending the mountain sector 3204.  Intriguingly, the AAC armored cars admin to near this area as well, perhaps indicating some desire to do some exploit (seems an odd place for a 0 DS armored car unit though, being mtns and limited to no exploit if in zoc.)  Very limited mov’t occurs along the Aragon-Cataluna front, with a few units joining and others shifting into the west.  Overall the line remains the same and of about the same strength as before.  Both sides seem willing to let this front remain as is.

In the north, mostly just some construction and engineer units shifting about for potential fort building, whenever the res pts are made available.  The one completed fort at 3031 on the coast in Euzkadi is occupied by an Inf X when the cons unit shifts west a hex.  In Gijon, the 6L Art does move up to 1106, adjacent to the city, presumably so NGS can focus on Aviles.  A few other units shift about, but the DS of hexes doesn’t appear to appreciably change.

Only a single attack is launched by the Loyalists… the elite Mtn corps (consisting of 1^st Mtn Art III, 1^st thru 4^th Mtn II’s and the 4 Cav III launch an attack against 3204 as expected… morale remains high and the unsupported 24^th Inf is quickly overwhelmed (11:1 -2, full attack supply provided, 6 for no morale impact, 5 rolled for a DE.)  Only the 4^th Cav III advances, but this does put a zoc into 3203, the rail hex behind Teruel.  Supply can still be drawn around the zoc through the mountains at 3202 to the rail at 3103, so Nationalist command is not overly concerned at this point.

No naval mov’ts of note in exploit.  The AAC joins the Mtn XXX just west of Teruel.  I suppose it’s there to provide 1/7^th AECA next turn.  The PA launches a pair of RR bombing runs which both come off well.  The Vild stages back south to Cartagena (meaning it will be unavailable at San Sebastian next turn!), but it does manage a hit at 3104, just north of Guadix.  Odd that the line was hit there and not at the junction of Guadix itself.  Regardless, I happen to have the 2^nd Eng III in Guadix on pacification duty, so that hit won’t last long.  The Bre19 hits 2703 from west Madrid… again, not a rail junction.  It couldn’t reach the junction at Calatayud without staging from to east Madrid, but I’m not sure why that wasn’t done.  Regardless, this will cause some minor problems as I cannot easily rail into the east Madrid-Guadalajara front now (or out of it for the San Sebastian attack, which I had planned for at least the 4 Lar Col Inf III, mores the pity.)

All land areas are automatically clear.  The Med is auto clear, while a 1 is rolled for the Atlantic, so it is clear as well.  All insurgent units are in supply and unisolated, while all PA units are likewise in supply, but those in the northern Gobernitos are isolated.  Pacification at Almendralejo is completed, while the 2^nd two weeks of clearing out terrorists in Malaga begins.  Such efforts begin at Badajoz, Lucena, Antequera, Linares, Guadix and Mieres.  Only a single reinforcement arrives, the delayed Bad Fal Inf X at its namesake city.  The Nationalist’s do receive 1.0 Nat from specials, plus another .5 Nat for drafting at Almeria.  The ZMO Eng III is replaced at Valladolid, while the 1^st & 6^th Lt Inf II’s, the 17^th Inf, and the Leon Falangist Inf X are all rebuilt at Zaragoza.  The 1 Cas Inf XX and the Cac Inf XX in the line in southern Aragon begin entrenching, a 2 turn process.  No mine damage occurs with a 7 rolled.  No air ops are flown or declared by either side.

NT 1 and 2 load up the 2 O Cav III and ship it to Cadiz.  After unloading, they return to Larache and load the 1 E Cav III and ship it to Sevilla, completing the offload with their last nmp.  The Italian subs move west from their station off Cartagena, then pass around to El Ferrol, where they ‘join’ (operating as two groups moving concurrently) the CATF which completed repairs at that city (I didn’t realize I could use the NRP generated at EF anywhere… getting it into my head the TF needed to be at El Ferrol, which puts it within reaction range of the PA BB at Gijon… the subs acted as an ‘escort’ for the TF as it left for its normal operating area near the Straits.)  All moved to Ceuta.  The CATF first did replenish at EF while awaiting the arrival of the subs.  In the meantime, the BBTF replenished in Ceuta and waited out the phase in port.

In ground mov’t, the southern-most portion of the front in Andalucia, facing Lorca, is essentially put on a defensive footing now that Almeria is seized.  A sec and arty III are moved into Almeria itself, to begin pacification and hold the city against any unlikely counterattacks (don’t want the Loyalists to free up the ‘any city’ anarchist reinforcements that are being delayed in Andalucia.)  By and large 1 or 2 pt unsupported stacks run NE up from Almeria into the eastern Cordillera Penibetica and beyond, until the Valdepenas front is reached.  Here, the major units of the Army of Africa remain on the offensive, massing for attacks against two small, supported stacks in front of the city, including the PA’s 1^st Mech III, and a pair of arty III’s (killing arty and c/m units is ideal, and the Nationalists can afford and should desire to exchange infantry for any arty and c/m units that are available for killing.)  To the rear, the perpetual cycle of using units landed from Africa or rebuilt for logistical movements continues as 2 more pairs of units cartage attack supply forward on the Valdepenas front.  These units landed at Cadiz or Sevilla are serving double duty, as both carriers of supply and reserves that can be fed into the line to improve odds or make up for losses on the main nationalist front.  Southeast of Talavera, the front is stable, though a few weak single units do extend it a bit, taking wooded rough at 2715.  To the rear, one Fal X occupies Don Benito for pacification duties.  The northern portion of the Madrid front along the Cordillera Central, or just north of it, remains stable, though one additional unit added does allow the salient at 2510 to gain some infantry to go along with arty III that’s been holding the mountains since the beginning of the game.  To the east of Madrid, 2 III’s of infantry, one Nat and one Fal, join the line, as does a 2-6 Col III from Andalucia, all via rail.  The 2-6 will be well positioned for an assault against San Sebastian next turn, which is the plan.  I’d like to make sure that city falls before the Loyalists get their next Basque reinforcements, which could see the city’s strength rise up to 6 or 7 from the 4 plus 1 pt NGS current there. (Of note and related to this, back in Andalucia 6 mp units are carefully positioned such that in the upcoming attacks on the Valdepenas front, these units will not advance after combat… they are precisely 42 hexes from the outskirts of San Sebastian by rail, which would just allow a 6 mp unit to rail adjacent to the city (which is also the turn where the wx is still likely to be clear, with a 5 in 6 chance of clear in the north of spain.)  8 MP units will likely advance in Andalucia, as they can’t quite reach the San Sebastian area being limited to 40 rail hexes of mov’t.  Regardless, returning to the east part of the front, two arty units are pulled from the eastern Madrid front and sent to reinforce the Teruel front, where the mass of PA mtn units have been congregating.  This puts 2 pt supported stacks in Teruel and 3303 just to its east.  Not an insurmountable defense, but it should be sufficient for the time being, until more XX’s come into the line over the next couple of turns.  Otherwise, no mov’t occurs in the southeast/Aragon-Cataluna front, with the line stable on both sides now that two Nat XX’s are in the line and entrenching.  Very little mov’t occurs in the Northern Gobernito front, with units facing Euzkadi and Santander all remaining in place.  Up in Asturias however, the Oviedo XX enters the line at 1107 finally, which frees up the elite 38^th Inf to take up the defense of the mtns at 1206, with the 2 mtn II’s shifting southwest to 1307.  This fills in the line and strengthens it quite substantially, pretty much ensuring (I hope) that the Asturian front will be stable until the Spring Offensive against the Northern Gobernitos begins in ’37.  In the rear, the rebuilt ZMO Eng III at Valladolid moves to 1909 and repairs the rail hit at the junction, then returns back to Valladolid where it is centrally positioned for any future construction/repair needs.  1 res pt is railed from Oviedo to Valladolid, which should allow for some permanent rail cap building next turn (res pts must be in RMY hexes to be part of a rail cap build.)  Finally, the 7^th Cav wanders about the southwest portion of Estramadura, gaining ownership of unowned hexes in the province.

With the planned attacks on the Valdepenas front well supported by troops, not much GS will be required, so the Nationalist Air Force goes on a bit of an offensive.  First, the Italian CR.32bis stages to Valladolid and goes on an airbase raid against the Bre19 and N.52s at Madrid.  The Loyalists refuse to rise to the occasion, so the CR.32 just strafes the airfield while the PA pilots drink Sangria.  Sadly, the Italian pilots fail to score a hit.  The Mxd T then stages to Valladolid and attempts to sink the Basque LtTF at San Sebastian, which would improve the chances for an assault next turn on the cut-off city.  Flak by the TF misses, but so does the bombing attempt.

The PA does the math and chooses not to fly the Bre19’s at Madrid on DAS.  The Vilds remain on their field at Bilbao as well, since no location is currently being threatened in the north.  The Nat Bre19 flies GS to 3414, which is the first of the two planned attacks this turn.  That attack goes off well enough, but still doesn’t result in any losses as the PA units retreat away in good order (4:1 +0, all units attack supplied, morale of the one PA militia unit ½ with a 3 rolled, but it didn’t change the odds, 4 rolled for a DR.)  The defending PA’s 19 GC Sec III and 2 Art III retreat back to Valdepenas, while the E arty III and 5 Alh Col Inf III’s advance.  In the second attack, just the north at 3315, the 1^st Mech III and 5 L Art III are assaulted by a mass of Nationalist troops, including 2 strong Col Inf III’s, the O Art III, the 3 Lt Inf II and the Van Inf XX.  The 5:1 -3 attack goes very well for the Nationalists, with the Mech and arty unit killed in a bloody fight (5:1 -3, full AS provided, no morale issues possible as all units are non-militia, rough terrain, 1/2^th AECD, 3 rolled for an EX.)  It does cost me the 2 Mel Col Inf III.  The O arty III, 3 Ceu, and 3 Lt Inf advance.  The super strong 1 LE Inf III, 1 P Arty III and O MG II’s are left to rear, out of the front lines at 3415 after these two attacks, ensuring they can rail away as part of the planned San Sebastian assault force next turn.

The two NT’s head off towards the Canary islands, reaching Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where they replenish and wait out the phase.  Both the CATF and BBTF sit out the phase at Ceuta, awaiting any future naval developments.  The CTV subs sit out the first four substeps, and then move along the Spanish Morocco coast, then at night taking up position 5 hexes southwest of Cartagena.  No reaction by the Loyalist fleet hold up in the port.  No ground or air mov’t occurs.

No units are isolated or out of supply on the Nationalist side.  For the Loyalists, all are in supply but those PA units in the northern Gobernitos are isolated.  All Gobernito border garrisons are in place for the Insurgents.  The 16 GC Sec III begins routing out insurgent supporters in Albacete (pacification begins.)  Meanwhile, both hexes of Barcelona, Tarragon and Sabadell are fully purified.

It’s a big turn for Loyalist reinforcements, a good thing since there’s nothing in the way of a front near Valdepenas.  Cons X’s show up for duty at Lorca and Madrid, while Anarchists X’s show up at Murcia, Valencia and Tarragona.  Two more Anarchist X’s go into the ‘delayed reinforcements pool’, probably never to see the light of day (see above.)  In Cataluna, a Cat Cav III and 4 Inf III’s show up at Barcelona, as does sufficient local shipping to form up another NT (Cat NT-1).  Pos AA is imported at Alicante, while 1 AS each shows up at Gijon and Valencia.  1 Art RP is imported at Bilbao.  Two X’s go into the Santander garrison.  Three X’s are added to the Euzkadi garrison, while two are released, one each at San Sebastian and Bilbao.  More importantly, the entire Asturian garrison is released thanks to the recent Nationalist attack in Asturias (as well as the number of RE’s now in Asturia itself.)  These include 8 Inf X’s and one Eng III that would have gone into garrison but for the release.  A number of old D.371’s are turned over from France for use by the Loyalists.  The French apparently kept the airframes in fairly good repair, and Loyalist mechanics believe the birds will be ready for front line service in just 2 weeks (1 rolled on the delay for these ‘inop’ aircraft.)  France also ships in a goodly number of artillery tubes for use in the on-going civil war in Spain (4.5Art RPs arrive in the France holding box, and then immediately go to the general pool.)  The staffs for 3 arty III’s are formed up (3 III’s go into the pool for building.)

In production, 6 PA, 1 Ast, 1.5 Bas, 1 Cat, 0.5 San, 3 An & 1 POUM Inf RPs are produced by cities across Loyalist Spain.  In addition, 1 ARP is made available, while 1 NRP arrives (a CL was completed at Cartagena.)  All these points are used to bring the 1^st and 2^nd Art III’s at Madrid, the 10^th Cat Art III at Barcelona, the PA’s 6 L Art at Bilbao (PA arty may be built at any factory, even an isolated one), and the Anarchist CNT Art III at Murcia.  Two destroyed An X’s are rebuilt at Murcia as well, while 4 PA Inf III’s are rebuilt, 1 at Lorca and 3 at Madrid.

Next, engineers being serious spade work across the region.  Forts are begun at Lorca, Gijon, southwest of Santander in the gap at 1604, southeast of Bilbao along the coast at 3031, and at Tortosa.  Two more are created quickly west of Madrid (and north of Toledo) facing the Nationalist line thanks to assistance by local citizens.  Finally, in naval affairs, mine handling procedures are barely sufficient to maintain safety (10 rolled on random mine damage roll), while the broken LC’s at Barcelona remain so (5 rolled.)  No air declarations are made by either side.

In naval mov’ts, the new Cat NT-1 loads up 1^st Car Bdr III and carries it to Mahon, where it unloads, loads up the elite 37^th Inf III, and then takes it to Tarragona.  In the north, NT-3 loads up the 2^nd Bas Inf X at San Sebastian, moves it to Bilbao and unloads it, at which point the NT replenishes.  All other fleet units simply replenish and wait out the phase.

At the start of the ground mov’t portion of the phase 1 res pt as spent at Barcelona to increase the Loyalist rail cap for the turn to 18.  In the far north, the new Asturian X’s settle into the line, joined by the rebuilt 6 L Art III railed in from Bilbao, and the 6^thMtn II arriving overland from Santander province.  One Asturian X heads into Santander and joins the line there in the mtns west of the city.  In Euzkadi, new units plus the X moved from San Sebastian join the main line of resistance in front of Bilbao.

In the south, units freed up from purification duties quick shift up into the main line along the Cat-Aragon border, but nothing particularly offensive appears in the works.  The right side of the line still hangs back from the Cuenca river, while the portion along the river from Lerida to 4529 is held in strength.  From there, single units by and large hold the line from 4629 (northwest of Tortosa all the way to the mtn pass south of Teruel.  However, a collection of Mtn II’s, a Mtn III, a Cat Inf III and a PA Cav III rail or move to the 3503 hex, from which point they overrun the 17^th Inf III holding the pass south of Teruel.  All advance into the pass, from which point they threaten both the town and the 20 GC Sec III to the west that had been flanking the pass itself.  Other units put zoc’s around the 20 GC, but this may be to hold it in place.  An attack against the town makes more sense to me, though it might result in a DR, whereas an attack against the 20 GC in the mountains would ‘guarantee’ a loss of a Nat unit due to zoc’s in the event of a DR.

On the Madrid front, an infantry unit from Cataluna is railed in to help hold the Gaudalajara side, while Eng III’s move into position south of the Nationalist mountain salient.  To the west, one arty and either inf or eng III’s each take up residence in the new forts at 2612 and 2713.  Inf & Eng III’s also take 2714, while the AAC armored car III moves into the wooded rough at 2914, via Toledo, mostly it appears for ownership purposes.  More infantry rails or admins into the area north of Puertollano, defending the Don Benito-Puertollano rail line.  Meanwhile, 3 III’s of infantry, security and mechanized infantry, each supported by an arty III prepare to assault the 1^st Lt Inf II screening the main Nationalist line west of Valdepenas (actually I had intended to ‘advance’ this unit westwards after it helped cut off the northern portion of the PA line last turn, but somehow forgot to, so now it sits outside the mainline as an unnecessary screening force.  More infantry and arty are railed in to form a line south of Valdepenas as well, into the mtns at 3302.  South of this, a hodgepodge of PA and Anarchist units form up a line running in the very southeast portion of Andalucia, screening the port of Aguilas and Lorca in Murcia province.  Anarchist units, including the new An art III, hold the gaps, while PA units hold the mtn flanks in the line running roughly 3403 to 3407 and then to 3508 on the coast.

No DAS missions are flown, as no unit can reach the Teruel area, and the II isn’t large enough to support a DAS mission (only 1 a/c can fly per RE, and the II is only .5 RE’s.)  No GS missions are flown either, as the odds are all high enough.  In a bit of a surprise move to me, the Loyalists choose to attack the forward mtn position at 3404, rather than Teruel itself.  Attack supply is provided, but thanks to mountainous terrain the PA units suffer a reduction in élan, causing the attack to go poorly compared to its potential (2 rolled for morale, so PA and Cat militia units are ½, so odds drop to 6:1 -2, AS provided, 2 rolled for an EX.)  The 20 GC Sec III goes down fighting, taking the 6^th Cat Inf III with it.  The 9^th PA Inf advances.  Further west, the 1^st Lt Inf manages to hold off the PA for a time, again resulting in a poor showing by the militia, but PA artillery is massed and eventually the Lt Inf II is overwhelmed (1 rolled for morale, so again PA militia ½, but there’s little of it, so odds are 6:1 +0 (AECA, rough), no AS provided, 6 rolled for a DE, killing the Lt Inf II outright.)  The 5L Art III and 1^st Mech III advance.

The BBTF preps for NGS at Gijon, while the Basque LtTF does the same at San Sebastian.  The Vild flying out of Bilbao and the Bre19 flying out of Madrid combine in an attack at the rail junction at 23:1909, rolling a 6 for a hit.  The AAC armored car III runs back to west Madrid.

Weather is automatically clear on land and in the Med.  In the Atlantic the sea swells of last turn dissipate (3 rolled for clear.)  All Insurgent forces are now in supply and none are isolated.  On the Loyalist side, the lone unit in Estramadura is U-2 black (now ½ strength and without a zoc).  All other units are in supply, but the PA ones in the northern Gobernitos are isolated.  Garrison forces are checked in the Loyalist turn, but I glance about and all are in place.  Local bandits have been cleared from the towns of Merida, Ronda, Loja and Motril, while the cities of Huelva, Jerez and Jaen are similarly cleared of bandits.  Sufficient numbers of locals volunteer to form defense companies in the larger cities (pacification complete in each of the above cities and towns, while the larger ones get their intrinsic defense.)  Elsewhere, the 1^st Sev Fal X begins looking about the Almendralejo countryside for ‘undesirables’, while the Anarchist hotbed at Malaga is searched by the 2 GC Sec III, a process likely to take a bit longer due to its size.  Lastly, the 38^th III at Mieres, to the rear of Oviedo, begins the process of clearing the area of bandits and terrorists.

In reinforcements, the Cac Inf XX arrives in Zaragoza, while the Ov Inf XX arrives in Valladolid.  The two new Req X’s are brought in at Burgos and Vitoria, and a goodly number of Fal X’s arrive at their specified cities, except the Bad Fal X, which is delayed as that city hasn’t yet come under Nationalist control.  A third CTV sub shows up at Larache for duty.  Italian bullets and shells are offloaded at the docks of Sevilla, Malaga, Cadiz and La Coruna, while rail cars are imported to Malaga as well (1 res pt), and artillery tubes are imported at Vigo.  The Italians send a CR.32bis (in this game, a beast of a fighter!), arriving at Malaga as well.  Finally, 1 NRP arrives in the form of a completed cruiser, added to the CATF currently at that port.  In production, 7.5 Nat, 1.5 Col, 3.5 Fal, 2.0 Req RPs are received, but sadly no ARPs are yet on the books.  0.5 arty is spent to equip the Cac and Ov XX’s.  The 2 LE Inf III is replaced at Zaragoza, then immediately formed into the 1 Cas XX, which then is equipped with the last 0.5 arty remaining to the Nationalists.  All units in the pool are rebuilt, except the just returned 2 LE Inf III which must spend the remainder of the turn in the pool since it’s already been built once.  The 8^th Car Bdr arrives at Valladolid, the 9^th Cav (the raiders) at Zaragoza, and the 2 MG II’s survivors regroup and are reinforced at Oviedo.  At end of phase, the Nationalists have 3.0 Nat, 1.5 Col, 3.5 Fal, 2.0 Req and no other RPs.

Next, 2 res pts at Sevilla and 1 just landed at Malaga are used to rebuild the Malaga RMY up to 1.5 RE’s cap (from the 0.5 it was at after the combat in the city occurred during late Aug.)  A mine damage check results in another 5, so the BBTF remains afloat.  Neither side flies any air missions.

NT-1 at Larache loads the ZME Eng III, carries it to Cadiz, then returns to Larache, picks up the 5 Alh Col Inf III and carries it to Sevilla.  NT-2 takes the elite 39^th Inf III off Gran Canaria and carries it to Vigo, then heads south.  All 3 subs units move to Ceuta, where they replenish, joining the BBTF there which does likewise.  The BB with the subs in ‘escort’ then head out to sea.  They are in 2 groups, as subs can’t ‘officially’ travel in a group w/ TF’s, but they travel the same path at the same time, to ensure that the subs combat zone is consistently with the BBTF.  In this way, they will screen the BBTF (2 pts, after 1 hit it begins the game with) from any reaction that the Loyalist CLTF (3 pts, no hits) might choose to make (sub combat occurs prior to surface combat, so they make a good screen.)  This combined force moves to 2511 during the day, then runs into Almeria’s hex at night.  There, the BBTF begins preparing for NGS, while the subs create a cozy perimeter.  The CLTF does attempt to react (I’m not sure if Sam’s intent was to do so in the 3^rd substep, or later in the 5^th), but it fails, and it makes no other attempt during the 3 substeps NGS prep took.  Meanwhile, the new cruiser in the CATF (now at strength 2) shakes out (the CATF must remain in port the entire turn since it is being ‘repaired’ with an NRP.)

Ground mov’t opens with a pair of important overruns.  First, the PA unit sitting in 2420, just southwest of Caceres, is overrun at 12:1 by the 4^th Lar Inf III and the 3L Art III (thanks to the PA force being U-2, 3 pts was sufficient.)  The Colonial III has no more mps, but the Arty started 1 hex closer, so it chooses not to advance into the overrun hex from Merida (where the OV was initiated), and then moves NW one hex along the rail line to Badajoz.  The 21 GC which had been screening Cacares’s north side takes control of the rail line leading to Portugal at 2122 via zoc, then turns south and joins the arty for an eventual cross river assault on Badajoz.  Elsewhere in Estramadura, the 7^th Cav III was freed up for field duty after pacifying Huelva… it moves into south Estramadura, gaining ownership of wide swaths of unowned territory in NW Andalucia and SW Estramadura, essentially cleaning up the Nationalist rear.  27^th III, at Merida, moves down the Don Benito line, gaining ownership of the town, then heads into the rough at 2817, to begin the advance into Castilla la Nueva’s western reaches.

The second OV occurs just outside of Almeria, blowing open the line to the city and allowing for a follow-on assault on the city during the coming combat phase.  The 8^th GC holds the mtn pass at 3206, where it is joined by the 1Tet Col Inf III and O Art III’s via rail mov’t on low volume lines (4 rail cap used, of 8.5 available now that the Nationalist rail nets are linked.  These two units are the heroes of Jerez and Malaga, and now soon to be Almeria… they are the two units immediately positioned to move out of Africa on turn 1, so they have been my strike force from the beginning of the game.  This pile is joined by  5^th Lt Inf.  These 6 units are able to OV the hapless PA unit defending sector 3307 at 12:1.  The Tet and O arty remain in place, but the 5^th Lt Inf II continues the advance to 3407, followed by the 4^th Lt Inf II to 3408, thereby encircling the city on its eastern approaches.  1^st Gran Fal X moves from Motril through the mountains to 3108, engaging the AmL An X on its western side, putting zoc’s into any retreat available to the Almerian defenders and fully isolating the pocket.  5^th Inf at Loja moves up to join the GC Sec in the mtn pass (the Sec cannot move, as it was preventing zoc’s from prohibiting the rail mov’t that got the Tet and O Art units to Almeria), ready to engage the AmL An as well.  2^nd Lt Inf II, at Loja as well, advances to take the mountains at sector 3205, which had been vacated by the 5^th Lt Inf which performed the overrun.  To these units rear, 7^th Inf moves from Ronda to Antequera, where it can continue hunting bandits next turn, and also ensuring a good supply line to the Guadix-Almeria front.

On the Linares-Valdepenas front, the Nationalist’s launch a full scale assault against the northern 2 hexes of the Loyalist line.  The Van XX, plus the units that assaulted Jaen two turns ago, and crossed the Gaudalquivir river last turn take on the southern bit of the northern part of the line, joined by a few other units from the rear.  1^st LE Inf III and the E Art III, another great striking pair, attacks the northern hex (just 1 pt unsupported, but in good wooded rough terrain.)  To their southwest, the O MG II assaults as well, keeping the supply lines open.  Key, the 1^st Lt Inf II shoots the gap in the Loyalist line, and takes the line in the rear by occupying 3315, thereby ensuring these two hexes will be isolated come the combat phase.  To the rear, two pairings of III’s and II’s each admin and cartage forward attack supply from the Sevilla storehouses.  Three SMPs move another point from east of Jerez into those same storehouses, while 2 more are used to move the Granada a/s to Gaudix, from which point it can supply some of the Almeria attackers and some of the southern attackers on the Linares-Valdepenas front.  In this area, the 6^th Inf moves out of Estramadra and down the Don Benito-Puertollano line, ensuring ownership of that low volume line as far south as Puertollano itself.  All in all, the assault against the rail lines leading towards Valdepenas-Alcazar and from Gaudix towards Almeria and perhaps Lorca are going very well, with little in the way of Loyalist units to stop them.

The Madrid front is on the other hand pretty much in a designed stalemate at this point.  The Nationalist line is reinforced a bit, so 2 arty units are each on the western and eastern ends, with single units in the mtns or just north of the mountains.  The line runs, roughly, from 2706 to 2407, thence to 2412 and then back southwest to 2613.  The ends are held in ‘strength’, as is the salient at 2510… strength meaning an arty unit is present, even if no other unit is!  The western tail of the line is reinforced a bit, such that the line continues west to 2615, with its flank against the lonely mountain at 2616.  Both sides seem inclined to let the Madrid front settle into a defensive front (neither has sufficient force really to attack the other, at least not without moving arty away from the ends towards the middle… and attacking the middle means attacking mountains if the Insurgents attack, or into clear terrain that leads nowhere unless you can get 5 hexes distant if the Loyalists attack.)  I expect this front to be stable for some time, since all the real action is in Andalucia.

Which is not to say the other fronts are without any at all… On the Teruel front, 3 additional small units are railed in to protect the flanks from purple slime, which allows the forward positions in the mountains at 3404 & 3404 to remain held.  This also allows a link up with the Cataluna front.  The front remains the same as last turn, since no Loyalist attacks were launched, but is extended by occupation of wooded rough hexes north of the southeast Cordillera Iberica, and then into the mountains joining the Teruel front defenders.  Units were freed up for the extension and link up thanks to 2 big XX’s (a 2-3-5 and 3-6!) joining the line.  The first takes the open terrain area at 17:4530, just south of the bend in the Ebro river where it turns eastwards.  The 3-6 1^st Cas XX moves into the river salient at 4428, allowing the Mech/Arty stack to back up and defend the salient western flank.  The northern one still relies on 1 pt unsupported units, as the line along the Cinca has not changed.  These XX’s may begin the process of entrenching next turn, assuming no major Loyalist assaults materialize, which seems unlikely given more pressing concerns in Andalucia and southwest Castilla la Nueva.

On the northern front, 2 Req X’s move into the line in Euzkadi, freeing up some units for moves to the south into southern Aragon.  The hex to the southeast of San Sebastian on the French border is abandoned to free up more troops, as there seems little risk that the weakly garrisoned city would send out any of its defenders to take an otherwise worthless hex.  Units in north Euzkadi and on the Santander front are spreadout and joined by reinforcing units too, such that the line is nearly complete all the way to Asturias.  In Asturias itself, the decision is made to move significant forces into the province, which will result in the release of the Asturian garrison forces.  Four X’s were going to be released anyway, and it seems impossible to hold the hexes Nationalist high command wishes to hold given the 4 RE limitation.  So, the Generalissimo decides to send in the troops to create a strong defensive front that should hold the terrain and prevent major attacks by the released garrisons.  First, the elite 32^nd Inf III moves out of Oviedo, and takes the 0908 hex across the river from Aviles.  The elite 39^th III rails into the Oviedo itself from Vigo, where it had been dropped off after arriving from the Canaries (3 of the 4 elite, supported III’s are now in Asturias, with only the one on Majorca not yet actively engaged.  That will arrive as soon as shipping is freed up from duties moving the AoA and Canary island forces, and hopefully poorer weather arrives in the Med, mitigating to a degree possible reaction by Loyalist naval forces (the other option would be to bring in the Italian fleet, but with just 1 call up per year, I’d prefer to leave them sit till later, as a threat-in-being against any Loyalist naval adventures.  Using them as escorts for a single III and a cons unit seems overkill to say the least.))  The elite 38^th is currently in Mieres, but plans are laid to assault the wooded rough in sector 1107, which would shorten the frontage, and require the 38^th to abandon pacification and move into the hex.  The Leon Fal X is moved into the mountains at sector 1207, and the 2 Mtn II’s consolidate at 1206, which should limit Asturian counterattacks.  Assuming the planned attack goes well, the Nationalist line will be one hex off the coast from 1206 through Oviedo to the 0908 coastal hex.  Just one would be subject to NGS, and that one would be cross river and not adjacent to the Gijon hex, presumed to be the center of any Asturian defense.  In addition, the 2^nd Mtn Arty III is railed in from the Euzkadi front, bringing support to the 2 MG II and the intrinsic defense unit, raising the DS of Oviedo to 4.5.  Any attack would be subject to a -2 roll as well, so the city and factory appear safe even from a released garrison, at least as long as the frontage against the city can be kept to 30 miles.  To the rear, the Oviedo Inf XX is admin’d up from Valladolid, where it arrived and was equipped earlier in the turn, but it remains just behind the line due to admin limitations.

Way in the south in Africa, only a few units remain to be sent out, including 2 strong Cav III’s and a few weaker inf 1-6 III’s.  They position themselves for mov’t next turn, though the plan is to leave 2 1-6’s and and a 1-8 Cav III in Africa to act as a defense/garrison against Loyalist adventures.

Overall rail cap usage was 8.5 RE’s, so to date the Nationalists have managed to avoid spending res pts to temp increase cap.  At the end of the turn the CR.32’s fly CAP over the 24:3415 hex on the Linares-Valdepenas front (the larger of the two stacks, and the one subject to a greater impact on DAS should it get through (the other hex will presumably get the Bre19’s, which would move a 10:1 -2 to a 5:1 -2, but I’d prefer the 5:1 -2 rather than an odds shift against the bigger stack, hopefully to reduce the chances of an EX/HX in the potentially more costly attack.

The Loyalists assign 2 pts of NGS to Aviles, and 1 pt to 1106, ensuring support for each.  The Vild air unit flies DAS to 1107 in Asturias, which was expected.  The PA Bre19 flies to the wooded rough at 3316 in southwest Castilla la Nueva, as expected/desired as well.  The Nationalist Bre19 flies GS to Almeria to bump the odds there up to 6:1, while the Mxd T ends its transportation of AoA units, and flies GS to 3415 in the attack against that 2 pt stack on the Linares-Valdepenas front.  Both NGS points from the Nationalist BBTF off Almeria are assigned to that attack.

The BB lights up the Almeria harbor, while Bre19’s drop bombs on the unfortunate souls in the defending PA 3 MG II plus the militia in the city.  Despite this, morale remains high, and the 2 II’s of Lt Inf get off to a slow start in the assault.  The defenders attempt a fighting withdraw, but with troops closing in on all sides, they are eventually forced to surrender (6:1 -1, 6 for PA morale, a/s to one of 2 II’s attacking, 2 rolled for a DR zoc kill.  Almeria is occupied by both II’s, 0.5 Nat’s drafted.)  Taking the city ensures that no less than 6 Anarchist X’s will never see action (one X shows at Malaga, and another at any city in Andalucia Sep I… 2 more show up in the next two consecutive months at any city in the district… since reinforcements in FWTBT are delayed, not killed into the replacement pool if there reinforcement location is enemy owned, they are effectively removed from the Loyalist OB until such time as they can seize a city in Andalucia to free up the 5 “any” X’s for reinforcement.  Given the state of affairs in Andalucia at the moment, this seems unlikely.  A nifty byproduct of an Insurgent focus on Andalucia.)  Just to Almeria’s north, the heroic 1^st Tet & O arty III’s, joined by a few other units, make short work of the Anarchist AmL unit hiding in the mountains, though they too march off to POW camps singing leftist diddies (5:1 -2, 6 for Loyalist morale, 4 for Fal morale, so no morale effects on either side, partial a/s provided, 5 rolled for another DR zoc kill.)  Both these attacks were against isolated foes, so no specials were generated for the Loyalists.

Moving to the Linares-Valdepenas front, the 3316 hex on the north is first assaulted by the 1^st LE Inf III and E Art, supported by a single II of machinegunners to take any possible exchange.  The defending 23^rd GC Sec III acquits itself well, but the force arrayed against it is overwhelming and they too are sent to the deadpool (5:1, -2, no morale effects possible due to good terrain and DAS, 2 RE’s of A/S provided, 6 rolled for a DH, though zoc’s would have killed on a DR too.)  The larger battle to the south, in sector 3415, sees costly errors on both sides.  Surrounded, the PA’s 12^th Inf III panics, but the 6L Art continues firing into the whites of the Nationalist’s eyes… the professional ZMO Eng & 6^th Lt Inf assaulting from the southwest sustain heavy casualties, but when the slower moving Van Inf XX joins the field, ultimately the PA units are wiped out to a man (6:1 -1, 1 rolled for PA morale, ½’ing the Inf III, most Nat units receiving attack supply, 1 rolled for an EX.  Lt inf II & eng III taken as Insurgent losses, since the 2-6 Col III in the fight could not have been immediately replaced, no specials on the Loyalist side due to isolation.)

Next up, Badajoz is easily cleared of the local militia (3:1 +0 up to a 6:1 +0 when the morale roll is a 2 for a PA ½’ing, no a/s provided, 6 for a DE.)  The attacking 21 GC Sec III advances into the hex to complete mop up operations next turn, while the arty remains on the east side of the river to move to the trains at Merida next turn.  Falangist volunteers flock to the flag (0.5Fal drafted.)  Finally, the 40^th Inf III is attacked from four sides at sector 1107 in Asturias, giving a good account of itself and taking down a Fal X before succumbing and giving up the ghost (5:1 -2, attack supply provided to all, PA morale solid due to DAS and terrain, but Falangists halved due to a 4 rolled (didn’t shift odds, they were included as EX/HX fodder), 2 rolled for an EX, with Leon Fal X dying).  The 38^th Inf III abandons pacifying Mieres (the 31^st Inf III remains to restart that process next turn), moving into the battlefield to being preparing for any counter attack from the soon-to-be-released Asturian army.

All told, 6 attacks were launched, causing 8 points of Loyalist losses, none generating specials, while 3 pts of Nationalist troops died in EX’s.  Even so, 4 of the 6 attacks had the potential for an AS, and none resulted, so not a bad turn for the Nationalists.  Loyalist air units land at their originating hexes, while the CR.32’s land at Jaen, where they can cover both the front and the Bre19’s landing at Granada and the Mxd T’s landing at Cordoba.

NT-1 and -2 both head for Ceuta, where they replenish and finish out the turn, positioned to move larger Cav III’s next turn.  The combination of Italian subs and the Nat BB head west at night from Almeria, generating no reaction attempt by the Loyalists.  The BB eventually reaches Ceuta, where it too replenishes and sits tight for the rest of the turn.  The Italians peel off and head for the coastal hex at the eastern tip of Spanish Morocco, using inshore waters to screen their mov’t.  There they wait until 10 nmps remain in the 5^th naval substep of the exploit phase, whereupon they move towards Cartagena at night.  They reach a point 5 hexes distant (4009) from the major port and naval base, home of the Loyalists Med fleet, without incident (no reaction attempts), where they are well positioned to interdict the port or react to future mov’ts by the Loyalists.  No air missions are flown.

The French border remains open by rule.  Supply effects are in full force, as mentioned above.  For the Insurgents, things are a bit cleaner now that the Malaga pocket has been cleared, but not perfect.  Two hexes on the Guadix front are still out of supply, because Gaudix and some other towns to the rear are unpacified and ungarrisoned.  One hex of the line can trace to Motril through the mountains, while the northernmost hex of the line in the gap at 3204 can now trace up to Jaen, but the fact that the PA unit at Ubeda retreated away prevents the rest of the line from tracing via Jaen.  Up in Asturias, all but the forward most hex of the Nationalist line, at the coast, is in regular supply now that Mieres is occupied.  Needless to say, the 9^thCav III raider east-northeast of Alcazar is out of supply  On the Loyalist side, staying in the north, all PA units but one are isolated, though all are in supply.  The single PA unit still in Estramadura is out of supply, but not isolated.  Likewise, much of the Madrid front goes out of supply since an enemy zoc is on the high volume line 3111, and the low volume line is both partially enemy owned and too long for supply purposes.  All units north of 28xx hexrow go OOS for the Loyalists, but since none are c/m, the impact will be minimal, except to limit rail movement and act as a distraction.

In pacification actions, the 7 units rampaging through Barcelona have nearly completed their dirty work (3^rd turn of 3 begun.)  Gerona, Tarrasa and Reuss are cleared of all undesirables, while the 3 GC Sec III at Tarragona and the RN An Inf X in Sabadell begin purifying their respective locations.  Two units, one critical artillery, consider pacifying Albacete, and ultimately decide to leave it to some other time.  The Loyalists use their 1.0 PA Inf RPs to replace the destroyed 16 GC Sec III at Madrid.  A 5 is rolled for random mine damage, so the PA BB in the north remains undamaged.  The damaged LC rolls a 4 in Barcelona and remains so.  Perhaps surprisingly, no forts are begun in the north, which is a bit odd given the cons units and res pts are in place and available.  Perhaps Sam forgot… or he plans to push his ‘oblasts’ out a bit.  The Loyalist’s fly no ini phase air missions, while the Nationalists put their Mxd T at Tetuan on naval patrol.  The Loyalist amphibious plan A remains in effect.

All Loyalist naval units first replenish.  Then the BBTF and LtTF in the north move to 1205, just near to my MG II, and prep for NGS, as expected.  Rough seas though will cut NGS from each by ½, so later the LtTF chooses not to fire it’s ineffective NGS.  NT-3 moves to Gijon, loads up the 1^st Ast Con X, and moves it to Bilbao.  Clearly the northern Gobernito’s are all about supporting one another ;)

Starting in the southeast this time, the Loyalists surprise me a bit, by not advancing as strongly as I would have guessed.  I had sort of encouraged an advance here, putting my single armor unit in a strong position, albeit with weak flanks.  Even so, the Loyalists appear satisfied with their Cataluna front, by and large.  Machinegun II’s take up position in the mountains on the line’s northeast section, some 30 miles from the Insurgent lines on the west bank of the Cinca.  First Mtn Art III and 1^st Cat Inf hold the bend in the Segre river, at sector 4426, and then the elite 2P arty and 2^nd Cat Inf hold Lerida, where the two lines actually come face to face.  From there, the Loyalist line runs southwest rough to the east-west mountains in the far southeast portion of the Cordillera Iberica. The center of the line is supported with artillery, but the flanks are generally single units.  To this line’s rear, 3 GC sits in Tarragona and some 7 units are in Barcelona, “purifying” the populace.  15^th Inf moves to Manresa to do likewise, while 8^th Eng III admins to Tortosa, cartaging a res pt along for good measure.  These two towns are the last not yet purified or going through purification.  On the Teruel front, the PA sends 5 units forward on a “purple slime” strategy, apparently trying to slip around to the Teruel defenders’ rear.  No surprises there.  In the Madrid area, the line thins just a bit, looking a bit like a capital “M” thanks to the Insurgent salient at 2510 in the Cordillera Central.  To the rear, 1^st Mech III, with 5L Arty move to engage the raiding 9^th Cav III on its west side, with the AAC Arm Car III moving in from the opposite eastern flank.  In the process of moving into position, the AAC retakes Cuenca, but it sits ungarrisoned for pacification at this point.  Four units join the 18^th GC, survivors of the attack on Ubeda on the Valdenpenas front.  Rail is used extensively to get troops into position, forming a line roughly NW-SE, from the wooded rough in 3316 down to the mountains in 3302.  However, the rough at 3101 is left open, so the 5 hex line has a gap.  Only one arty unit can be spared… the 6L Art III, victors at Albacete last turn, takes up position in the last hills before the clear central valleys leading to Valdepenas and beyond, astride the rails at 3415.  It’s joined there by the 12^th Inf from near Valencia province.  These 5 units cannot hope to stop the cream of the Army of Africa, but the PA is pressed for troops on multiple fronts… I might have expected some troops to be drawn out of Cataluna, since it appears no attacks will be launched on that front.  Clearly this line is just a stop gap until the big Sep I 36 reinforcement turn.  In the far south, in the eastern corner of Andalucia province, some six units create a line holding the hilly gap leading to Lorca.  The line runs from 3404, to 3505, thence southeast to Almeria, with Anarchists holding position forward of this line at 3207, just northwest of the port city.  In the rear, another An X puts zoc’s into the eastern section of the Cordillera Penibetica, at 3602, while 16GC Sec III admins into Albacete for some pacification work next turn.

In the far north, units shift about a bit.  1^st Bas Cons X holds the eastern part of the main Basque line, then single units hold the wooded rough hexes at 3032 and 3033.  There, the line turns northwest, with the recently arrived 1^st Ast Cons X and the Bas Ortiz mortar III holding the wooded rough at 1702.  I guess the Basques are getting first dibs on fort building!  The line continues northwest, then into the mountains at 1603, then to the hilly gap at 1504, and into the mountains of western Santander province.  The Santandero AD mortar III guards the gap at 1504 with the PA’s 6^th Eng III… clearly another location prime for fort building.  A res pt is SMP’d up to Santander city, for just that purpose I suppose.  The southeastern-most hex of Asturias remains occupied by the 22 GC Sec III, with the Spanish BB and Basque light TF in attendance, both prep’d for NGS.  Inside the Gijon pocket, a slight stronger X (the Di, a 1-2-4) takes possession of Aviles, while the 3^rd returns to the city.

No Insurgent planes are within striking distance of any hex being obviously threatened, so no DAS is flown.  The PA Vildebeest floatplanes fly to 1106, where a massive assault on the MG II is made.  Attack supply is unavailable thanks to Gijon being cut off, but with ample naval shells available and the GS above, the attack is nearly a foregone conclusion.  Even so, the Loyalists make a go of turning into a touch and go affair… The Loyalists roll a 4 for morale, and a 1 in combat, so ultimately they are successful (2 ones would have resulted in an HX, allowing the machinegunners take some Loyalists with them (9:1 -1, no AS, 1 pt GS, 4 pts of naval units, but the LtTF cannot provide effective NGS in the rough wx, and the 3 pt BB is ½’d and rounded down as well, so just 1 pt effective NGS, 1 rolled for DH.)  On the Madrid front, the 1^st Mech and its supporting arty make short work of the 9^th Cav raiders. (4:1 +2, AS provided, 1 pt GS from Bre19, no morale affects as no militia are present, 3 rolled for DH.)  Lastly, a spoiling attack is made against the 8^th Car Bdr III at 2613 (this hex weaker than originally planned due to a lack of rail cap available to get arty into the hex).  The attack goes off without a hitch, but the Loyalists choose not to advance (10:1, +0, AS provided, 4 rolled for no morale effects, 6 for a DE.)  The Loyalist Bre19 returns to Madrid and the Vilds return to Bilbao, their starting airbases.

Exploit is minimal.  The TF’s return to port, replenish, and then prep for NGS in Gijon (BB), and San Sebastian (LtTF).  The other naval units just stay in port.  The AAC, which simply pinned the 9^th Cav and didn’t attack, can exploit given it didn’t, so it heads back up to west Madrid, where it is protected (it’s got a 0 DS, so it needs help defending itself.)  The Insurgents fly no air missions, and the ancient PA Neiuport 52’s remain in place in Madrid as well.

Ground weather is automatically clear, as is the Med.  In the Atlantic, a minor storm system runs along the northwest Iberian cost, causing some minor operations difficulties primarily to previous planned Loyalist naval ops (6 rolled for rough weather, so NGS will be ½ strength, should it matter.)  Supply and isolation go into effect, per the normal rules.  On the Insurgent side, units in Oviedo and southern Asturias go U-1 black, thanks to Mieres being unpacified and ungarrisoned.  In the south, north of Almeria the line goes out of supply thanks to a number of unpacified towns along the low volume lines, as does Jaen, though a few units can draw supply via the port of Motril (unpacified, but with a unit sufficient for garrison purposes.)  Lastly, near Teruel the one unit defending that front goes U-1 black as well, due to the rail lines in its rear still being unowned.  On the loyalist side, only the PA III’s in Estramadura are U-1 black.  No units on either side are isolated, though significant portions of the Northern Gobernito’s will be to PA units shortly (for the time being, there are holes in the Insurgent lines, so the ‘infinite’ LOC is sufficient to ensure non-isolated status, at least until the combat phase check.)  No border garrisons are in place yet, as they won’t be checked till the Loyalist Sep I 36 turn.  Throughout Spain, Insurgents begin tracking down Loyalist terrorists and fear-mongers, as pacification forces begin their work in Merida, Heulva, Jerez, Ronda, Jaen, Loja and Motril.  These are all towns or small cities so all should be cleared of terrorists and communists next turn.  There are no reinforcement or production activities, but there are 2 pts of Nat Inf (from drafting and specials) and 1 pt of arty available (via imports) for some replacement activity.  Northwest of Malaga, as the Loyalists stayed in the mountains and left the 2 LE Inf III out of ZOC, the regiment becomes the bases for the Van Inf XX in 2-3-6 mode (this XX will eventually convert to one of the first XX’s with a cadre, so it gets used on a more offensive line of operations.  Most of the other small XX’s get used in defensive sectors.)  It is then equipped to supported 3-6 status at the cost of .5 Art.  The destroyed 2 GC Sec III is rebuilt at Cordoba for use on the Malaga front, while its twin the 10 GC Sec III is rebuilt in Zaragoza, using up all available Nat RPs.  Safety protocols remain in place in the Insurgent Navy (5 rolled for mine damage check.)  Neither side declares CAPs or naval patrol and no harassment is flown by the Loyalists.

The CTV subs return to Ceuta, where they replenish and await the rest of the move phase.  NT-1 loads the E Art III at Larache, then moves to Cadiz & unloads it.  It then returns to Larache and loads the 1 LE Inf III, moves to Sevilla and unloads it, with 1 nmp left to return down river towards the sea.  NT-2 loads the elite (meaning supported) 38^th Inf III on Tenerife, then moves it to Vigo, moving back towards the Canaries whence it came.  The BBTF and CATF move to Malaga, and prep for NGS, avoiding any potential reaction from Loyalist naval units at Cartagena via some coastal mov’t near Malaga itself.  Once the prep is completed they await the combat phase.

In ground mov’t, 1 Tet Col III moves to invest Malaga on its western flank, while 6^th Lt Inf II moves to the northwest of Malaga from Cadiz, and the rebuilt 2 GC Sec III moves in to attack from the northeast, these later two attacking from across the mtn hexsides.  Meanwhile O Art III and 2 Lt Inf II move around Malaga’s north flank to take the anarchist X in the mountains in its eastern flank.  They are joined on their right side by 2 Eng, assaulting the anarchists from their northeast, and ensuring that all forces reducing the Malaga pocket will have access to attack supply.  Units on the Gaudix front, facing Lorca and Almeria remain in place for the time being.  On the Guadalquivir front, near Jaen, 1 Lt Inf II from near Malaga joins the Col and Fal III’s current pacifying the city and the the 1 P Art III looking on.  The O MG II rails in along low volume lines to join as well, with the whole stack planned for a cross river assault (while the 2 units pacifying may not spend mps, they can attack out of the city, so long as they remain in it for the upcoming pacification garrison check… a III in Loja will do likewise in the planned assault against anarchists in the Malaga mountains noted previously.)  Meanwhile, the Van XX joins the river line and plans an assault to retake Linares on the east bank of the river.  The recently shipped in E Art III and 1 LE Inf III join them by railing to a point 30 miles northwest of Jaen, then crossing the river to take the northern part of the Loyalist line in the flank.  To their rear, two III’s of inf and engineers cartage attack supply from Sevilla to Cordoba, while trucks move A/S already in Cordoba south to supply the Malaga front.  In Morocco, units continue to move to air and sea ports for mov’t to the front.  The 2 Mel Col III and 2 II’s of Lt Inf and machinegun units are airlifted from Tetuan to Jerez.  Tetuan is a better airlift spot now that Malaga is expected to fall.  In southern Estramadura, 4 Lar Col III rails in to engage the PA’s 3^rd III at 2821, just southeast of Almendralejo, with the Nat 6^th III supporting to its east, while the 1^st Sev Fal X and supporting 3 L Arty III move around the PA unit, enter that town and attack the 3^rd in the rear.  The unit in Merida remains in place, screening the PA’s 11 GC Sec III north-northeast of Badajoz.  7^thBdr remains in Caceres defending that town, joined by 21GC Sec III on its northwest side, essentially trapping the PA Sec unit against the Badajoz-Portuguese border area.  On the Madrid front, two units from near the rail junction at 2217 move down the line and take up positions east and southeast of Talavera, leaving that city unpacified in their rear.  15 L Art III rails in from Galicia to hold the mountain pass at sector 2412.  4 P Art and 28^th Inf sit on the arty unit’s right flank at the wooded rough sector 2513, while to its left, 2^nd Cav shifts a hex eastward.  The Insurgent line runs due east in the clear hexes through to 2407, which is empty, whereupon the line doglegs southeast down to 2706.  To the rear, 6GC admins to a point 30 miles east of Salamanca, while the 35^th Inf III admins to just behind the gap in the line at 2407, taking up residence in 2307 and minimizing the chance of any raiders.  However, 13 L Art III still holds a salient in the Loyalist line at mountain hex 2510.  This whole line is somewhat weak, mostly made up of 1 pt units, including a few scattered arty III’s, but only the wooded rough at 2513 actually has an arty unit & infantry in support.  The line’s flank sort of hangs against the wooded rough of eastern Castilla la Nueva.  Through this same wooded rough, the Insurgents send a cavalry raid.  9^th Cav moves due southwest from 2706, converting ownership of Cuenca on the low-volume Aranjuez-Valencia line, then putting at least a zoc on the high volume Aranjuez-Alcazar line, thereby cutting access to Madrid from the south, albeit temporarily to be sure.  (I was one mp shy of being able to occupy hex 3111, or better yet, putting a zoc on the Alcazar-Albecete line, which would have prevented rail reinforcement of the critical Linares-Ubeda front, which ultimately leads to Valdepenas and thence to Alcazar.  IMO, the fall of Alcazar is the death knell of Loyalist Spain, as Madrid cannot be easily supplied or reinforced but through that one line, assuming the Loyalists don’t control nearly all of Aragon, which is a difficult prospect in a standard start game.)  Over on the Teruel front, 20GC Sec III moves west into the mountains flanking the pass, with 17^th Inf moving into its previous positions from near Calatayud.  This opens up the rail line and supply, and allows 24^th Inf III to admin in from Galicia to help join the front.  In Aragon, Insurgent GHQ faces a bit of a choice.  They are currently outnumbered 2:1 or worse, but the PA has decided to form lines essentially behind rivers.  The Insurgents can advance a bit and form a line based on terrain and rivers, or back up a bit, but without that terrain for protection.  It’s decided to advance to contact, more or less, and put some zoc pressure at least on the Catalunian line.  Should Loyalists attack on this front, they will likely make some gains, but it’s believed the damage will be contained at least a bit as no hex appears to be over-runnable, and besides, units attacking southern Aragon aren’t helping hold the line btw Valdepenas and Linares.  The line runs from the wooded rough at 4631 into the rough at 4630, then due northwest eventually along the Cinca river, with a salient at 4428.  This salient is occupied by 2^nd Mech and 9 L Art III’s, and while attackable from 4 sides, all such sides face rivers.  To its rear are single small units, protected by rivers themselves, while the rail line hex at 4530 has 2 pts supported.  No hex appears to be overrunnable, as noted, but the line is otherwise not particularly strong.  Still, even facing the best Loyalist forces not near Madrid, it should hold a turn till next turn’s reinforcements arrive (to include a planned build of the 1^st Cas XX, plus others that can be built up or show as reinforcements (a pair of 2-3-5 XX’s, the Caceres and Oviedo XX’s arrive next turn, so should the Loyalists choose to launch an offensive on the Aragon front, the Insurgents can get at least 2 or 3 good defensive units into the area quickly via Zaragoza (given that a 3 pt unit is huge in the early game of FWTBT!)

Up in the north in Euzkadi, San Sebastian is cut off from the rest of Basque territory… there are only 3 pts of units capable of attacking out of the city, and no attack supply in it, so single units can probably hold the line directly in northern most Navarre… however, 3131, the hex btw San Sebastian and the rest of Euzkadi is held ‘in force’ with 2 pts of supported troops.  Other units nestle up to the Basque lines as well, so they are complete up through 1703, just shy of the PA held mtns at 1603.  Santander province is screened mostly at a distance, though zoc’s hem the territory in while the rough terrain gap btw the mountains at 1604 is held directly.  In Asturias, despite my recent battle losses, the Insurgents remain aggressive.  The 2^nd MG II advances to the coast to take 1106, while 8^th Mtn II moves out of Oviedo to take up position in the vacated mountains at 1206.  Seventh Mtn II also departs Oviedo, taking up position in the mountains at 1207, while the 38^th Inf III (supported), just delivered to Vigo, rails into Meires’ hex.  The 32^nd Inf III (supported) sends out patrols to gain ownership of the town of Tineo in northern Asturias (it moves out and back into the city, gaining ownership via zoc).  In this way, Gijon is nearly encircled, and no attack supply is currently in the city.  The MG II is likely going to be attacked, but the Asturians will be halved for lack of attack supply (the factory at Gijon does not produce a/s until later in the game when it upgrades.)  The Loyalists must attack the II, using NGS I’m sure, otherwise they risk leaving themselves unable to link up with the rest of the Gobernitos.  However, if they are attacking along the coast they are not attacking the mountain hex at 1206, which zoc’s in the southern part of Asturias (when I get a unit with a zoc there… for now, I’m still keeping myself at 4 RE’s or less in the province, by using the II’s and the supported III’s for strength.  Next turn I’ll need to make the call on whether to release the Asturian garrison by sending in more than 4 RE’s.  I have too many hexes (5!) to hold with a meager 4 RE’s of troops, especially when the intrinsic defense of Oviedo counts as ½ of one of those RE’s.  Again, letting the Asturians attack in the south ensures they aren’t coming up with plans to improve on any sort of attack against Oviedo (even with pulling units out of the city, the Loyalists would need their whole AF to get even a 2:1 -2 against the city, what with their being no attack supply available to them for the moment.)  Lastly, up in Galicia, nearly all the units in that backwater have been railed or admin’d out, the exception being the 30^th III, which was used to finally connect up the rail lines.

The Loyalists fly DAS to a threatened hex near Madrid, ensuring no attack would be launched (I probably wouldn’t have attacked there anyway, since even the 5:1 odds I might have gotten would have risked exchange losses I wasn’t interested in (they would have necessitated taking losses in troops that would have left arty units alone in the hex, and I didn’t have attack supply in the area to ensure very high odds attacks.)  The first Nationalist attack goes off without difficulties, when Bre19’s scare off the “Independent Republic of Malaga” Anarchist infantry brigade.  The anarchists panic a bit despite their excellent terrain and are destroyed to a man, with the 2^nd Eng III taking their works by assault (5:1 -2 attack, w/ a/s, Anarchists ½’d by morale effects, odds go to 11:1 -2, 4 rolled for a DE.)  Next, the guns of the fleet open up on Malaga proper, while the 1^stTetuan Col III and 6^th Lt Inf fix the defending 8^th PA III in place on their west and northwest sides… 2^nd GC Sec III sneaks in from the northeast, across the mounts using local guides to find routes through the peaks.  The defenders are caught surrounded by forces on every front, with their only retreat routes eliminated thanks to the collapse of the anarchists to the east.  The city falls quickly as the defenders rout (6:1 -1, with a/s and 3 pts of NGS supporting the otherwise unsupported units attacking, 4 for no effect on PA morale, but 6 rolled for DE.)  Next the Guadalquivir river position is taken in turn.  Ubeda is seized, but the attack is mishandled by newly arrived troops and the defending PA 18^th GC Sec II manages to escape eastwards (8:1 -1, some a/s, but just 1 RE shy of enough to ensure a 9:1, no morale for PA, 1 rolled for a DR.)  Linares however changes hands for the third time, as units assault from northwest and west across the river, with the Van XX in the lead (9:1 -1, some a/s, no morale for PA, 6 for a DE.)  Lastly, the rail lines near Almendralejo are cleared of the patrols of the PA 3^rd III, when a mixed bag of Nat Arty and Nat, Col and Fal Inf assault and force the soldiers of the 3^rd into captivity (5:1 +0, some a/s, no morale for PA or Fal, 3 for a DR zoc kill.)

SS-1 and -2 wait till the end of the turn, and then slip off out of Ceuta and arrive off station, 30 miles off the coast of Almeria, arriving at night time.  Naval units in Cartagena choose not to respond (-1 on success roll, no reaction attempted.)  NT-1 moves down the river to the Atlantic, heads to Ceuta where it replenishes, then moves to Larache to await next turn’s mov’ts.  NT-2 moves to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, replenishes, and then awaits the end of the turn.  The BBTF with low ammo moves to Ceuta, replenishes, and then waits, while the CATF moves north towards El Ferrol, slipping into the port using night movement and the rough seas to ensure the Loyalist BB at Gijon can do nothing to respond (-1 mod for rough and -1 mod for night mov’t ensure no reaction could be successful…)  It is now positioned to receive additional cruisers next turn (Sep I 36 is an NRP receiving turn for the Insurgents, and the unit being reinforced has to be in the port at the start of the turn and remain there the entire turn to be brought up in strength.  No ground mov’t occurs in exploit and neither side flies any exploit turn air missions, so the turn ends at this point.

All units remain in supply and unisolated by rule.  Purification is complete in Lerida, and continues for the 2^nd of 3 turns in Barcelona.  Units begin removing insufficiently leftist populace in Gerona, Tarrasa & Reuss (8^th Eng, 1^st Cat Inf & 15^th Inf begin purification respectively.)

At Gijon the Di Ast Inf X and 1^st Ast Cons X report for duty.  Likewise, at Bilbao sees the arrival of the 1^st Bas Cons X, while a small number of ships are gathered and armed, creating the LtTF-1 in the naval base.  Down south, the Cataluna folks manage to scrape up sufficient shipping to form up the Cat NT-1 naval unit.  1 Attack supply is imported from the French (presumably at this date) at Gijon, while 1 arty pt each is imported at Bilbao and Barcelona.  8 Asturian Inf X’s go into garrison, as do 3 Santander Inf X’s and a Cons X, plus 2 Basque Inf X’s and a Bas Cons X.  The staffs for 4 Arty and Mtr III’s are assembled and just await their tubes (4 III’s to the replacement pool for rebuilding).  Finally, trucks are assembled from the economy of southern Spain sufficient to bring on line 5 SMPs.

Next, the 5 Loyalist controlled factories begin pumping out war materiel, totaling 1 a/s, 2 res pts, .5 Arm and 1.0 arty in the northern Gobernitos and 3 a/s, 3 res pts, .5 arm and 1 arty in the south.  The PA earns .5 PA RPs for specials, insufficient to rebuild any of last turn’s losses.  However, the Asturian AD Art III is replaced at Gijon, while the AD (San) and Ortiz (Bas) Mtr III’s are built in Bilbao using imported and self-produced arty RPs this turn.

A mine damage roll of 7 ensures that the BBTF in Santander harbor does not blow up.  Finally, the Loyalist plan some sort of special op… as the Insurgent player, I do hope it’s against the island of Majorca… performing the historical attempt to seize the island would be grave mistake I’d love to see happen.  Heck, I’d empty the island just to let him give it a go.  Reason being, the island cannot be held in the face of the Italian response forces (granted, just a single Mxd 2-6 X and a pos AA pt in ground forces, but all 3 RMTF’s would immediately get to encircle the island and there’s no way the Loyalist fleet can tangle with the Italians.)  With the RMTF off the port of Palma, the Italians can simply blockade the city until any loyalists die of starvation (no Loyalist transports to fly in GSPs, and the intrinsic CD of the port would be permanently eliminated upon capture by the Loyalists, so those guns couldn’t be turned on the Italian blockading force.)  Hence, for the price of a useless CD pt and perhaps 3-4 months of infantry production at Palma the Insurgents would gain the use of the Italian LC’s for the remainder of the game… they don’t arrive except as a reaction to an invasion of Majorca, and they don’t go away once that reaction occurs.  This would give the Insurgents a naval invasion threat they cannot otherwise gain in the game.  So, note to Loyalist players… never invade Majorca!  I’ll just assume that Sam is either planning some sort of invasion of Spanish Morocco (unlikely to succeed… I always keep at least one unit at each port plus fleet units in Ceuta, or put out the doc as a fake threat.  Neither are a concern.)  Granted, all the above entails a level of hindsight the actual participants never had access to, but so do all wargames… we can all read the OBs after all!  At the end of the phase the Insurgent Mxd T at Larache goes on naval patrol since there will be little opportunity for DAS given its location, and on naval patrol it can help guard the Straits from any attempt to send the BBTF south, or run supplies/arty into Malaga.

The mov’t phase opens with Loyalist naval moves, albeit limited ones.  The NT’s at Barcelona and the SS and CLTF at Cartagena replenish in port and remain in place throughout the turn.  In the north, the newly arrived Basque LtTF replenishes at Bilbao, then moves to San Sebastian and preps for possible NGS.  NT-3 just sits in port at Bilbao after replenishment.  The BBTF, after spending the first turn murdering its officers, is now at low fuel, so it slowly moves to Gijon, and then slowly refuels (15 nmps vice 30 per naval substep), at which point it doesn’t have sufficient points to prep for NGS, so it just sits in port for usage later.

In ground mov’t, remaining in the north, 40^th Inf moves out of Gijon to the southeast, while 22GC Sec III moves up into Asturias from Santander, reopening a tenuous coastal LOC with the remaining portions of the northern Gobernitos.  As expected, 1^st San Inf X and 21^st Inf III’s seize the mtn hexes at 1505 and 1603 to start building a line in front of Santander city.  6^th Mtn II moves out of the line at 1801 and up to 1602 to link up with this line in northern Euzkadi.  The new 1^st Bas Cons and Ortiz Mtr III move into the wooded rough at 1702, where I’m sure a fort will begin construction next turn.  1^st Bas Inf X moves into 1801, which was otherwise emptied.  Interestingly, the Santander AD Mtr III moves into the Basque line at the wooded rough at 3032, to the southeast of the city.  I guess the Santanderos are protecting the Basques rather than their homeland :)  10^th Car Bdr moves out of San Sebastian and completes the Basque line to the sea at 3031, just east southeast of Guernica.  That leaves San Sebastian with 5 pts ground defense, plus NGS.

In Catalonia, the RN An Inf X rails in from Valencia to Sabadell, preparatory to more purification I’m sure.  2 MG II’s, one railed in from Valencia, move to Manresa to do likewise, while 3 GC having just finished purifying Lerida admins back to Tarragona to do similarly.  Then the Loyalists build a solid line of troops running from the Pyrenees to the Cataluna/Valencia border, taking advantage of terrain and rivers to the max extent possible.  However, no offensive moves are made at this point.  Doing this took 7.5 RE’s of rail capacity, and brought in one more unit from Valencia to accomplish.  North of Valencia, 3 units form a screen in front of Teruel, while apparently attempting to threaten the flanks of that insurgent position as well.  In the Madrid zone, units move east of Guadalajara, bumping up against the Insurgents at 2706, then form a line northwest into the mtns, around the single Insurgent 13 L Arty III at 2510, then back into the mtns at 2511 and into the wooded rough at 2512, then southwest to the Tajo river.  Other units, including the 1^st Mech II and 5L Arty and 3 Eng III’s engage Toledo’s defenders from the southeast and east, with the later two railed in over low volume lines from Valencia (the high volume line is blocked by insurgent ownership/intrinsic defense at Albacete), for the cost of 4 more RE’s of cap (of note, the Loyalists spent 1 res pt to temp increase their cap number this turn to 18 vice 12, after all the rail yards were connected with one another in the south.)  The AAC Lt Arm III moved along the low volume lines to help accomplish the connection of rail yards.  Near Valdepenas, 23 GS Sec III gains ownership of some rails so that 4^th GC Sec III can rail in from the Madrid zone and retake possession of the town of Linares, on the east bank of the Gaudalquivir river in Andalucia province.  18^th GC Sec III moves out of the mtns and occupies Ubeda to the southeast of Linares, also on the east bank of the river, creating a mini line in front of Jaen’s occupiers.  North of Almeria, the An and PA X’s swap locations (putting the Anarchists into mtn terrain) but otherwise hold in place.  3 Bdr III rails west out of Murcia along low volume lines, and then 34^th Inf III admins forward as well, filling the rough terrain valley leading to Lorca.  Other units gain ownership of lines in Murcia, allowing 11^th Inf III and 6^th Arty III’s to rail up to Albacete and engage the intrinsic defense on the southwest side.  The hapless defenders of Malaga remain in place, with one PA III in the city and an An X to the east in the mountains.  This area should easily fall to the Insurgents next turn.  Up in Estramadura, 3 Inf III moves south and crosses the rail line, moving to 2821, just southeast of Almendralejo, engaging a Fal X and arty to their southwest.  11 GC Sec III moves one hex into the wooded rough just west of Caceres.  Lastly, 1 SMP is used to move a/s one hex north of Murcia (allowing a supplied attack against Albacete), and 4 SMPs are used to move an a/s pt from Bilbao to Santander.

The Loyalists failed to fly a cap over Toledo, so the Insurgents manage to get their otherwise weak Bre19 unit over the city on DAS.  The Loyalists respond with a gnashing of teeth, and send their own Bre19 on a GS mission to the same hex, while the Vild stages up to Bilbao and flies a GS mission to the wooded rough 1107 hex, just southwest of Gijon.  At Toledo, a potentially damaging 2:1 +1 attack goes off without a hitch (a/s from Madrid, no morale roll made as the PA units being ½ wouldn’t have affected the odds, 6 rolled for a DH with zoc’s, killing the 2^nd GC sec III), avoiding the potentially disastrous 1 in 3 of an AS or 1 in 3 of either an EX or HX.  3^rd Eng III advances across the river into Toledo, staging a victory parade.  The poor soldiers of the mech and arty III’s are denied medals however, as that would be too militaristic :)  Oh well.  At Albacete, another a/s is burned to ensure no morale roll or poor combat roll might generate a 3:1 AS combo, so the final odds of 8:1 can’t be dropped to less than a 6:1, resulting the city’s automatic fall to the Loyalists.  The Loyalists gather up otherwise well-meaning citizens and put them under arms (.5 PA RPs drafted).  Finally, another potentially damaging attack in Asturias goes off without a hitch too… an 11:1 -2 attack rolls a 6 for no morale affects and then follows with a 6 for a DE, ensuring the valiant 10GC Sec III is sent off to the dead pool.  Only the PA unit in 1106 on the coast advances into the hex, so that will leave some potential for Insurgent mischief next turn, as the coastal hex is thereby emptied.  The loss of 2 Insurgent units will generate .5 specials next turn, to go along with the 1.5 already drafted, so both can immediately be brought back, and it will be useful to be able to position potential pacifiers where I need them at least!

Essentially none.  All fleet elements remain in port.  The BBTF now preps for NGS up in Gijon, so Gijon and San Sebastian can both count on defense fires from naval forces.  The AAC III moves west to Alcazar.  The Mech III cannot exploit since it attacked this turn.  No air missions are flown.

Weather is auto clear on the ground and in the Med.  The Atlantic is clear with a 4 rolled.  All units remain in supply and unisolated.  The CATF, strength 3 but w/ 2 hits shows up at El Ferrol.  Italian submariners stealthily join the war by arriving at the grand naval base in Ceuta.  A host of other Italian naval units, an air unit, a Mixed ground X, pos AA and some attack supply show up in Cagliari as well, all awaiting future developments in Spain.  Il Duce intends to ensure Italy’s strategic considerations are well taken care of.  Franco begins marshaling trucks to help run the war effort (5 SMPs added to the pool, bringing the total to 5!)  Finally, German and Italian imports begin arriving, with a res pt, attack supply, and .5 Arty RPs showing up at La Coruna’s docks.  Two  more attack supply and a res pt are produced at Sevilla, while one of each is produced at Oviedo.  The pool has 0.5 Nat and 1.0 Arty in it.  Two supported XX’s are formable now (Van & 1^st Cas), but neither is particularly needed at this point, so the Insurgents will wait a bit before doing so (the best units for forming a 3-6* XX are the 3-2-6 Inf III’s.  They can single handedly fulfill the 2.5 inf necessary to form the XX unsupported, followed by a .5 arty upgrade to 3-6 * status.  However, the 3-2-6’s are also the most efficient units on the board in terms of attacking (3 AS for a single RE’s worth of attack supply spent… good units (nearly all Colonial Inf III’s, plus a few of the better Arty III’s) will get you 2 AS per RE, while the mass of Spanish units are just 1 per RE… so pulling one off the board for a turn to create a XX isn’t necessarily best, especially in the early game before the XX’s are really necessary.  In a turn or two, once the lines start to form and full support and full ZOC’s are more important, these XX’s will definitely be formed (though even then they are at best defensive formations, since you are getting just 1 AS per RE of attack supply for a 3-6 XX.)  A mine damage roll of 2 indicates that safety protocols are still in effect for the BB, and it doesn’t blow itself up.  Neither side flies any CAP (the Insurgents don’t even have a fighter unit!) and neither side declares naval patrol.

[Sidebar:  The Insurgents can get up to 4 RE’s of units transferred into mainland Spain per turn via naval mov’t, 2 of which could go to Sevilla, if the NT’s are properly placed.  The trick is to ensure that no more than 30 mps are spent transiting back and forth btw ports on the double trip.  NT’s can start in Ceuta or Larache (at least one must be at Ceuta because Larache is a minor port) to get 2 RE’s to Sevilla.  The first cycle must drop 1 RE off at Cadiz using each NT; each NT then returns to Larache and runs the next 2 RE’s into Sevilla.  If the optional ground mp cost rule is not used the ground units will have plenty of mps available for additional mov’t.  If the rule is used, then the units at Cadiz will typically have ½ or more of their mps, while the ones landed at Sevilla will have just 1 or 2.  In my case, I’ve got some future plans involving units in the Canaries and was more interested in protecting units from air strike, so on this turn 3 RE’s will go to Cadiz and just one to Sevilla (as both NTs start at Larache, the NT that has to go to Ceuta to pick up unit(s) for its second run will be 1 nmp shy of making Sevilla.]

The recently arrived Italian subs take on provisions, then head for hex 2408, 2 hexes southwest of Malaga, just out of range of Bre19 range from Almeria, but well within interdiction range of the port or reaction range of any naval mov’ts into the Straits-Malaga-Almeria area.  They remain on station the whole turn.  NT’s 1 and 2 load 2x Col Inf III’s (2-6’s) at Larache and then bring them to Cadiz, followed by a return trip to Larache and Ceuta, where they pick up 2 Lt Inf II’s and the ZMO Eng III respectively.  The Lt Inf II’s are dropped off at Sevilla, while the Eng III goes to Cadiz.  The NT’s end mov’t at sea west of Larache and on the river leading to Sevilla respectively.  The CATF departs El Ferrol for the coastal hex just south of Huelva, and begins prepping for NGS.  The BBTF moves to Ceuta, replenishes, and spends the rest of the phase relaxing in port… er, guarding the Straits of Gibraltar from Loyalist aggression.  None of the above mov’t is within reaction range of a Loyalist TF.

In ground mov’t, 6^th Car Bdr & 7^th Cav engage the militia garrison of Huelva, 6^th Car aligned w/ the cruiser off shore.  The victors of Jerez then move to clear the gap to Malaga at 2406, the O Arty III taking the overland route while 2LE Inf III travels via train (with other units described below gaining ownership of the rail lines leading to the gap.)  These units are joined by the 1 Tet Col Inf III offloaded at Cadiz and the 1^st & 2^nd Lt Inf II’s offloaded at Sevilla, with the Col III moving via train and the LtInf cutting through the woods.  7^th Inf, moving from the La Linea hex occupies Ronda just west of these units.  To the north, 2^nd Eng occupies 2304, which cleared the rails for mov’t to Malaga via zoc projection across the river.  Further east, 2P Art and 1 Cor Fal X invest Jaen, defended by the meager intrinsic garrison, with the PA’s 18GC Sec III having tucked tail and scampered into the mountains.  These units are joined by 3 Ceu Col III, railing in from Cadiz after being offloaded by NT’s at that port.  One attack supply point is moved via SMP from Sevilla to Cordoba.  On the Granada front, 5^th III occupies Loja, simultaneously screening the town from the Anarchists in the mountains and protecting Granada’s western flank.  1 Gran Fal X occupies the port town of Motril, while the 2 Lt Inf II’s flown in to Malaga last turn, as well as the 4 L Arty and 8 GC Sec III’s form a line facing Murcia and the port of Almeria, running from the gap east of Gaudix southwest to the pass NW of Almeria then west in the mountains, with their flanks covered by the high mtn hexsides further west.  This line should easily hold off units in Almeria or coming up from east of Lorca, at least until units clearing out the Malaga pocket are available to join them.  Back near Sevilla, 6^th Inf moves up the rail line towards Merida and Badajoz, allowing arty and the 1 Sev Fal X to admin into hex 2922.  Behind them are the ZMO Eng III and 33^rd III, admining in from the Cadiz-Jerez area.  27^th Inf III occupies Merida itself, while 21 GC Sec III from the Salamanca region moves to the rail junction at 2217, which joins Estramadura to Leon and leads southeast to Madrid.  7^th Car Bdr III shoots the gap and admins into Caceres to help defend the town and seal it off from PA III’s moving out of Badajoz, while the 26^th Inf & 8^th Car Bdr admin up to the rail junction from central Leon.  Near Madrid, 2 GC Sec returns to Toledo to prepare for the city’s defense, while 9 or so units, including 3 arty III’s move to seize mtn passes northwest of Madrid and terrain near Segovia.  Only two hexes of the Cordillera Central are occupied by Insurgent forces, but the western half will be Insurgent owned next turn, while the PA will likely own  all but 1 hex of the eastern half.  9^th Cav and 10 L Arty III’s take up position 30 miles east of Guadalajara, cutting off the Madrid line running east and protecting the town of Calatayud and the rail lines leading down to Teruel.  20 GC remains in the pass southeast of Teruel against any incursions coming up from Valencia, while 17^th Inf moves to join them, albeit at some distance.  We’ll see whether the Loyalists in Valencia wish to engage our brave defenders of the Spanish Thermopylae.  In Aragon, 8 units have nearly completed seizing all of the region, forming a northeast-southwest running line roughly parallel to the southeast border of the province, about a hex or two back from it.  For now they face only 3 PA units on the east bank of the Cinca, but other Loyalists will no doubt arrive on scene shortly, despite the injustices taking place in Catalonia by ‘pacification’ forces of the Loyalists.  Up in Navarre-Euzkadi, 8 Nat units, including 2 arty III’s, plus the two big Req X’s form a strong line facing Basque forces protecting Bilbao.  San Sebastian is laid siege to at a distance, with small units unable to completely close the city off until supporting artillery can arrive on the scene (San Sebastian starts with strong units, including a 2 pt Arty III, so unsupported 1 pt units would be foolish to engage directly.)  Basques are unlikely to leave the city itself however, so we should be able to more fully invest the city next turn.  22^nd Inf and 1^st Cav occupy a portion of Santander province, but Insurgent units start the game too far from the best defensive terrain in this area, so the mtn hexes will be taken by the Santander and PA defenders in their turn no doubt.  In Asturias, the Nationalist High Command is taking a both an aggressive and defensive approach, albeit not via the Asturias gambit.  A Mchg II rails into 1206, completing a line from Oviedo southeast to the border, all in excellent terrain, albeit the 2 southernmost hexes are weakly held with single unsupported units.  Even so, the Asturians are for now weak and without artillery, and are currently limited to just the coastal hexes of the province.  If the current line can be held, the Nationalists believe they can prevent Asturian XX’s from forming up later in the game (to form a XX, even in garrison, you must have a friendly hex not in zoc… by holding this line, the Nationalists prevent the Asturians from forming those XX’s since they will have no hex free of enemy zoc’s.  The only solution would be to slowly send units into Santander province and then slowy bring them back along the coastal route.  This should help weaken the Asturian defense through the upcoming winter… I don’t anticipate a chance to seize Gijon directly, unless the Loyalists make some sort of obvious mistake, given I wouldn’t play the gambit card, as they’ll have good garrison forces for the city and arty next player turn.)  In the meantime, two II’s of mtn troops are railed into Oviedo itself to bring its defense up to 3.25.  This should be sufficient to prevent any 3:1 -2 craziness on the Loyalist side (typically managed by bringing the arty III from San Sebastian into the city via NT’s and praying for luck… bit risky in my opinion, but some are gamblers… I had a face to face game collapse when the opponent risked a 4:1 -2 and rolled an AR at Oviedo, causing all his units in Gijon to die via zoc kill.  Gijon fell the next turn of course and the opponent decided to toss in the towel halfway through turn 3.)  Obviously, this strength will need to be increased over time as the Asturians form up units… the hard part is deciding when to release the Asturian garrison.  Oviedo is hard to defend with a 4 RE limit forever, even more so if you make the attempt to seize the terrain line I have.  It doesn’t help that the intrinsic garrison of Oviedo counts as ½ RE, or that Mieres to the city’s rear starts as Loyalist owned, so it goes Insurgent as soon as the game starts and therefore cannot be drawn supply through.  Odd that you can draw supply overland through enemy terrain, including enemy owned towns, but if they are friendly but not pacified, you cannot!  Pacifying the town of Mieres, occupying the line and defending Oviedo should prove a worthy challenge.  Finally, up in Galicia 7 units make their way as best they can out of the province and into the war.

The Loyalists fly no DAS, and the Insurgents no GS.  First, Huelva is seized in an NGS supported assault (7:1, +0, no a/s provided, no morale effects rolled (4 for Loyalist), 6 for a DE.  Next, Jaen is taken after a shaky start by both sides (both sides roll a ½ effect for morale, but while this reduces both sides by .25, this cuts the defenders in half and has a negligible effect on the Nationalists).  The Cordoban Fal X is provided no attack supply, no doubt the reason they were hesitant to jump off on the assault, but 1P Arty and 3 Ceu have no problem routing the defenders after being provided plentiful shells and bullets (34:1, -1, partial a/s, 1 rolled for H PA morale, 2 rolled for H Fal morale, 5 rolled for DE vs the garrison of the city.)  Lastly, the AoA clears the pass to Malaga at 2406 with a massive assault against 2 unsupported PA units (9:1, -1, a/s provided for all units, no morale effects (3 for PA), 5 rolled for a DE.)  5^th Car and 16GC III’s shuffle off to the dead pool, the first non-intrinsic garrison units to die in the war.  1 a/s at Cordoba is used to supply the units in the latter two attacks.  0.5 Nat RPs each volunteer for duty at Huelva and Jaen, while the PA will earn 0.5 specials for the loss of their 2 units.

The Italian SS’s hang off the shores near Malaga, while the CATF moves to Ceuta to replenish and wait out the turn, along with the BBTF.  NT-1 moves to Cadiz from the river leading to Sevilla, then moves to Larache for next turn’s transfers.  NT-2 heads off to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where it too replenishes and then waits for future mov’ts.

In the war’s first real c/m exploit, 2^nd Mech III moves into the line w/9L Arty in Aragon.  The Bre19 hiding out in La Coruna transfers south to Salamanca, from which point it can provide DAS to Toledo or the units in the Cordillera Central region.  The Loyalist Vild, that had transferred from Cartagena to Bilbao last turn now transfers to Barcelona this turn, at which point the turn ends.

Again, no units are isolated or out of supply by rule 37C.  3 GC Sec III begins pacifying the good folk of Lerida, while 13 & 14 Inf III’s, 19 GC Sec III, 3 & 4 Cav III, 4^th Eng III & 1 Car Bdr III’s do the same in the two hexes of Barcelona.  Three X’s of Asturians are formed up in Gijon, while another three Santandero form up in Santander city.  The 1^st Bas X shows up at Bilbao, while the 2^ndstarts its war at San Sebastian.  The AmL Anarchist X begins terrorizing the city of Almeria, while the RIM An X does the same at Malaga.  More such X’s show up in Murcia, Valencia and Barcelona, while that later city also ends up with a X of anti-Stalinist communists in the Le POUM X.  Lastly, the 1^st and 2^nd Cat III’s form up in Barcelona as well.  A mine damage check is passed, so the BBTF in Santander is safe while its crew murders its officers.  No CAP is flown by rule, and neither side declares any naval patrol at this juncture.

The Insurgents open the phase with two air missions, which the Loyalists kindly allow.  The Mxd T transfers from Cadiz and its scant flak protection to Larache, out of range of all possible Loyalist a/c.  The Bre19 in Valladolid then heads for La Coruna, similarly safe from Loyalist bombing.  It is fairly important to note that the Nationalist AF is very brittle at the beginning of the game.  They get only 1 ARP per 4 a/c in play, rounded down.  They don’t get a 4^th air unit until Jan I 37, so their first ARP doesn’t arrive till Mar I 37, some 7 ½ months after game start.  Early losses, especially of the Mxd T, could be unrecoverable.  Fortunately the interventionist CTV and Kondor Legion get their ARPs from a ‘round up’ perspective, so they have some staying power.  Also, after the first turn through the first winter, the Loyalist will most often need his air units to help buck up his militia (all Loyalist units but arty & armor are militia, requiring militia reliability checks.)  GS and DAS can help mitigate these reliability checks, so the Loyalists are often better served to get the double bonus of GS/DAS plus the +1 for the check, rather than the 1 in 6 chance of a successful bombing.  But since the Loyalists cannot attack on turn 1, it serves the Insurgent to be well away from the Loyalist AF during this turn.

The Loyalist TF’s are unable to move, as they are busy killing off their officers at this point.  However, LC-1 and 2 depart Cartagena for Barcelona, while the NT-3 naval unit at Santander runs for the safety of the naval base at Bilbao.  All naval units spend the remainder of their turn replenishing and hiding in port.  5^th Car Bdr & 16 GC Sec III’s depart Malaga to the NW, blocking the valley leading to the nearly surrounded city.  The RIM Anarchists move east to protect the mountain flank of the city, and perhaps to threaten Granada.  18GC in Jaen scampers into the mountains, hiding from the advancing Insurgents no doubt.  Over in Murcia, PA units move west towards Lorca, while the TL An X heads north towards Albacete, an Insurgent owned city right in the heart of Loyalist Spain.  Units in Valencia head west and north towards Teruel and the coast road leading into Catalonia.  Over in Catalonia, the 16^th Inf III moves northwest out of Lerida, joined by the 4^th Mtn II, which crosses the Cinca river, creating a 3 hex line along that river.  The host of other units in Catalonia begin moving towards the front, except the An and POUM X’s in Barcelona, which remain in place.  No doubt the PA enforcers in the city aren’t doing a sufficient job pacifying the city, so the Loyalist gov’t feels the need to being in even worse offenders (these 2 X’s will probably swap out as part of the pacification garrison next turn, hence their lack of mov’t.)  Up near Madrid, units scatter in nearly every direction, moving north to secure the mtn terrain, west to take up positions in wooded rough the following turn, while c/m units and artillery move towards the heroic Insurgent city of Toledo, famed for its steel.  Two III’s of troops move out of Badajoz in Estramadura towards Merida, flanking that city on two sides.  Insurgent ZOCs prevent the town from swapping sides however.

Up in the far north, 2 Bas X’s and a PA III secure 3 wooded rough hexes south and west of Bilbao, while all units in San Sebestian hold up in preparation for a presumed siege.  Two Santander X’s and 2 PA III’s likewise move south and west, hoping to seize good defensive terrain next turn.  Finally, 3^rd Ast X moves northwest to protect the town and port at Aviles, key to the aforementioned “Asturian Gambit.”

None, per rule.

No mov’t by Loyalist naval units.  No c/m units are allowed to move due to the rising and revolution limit of 1 hex per turn, all having already moved in the move phase.  The ancient Nieuports in Madrid launch a strafing mission against the empty air base at Toledo, but miss.  The Vild flying boats transfer up to Bilbao, while the Bre19 transfers from Madrid down to Almeria, from which point it can both patrol the nearby coastal waters and protect against forth coming Insurgent offensives in southeast Andalucia.

Weather is automatically clear in all ground zones, as well as in the Med.  In the Atlantic, there is a 1 in 6 chance of rough, which comes up with a 6 rolled.  All units on both sides are in supply & non-isolated per rule 37C.  No gobernito garrisons are required at this time.  Two X’s of Requetes volunteer for duty at Burgos and Vitoria, while four X’s of Falangists march off to war at Zaragoza, Sevilla, Cordoba and Granada.  A random mine damage roll of 9 ensures my BBTF doesn’t blow itself to bits in El Ferrol harbor.  All a/c are fully operational, and none are put on naval patrol (while CAP is forbidden in turn 1).

NT’s don’t start in the most useful locations, one in El Ferrol and the other in the Canaries.  Both, along with the BBTF, head for Ceuta in Spanish Morocco to begin ferrying the elite Army of Africa across to mainland Spain.  In this first turn the O Arty III and the elite 2^nd LE Inf III are brought to Cadiz for a turn one attack against Jerez.  The BBTF replenishes at Ceuta, then waits, while the NT’s move to Ceuta after they unload and being the replenishment process as well.

In ground mov’t, mainland Insurgent units are limited to 1 hex of mov’t, while AoA units are allocated ½ their normal mps.  Those remaining in Africa begin flowing west to Ceuta and Larache for future air and naval transport, while 2 LtInf II’s move to Tetuan, where they are flown to Granada (I could get twice as many RE’s flying a short range mission, but Cadiz already has enough troops and I won’t have enough rail cap next turn to get units at Cadiz forward given the ones I’ve already naval landed, so for this turn at least I decide to get units closer to the front, where they can immediately engage next turn.  Granada serves as the light infantry units can quickly advance over the mountains and seize the passes leading to Lorca and Almeria.  The Mxd T lands at Cadiz, where it is at least covered by a single flak point in the fortress, albeit in range of potential air attack should Loyalist air units be willing to base out of Malaga.  Also near Granada, the 1^st Gran Fal X moves toward Motril, while the 5^th Inf III moves towards Malaga.  The two units landed at Cadiz advance on Jerez and prepare to assault the ill organized defenders (intrinsic garrison only.)  6^th Car Bdr III advances on the northwest road towards Huelva, while 17 GC Sec III advances towards Jerez from the rear, in anticipation of occupying that city next turn for the purposes of clearing out undesirable leftists, which will allow the elite AoA elements to move on other locations in Andalucia.  Also in Sevilla, III’s of Inf, Eng, Arty, supported by Sevilla’s Falangist volunteers move east.  Cordoban Falangists and an elite Arty III (1P) move southeast towards Jaen.  In Estramadura, 27^th Inf III advances on Merida from Caceres, taking it via zoc.  2GC Sec III advances southeast out of Toledo, seizing the rail line leading to Madrid.  A number of units in the Salamanca-Valladolid region move south towards Estramadura and Castilla la Neuvo, while those in central Leon at Zamora do likewise.  The majority of units in Burgos move east to begin encircling the northern Gobernitos, but the 5^th Cav III moves southwest preparatory to seizing the Burgos-Soria rail line.  Units in Vitoria move to seize important terrain in Euzkadi, while those in Pamplona move north to do likewise.  Units in Lograno are too busy putting down a minor peasant uprising and are stuck in place (I forgot to move them J)  That sort of thing doesn’t prevent the units in Zaragoza and nearby from beginning to move south in a campaign towards the Ebro.  Units in Calatayud move west to lock off Madrid’s eastern approaches, while the 20 GC Sec III in Teruel moves south to seize the mountain pass leading to Valencia.  Up in Asturias, the 10^th GC Sec III seizes the wooded rough to the southeast of Oviedo, beginning the encirclement siege of Gijon (I don’t play the Asturian gambit, nor will I the Santander gambit; a bit too ahistoric and game changing for my tastes.)  31^st Inf III moves from Leon towards Asturias as well.  Finally, the units in Galicia move south to get into the war.

Only one combat is possible, a 10:1 blow out against the Loyalist militia forces in Jerez by O Arty III and 2LE Inf III (no A/S, no mods, no morale effects (3 rolled), DE (3 rolled.)  Both attacking units advance into the city.  The local people are so relieved by the arrival of god fearing Nationalists that half a regiment’s worth of troops immediately volunteer for service (0.5 Nat Inf RP drafted.)

NT’s complete replenishment, and then all naval forces move to Larache, from which point they cannot be attacked by Loyalists air units (10 hexes distant from Malaga, with the longest range Loyalist a/c having a range of 9.)  The Bre19 air unit launches a single raid against the airfield at Madrid, where both the Loyalist Bre19 and N.52 are located.  A 3 is rolled for a miss, with the Insurgent a/c landing at Valladolid, within range of Loyalist counter air.