Loyalist Aug I 36 player turn

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.