Átacar es Vencer! – Spanish Civil War 1936 Scenario Book – Print Version

Átacar es Vencer! – Spanish Civil War 1936 Scenario Book for Disposable Heroes  – Print Version

by Jayson Gardner with assistance by Chalfant Conley

A scenario book for the Spanish Civil War. Primera Batalla is our SCW Army Book and is available separately. Disposable Heroes is needed for referenced information in this Scenario Book.

¡Atacar es Vencer!, To Attack is to Win!

This battle cry reflects the strategy of the Nationalist’s March on Madrid, or La Marcha. Franco flew to Seville on August 6th to organize the 8,000 troops ferried from the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco by mostly German planes. This Army of Africa was led by General Yagüe and under him Colonels Asensio, Delgado Serrano, Barrón, and Tella with Major Castejón, all seasoned veterans of Moroccan warfare. Each of these officers commanded a bandera of Spanish Foreign Legionaires and a tabor of Regulares with one or two batteries of artillery and a few pieces of domestic armor. It was their plan to attack all the way from their launching points in Seville to the capital to seize power and victory. The loyalist forces of the Republican government were in many cases slow to react and made up of many independent elements, such as the militias that lacked the direction to counter attack and even defend effectively. As the Nationalist Columns formed and shot toward Madrid in motorized convoys supported with combined arms of aircraft and mobile artillery, the Republican defenders in route quickly found themselves out flanked and out maneuvered by the professional Nationalist Army of Africa. Even in superior numbers Republican counter attacks faltered into retreats that led back to the capital. A Nationalist victory looked inevitable, but this changed when Franco made the political choice to relieve the besieged at Alcázar and consolidate his position of Caudillo, leader, rather than push on to Madrid. This proved to be a choice that would lengthen the war by years. The Russian aid filtered into Madrid along with Milicianos bolstering the city’s defenses with the time Franco spent on political gains. The Nationalists lost momentum as they found Madrid a now cornered beast ready to devour what forces they had left to attack. Madrid had held, ¡No Pasarán!, but now they knew that to win the war they must also be able to mount successful attacks. In the end, the Republic fell because unlike the Nationalists, they did not possess the logistics to mount a successful offensive.

(c) This book is owned and published by the Iron Ivan Games division of Sinister Laboratories, an imprint of Brigade Games and Hobby LLP.