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Thursday, 29 January 2026

The Return

This week saw the return of the Spanish Civil War and Chain of Command to the gaming table.
As is usual Dave took command of the Republican EPR and I the Rebels.
The Republicans would be tasked with taking possession of the railway station and adjacent factory.
The EPR troops advance and take possession of the high ground taking cover in the ruined look out post, supported by a Bilbao armoured car.
The station is currently defended by a squad of the local Guardia Civil, who will soon be taking fire from the look out hill.
More EPR advance on the Rebels right.
The Rebels are slow to respond but eventually show their hand at the station windows firing on the enemy on lookout hill. Having little effect unlike the return fire which sees their NCO killed!
The Guardia are also under heavy fire loosing their NCO who is stunned they also become pinned down.
The EPR bring the heavy boys supported by a T26.
The Rebels respond with a captured T26 it fires on the EPRs T26 and misses. The dice gods are not on side today.
The turn end sees the Guardia NCO recover but coming under fire again the squad breaks! Despite being in hard cover I seem to always manage a six when determining the effect of enemy fire?
EPR infantry begin to envelope the Rebels left.
The squad in the are also broken and the squad sent to take over are also under extreme pressure (damn those sizes when you don't want them)
Back at HQ the high command discuss the worsening situation.
The EPR command discuss their next move.
The Rebels have so far failed to inflict a single casualty on the EPR while having lost three squads. Morale is down to three now, withdrawal is really the only option. A resounding victory for the Republicans!
I still have some doubts of using CoC for this level of game and period, I think the Command Dice give too much control (although that was belied in this game as far as the Rebels went😂)
Perhaps the amount of dice should be lowered and the option to buy a Red Dice for certain formations could be introduced?
Nigel former head honcho of Anglian Miniatures is work on revising the CoC Espana lists, when I get a copy I will try them out and see how it goes.
Despite my reservations CoC delivered a fine and at times amusing game. Damn those ones and sixes Dave😉
Until next time happy gaming and KBO.



3 comments:

  1. A nice looking game, I've never been interested in the SCW but recently have been considering it, but mainly naval and aerial, rather than the land fighting.

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  2. Ahhh, the dice gods favour the Republic😂 You can almost guarantee when someone says "roll anything but a 1", I roll it😜
    Great looking game as always, and yes, I do think the Espana supplement can be tweaked to add more of a period feel with the addition of the extra bits and bobs in V2 of the Chain of Command rules.

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  3. Nice to finally get a win this year! Always a joy to play on your splendid Spanish tables with any of your outstanding collections! CoC I'm not entirely convinced by, but I'm trying hard.

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