AGEOD's Espana 1936

[Staggerwing]

What...?

No, "someone should make this World War 2!" posts??!?

:P

This is already World War 2 (only a few years early).

It was a sort of a Kickstarter Alpha build of WW2 with the main backers sending guns, planes, and 'volunteers' instead of Amazon bucks.

[Bismarck]

+1  LOL!

[Martok]

If this is made by the same development team that made RUS, it's going to be great.

The lead developer is a fellow named Miguel Santacruz de la Torre.  He stated in an interview that the project started out as a mod of Revolution Under Siege, and eventually grew into a standalone game. 

So it's not the same dev team, but it sounds like he has based Espana off of their work (to at least some degree).  :) 

What day is it today? It's "Buy another AGEOD game" day.

Should you feel so inclined, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one after you've played it for a bit.  I've been mildly intrigued by Espana since its announcement (perhaps because it seems similar to RUS, which I purchased last year). 

[Boggit]

[Let me rephrase:  I'd not seen a strategic/operational game featuring the SCW til now.]

True. I'm preparing for my review by reading Beevor's The Battle for Spain.

Don't forget he has written two books on it now. IIRC BfS was published in the mid '80's and his later book IIRC in the late '90's. I don't know how they compare together, but it might be worth checking the other through your local library - if it's not closed to the Federal shutdown?? ::) Good author though. :)

[Bismarck]

I'm also reading Stanley Payne's book on the SCW.

[Boggit]

I've not seen the Spanish Civil War featured in its own game til now.

You weren't looking hard enough.

http://www.hpssims.com/Pages/Products/SB/SCW/SCW.html

On the operational/strategic level Hearts of Iron 2 Doomsday Armageddon, Hearts of Iron 2 Arsenal of Democracy, and Hearts of Iron 3 Finest Hour all have full Spanish Civil War scenarios from start to end.

It is fair to say that the SCW has not been done in the same detail, as the AGEOD title, but without doubt there are other SCW operational/strategic games out there as indicated. John Tiller's Squad Battles: Spanish Civil War is good fun at the tactical level too, and features scenarios right from the start to the end of the war, for a good flavour of the fighting experienced. There are also some tactical SCW scenarios with Steel Panthers WW2 and SPWAW, although not as many as with the John Tiller game.

[Boggit]

I'm also reading Stanley Payne's book on the SCW.

What do you think of it?

[Bismarck]

I'm also reading Stanley Payne's book on the SCW.

What do you think of it?

I misspoke; I will read Payne's work.

[Bismarck]

I've not seen the Spanish Civil War featured in its own game til now.

You weren't looking hard enough.

http://www.hpssims.com/Pages/Products/SB/SCW/SCW.html

On the operational/strategic level Hearts of Iron 2 Doomsday Armageddon, Hearts of Iron 2 Arsenal of Democracy, and Hearts of Iron 3 Finest Hour all have full Spanish Civil War scenarios from start to end.

It is fair to say that the SCW has not been done in the same detail, as the AGEOD title, but without doubt there are other SCW operational/strategic games out there as indicated. John Tiller's Squad Battles: Spanish Civil War is good fun at the tactical level too, and features scenarios right from the start to the end of the war, for a good flavour of the fighting experienced. There are also some tactical SCW scenarios with Steel Panthers WW2 and SPWAW, although not as many as with the John Tiller game.

I hang my head in shame!

[Bill Runacre]

[Let me rephrase:  I'd not seen a strategic/operational game featuring the SCW til now.]

True. I'm preparing for my review by reading Beevor's The Battle for Spain.

Don't forget he has written two books on it now. IIRC BfS was published in the mid '80's and his later book IIRC in the late '90's. I don't know how they compare together, but it might be worth checking the other through your local library - if it's not closed to the Federal shutdown?? ::) Good author though. :)

Hi Boggit!

I used to have his original book, called Spanish Civil War, published in 1982, and he revised and updated it considerably to have it republished as Battle for Spain in 2006. The more recent one is the better find, though I still think that Hugh Thomas's Spanish Civil War has a lot to offer.

Don't forget Ronald Fraser's Blood of Spain which is simply excellent as an addition to the coverage of the war, being based on interviews with several hundred Spanish participants.

Bill

[Slick Wilhelm]

I misspoke; I will read Payne's work.

I just picked this up for my Kindle, and have started reading it in preparation for playing Espana 1936. I know next to nothing about the SCW.

[Bill Runacre]

A fairly quick read is George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, which as well as giving his own views of his involvement in the war, is the raw material from his life which was part of the process in leading him to write Animal Farm and 1984.

It shouldn't be read in isolation, but it does help show the atmosphere in one part of Spain six months or so into the war.

I re-read it recently, for the umpteenth time, and found it useful as I'm currently writing a set of rules for my 20mm miniatures.

[Bismarck]

Payne is a very well-respected  prof at University-Madison-WI.

[MengJiao]

Can someone recommend a good World War 2 game to me?  You don't really see too many of those types of games out there.



Ok I couldn't resist a good gag.  Anyway did anyone pick up this game and give it a try?  I'm hungry for first impressions by people I can trust.

  I don't know how trustworthy I am, but I'm not a big fan of AGEOD games as a rule.   For some reason I'm enjoying Espana quite a bit -- first it is a nutty war and second the AGEOD system seems to be working -- there are trains and battleships and various airplanes and armored cars and Anarchists and whatnot.  I'm playing the Loyalists so they don't have much in the way of trained troops or leaders or equipment at the start (maybe 12 serviceable recon planes and 20-30 armored cars).  they do have a nice cruiser, a battleship or two, a few dozen destroyers and some transports.
I knew that historically, the Loyalists missed some chances at sea in the early days so I got the ships out patrolling: result -- missed an amphibious invasion or two I think, had some DDs shot up and Sank a Nationalist Battleship, I think.
In other news -- There are all kinds of "political" options -- for example you play the region card "Send me some Bombers" on the Moscow box which is off on the side under the Fascist Assistance Box and above the "Convoy Zone" Box.  So I imagine I'll be defeated horribly on the first run while I figure out how the various options work.  I thought about asking the Nazis for some bombers by dropping the please send me some bombers card in their box, but so far I'm expecting more from Moscow.  At least it is a big box.

[MengJiao]

Very interesting choice by AGEOD! Will register for comment tracking as we go. (Could this be their first attempts at adjusting their engine for 20th century war? Pride of Nations goes right up to the line.)

  There was Revolution under Seige (RUS) about the Russian Civil War post WWI.  Espana seems to have been built off of that structure -- which features railroads and armor and aircraft.